354 ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETIES. 



goat of Angora, in Asiatic Turkey. In its habits it has 

 so little of the vagrant propensities of the goat tribe 

 that it is easily managed in flocks like sheep. Its in- 

 troduction into France was owing to the impression 

 made on M. de la Sagra, commissioner of the Govern- 

 ment of France to the Great Exhibition of 1851. The 

 beautiful tissues of Angora, especially the silk velvets, 

 convinced him that the Angora goat ranked high among 

 those wool or almost silk producing animals which ought 

 to be introduced into France. Within sixteen months 

 after the formation of the Societe d j Acclimatation, a flock 

 of nearly a hundred of these goats was landed in France. 

 No time was lost in locating them amongst the Alps, 

 the Jura, the mountains of Algeria, and more recently 

 of Auvergne. The two places where they have best suc- 

 ceeded are the Alps of Dauphine and Le Cantal. The 

 fact of their permanent acquisition is regarded as set- 

 tled. The vexing doubt arose, will the wool produced 

 under such new circumstances preserve its silky tex- 

 ture ? In the opinion of M. Daviri, a great manufac- 

 turer and a most competent judge, the fleeces have in 

 no degree degenerated. Of this the public had recent 

 opportunities of judging in the Great Agricultural Ex- 

 hibition in the Palace of Industry. From the flock at 

 Cantal were taken the fleeces from which were manu- 

 factured those light silky stuffs, and those magnificent 

 silk velvets, which were so greatly admired. 



" If so much has been done in five years, where shall 

 we be after ten ?" asks M. Saint-Hilaire. " We do not 

 know," he replies. " At least the most difficult part is 

 done. It is a mere question of time; and, a little sooner 

 or later, the Angora goat will definitively take its place, 

 in our agriculture and our textile industry, among the 

 merinoes, which France owes to Dabenton ; the yak, 

 which has just been given to her by M. de Montigny ; 

 and the alpaca, which will come to her in its turn." 



These are great achievements of acclimatisation in 

 France. We hope that this country has entered on the 



