CHAPTER XXVIII 



THE GOAT 



TN the hilly regions of Persia there are found 

 A herds of wild goats of a kind that is universally 

 regarded as the parent stock of the domestic variety. 

 This goat closely resembles our own in size and form. 

 It has a grayish fawn-colored coat with a black line 

 on the backbone. The tail and forehead are black, 

 the cheeks red, the beard and throat brown. The 

 horns have sharp edges on the front side and are 

 short in the female, very long in the male, always 

 erect on the forehead, and not rolling back behind 

 the ears like those of the ram. 



"In domestication the goat has preserved its prim- 

 itive instincts, no doubt because, being of less value 

 than the sheep, it has not been so carefully and com- 

 pletely tamed by man. It has remained with us 

 much as it was on the bare rocks of its native coun- 

 try, lively, wandering, adventurous, fond of lonely 

 and steep places, delighting in rocky summits, sleep- 

 ing on the edge of precipices, and always ready to 

 use its horns at the slightest appearance of hostility. 



" Willingly it accompanies the sheep to pasture, 

 but without mixing with the flock, the stupid society 

 of which is not to its taste. It walks at the head, 



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