232 



THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



enemy of trees, inquisitive, omnivorous, pugnacious. It is unsuited for the settled life of the 

 English farm. Rich pasture makes it ill, and a good clay soil, on which cattle grow fat, kills it. 

 But it is far from being disqualified for the service of some forms of modern civilisation by the 

 survival of primitive habits. Though it cannot live comfortably in the smiling pastures of the 

 low country, it is perfectly willing to exchange the rocks of the mountain for a stable-yard in 

 town. Its love for stony places is amply satisfied by the granite pavement of a ' mews,' and 

 it has been ascertained that goats fed in stalls and allowed to wander in paved courts and yards 

 live longer and enjoy better health than those tethered even on light pastures. In parts of 

 New York the city goats are said to flourish on the paste-daubed paper of the advertisements, 

 which they nibble from the hoardings. It is beyond doubt that these hardy creatures are 

 exactly suited for living in large towns; an environment of bricks and mortar and paving- 

 stones suits them. Their spirits rise 

 in proportion to what we should deem 

 the depressing nature of their sur- 

 roundings. They love to be tethered 

 on a common, with scanty grass and 

 a stock of furze-bushes to nibble. A 

 deserted brick-field, with plenty of 

 broken drain-tiles, rubbish-heaps, and 

 weeds, pleases them still better. 

 Almost any kind of food seems to 

 suit them. Not even the pig has so 

 varied a diet as the goat ; it consumes 

 and converts into milk not only great 

 quantities of garden stuff which would 

 otherwise be wasted, but also, thanks 

 to its love for eating twigs and shoots, 

 it enjoys the prunings and loppings 

 of bushes and trees. In the Mont 

 d'Or district of France the goats are 

 fed on oatmeal porridge. With this 

 diet, and plenty of salt, the animals 

 are scarcely ever ill, and never suffer 

 from tuberculosis; they will often 

 give ten times their own weight of 

 milk in a year." 



The Kashmir shawls are made of 

 the finest goats' hair. Most of this 

 very soft hair is obtained from the 

 under-fur of goats kept in Tibet, and 

 by the Kirghiz in Central Asia. Only 

 a small quantity, averaging 3 ozs., is produced yearly by each animal. The wool is purchased 

 by middlemen, and taken to Kashmir for manufacture. 



In India the goat reaches perhaps the highest point of domestication. The flocks are in 

 charge of herd-boys, but the animals are so docile that they are regarded with no hostility 

 by the cultivators of corn and cereals. Tame goats are also kept throughout Africa. The 

 valuable ANGORA breed, from which " mohair " is obtained, is now domesticated in South Africa 

 and in Australia. In the former country it is a great commercial success. The animals were 

 obtained with great difficulty, as the Turkish owners did not wish to sell their best-bred 

 goats; but when once established at the Cape, it was found that they proved better producers 

 of mohair than when in their native province of Angora. The " clip " from their descendants 

 steadily improves. 



Photo by E. Lander"* 



\_Eaiing 



BRITISH GOAT 



A mucn-ncglccttd breed In this country. Note the shape of this animal 



