

RUMINANTIA. 229 



where the animal pastures, the heavier and finer is its wool. 

 The Goats which feed in the highest vales of Thibet are- of a 

 bright ocre color ; in lower ground the color changes to a yel- 

 lowish white, and still lower down to entirely white. The high- 

 est parts of the Himalaya mountains inhabitable by man have a 

 kind of black Goats, which yield wool from which are made 

 shawls that in India command the highest price. The fine curled 

 wool of these Goats lies close to the skin, just as the under hair 

 of the common Goat lies below the coarse upper hair. The flesh 

 of the Himalaya Goats is said to taste as well and its milk to be 

 as rich as that of the common Goat. 



The Angora Goat loses the delicacy of its hairy covering 

 when exposed to a change of climate and pasture. It is said the 

 people of Cashmere constantly work 16,000 looms, each loom 

 giving employment to three men, the annual sale being calcu- 

 lated at 30,000 shawls. 



The "NATURALISTS' LIBRARY," (RUMINANTIA, part II. by 

 Sir William Jardine,) says that "a fine shawl, with a pattern all 

 over it, takes nearly a year in making. The persons employed 

 sit on a bench at the frame, sometimes four people at each, but 

 if the shawl is a plain one, only two. The borders are marked 

 with wooden needles, there being a separate needle for each color, 

 and the rough part of the shawl is uppermost while it is in a 

 process of manufacture. The Cashmeres which are obtained 

 from the kingdom of that name are most sought after. India, 

 however, produces several Goats besides the true Cashmere breed 

 which yield wool from which shawls are made. Twenty-four 

 pounds" weight of the best wool of Thibet, sells at Cashmere for 

 twenty rupees." 



C. Jaela,orC. Nubiana. The ABYSSINIAN GOATS, found in the 

 mountains of Abyssinia and Upper Egypt, and also on Mount 

 Sinai, differ from the Goats of Thibet, in having close smooth 

 hair, a convex forehead, and a projecting lower jaw. 



The SYRIAN GOAT, (Capra Syriaca,) is distinguished by its 

 large pendulous ears, (see Plate VII. fig. 14,) which are usually 

 from one to two feet in length, and sometimes so annoying to the 

 animal that the owners are obliged to trim them to enable it to 

 feed with more ease. It has black horns which bend a little for- 

 wards, and are only about two inches long. The hair is colored 

 like that of a fox, and it has two fleshy protuberances under its 

 throat. It is very numerous in Syria, where it finds pastures 

 specially adapted to its wants. Pennant says that "it supplies 

 Aleppo with milk." It is no unimportant part of the wealth 

 of a pastoral people, its flesh being used for food and its hair 



