4:2 HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 



skins are remarkable for the firmness of their texture, and 

 the strength with which the hair adheres to them. Gener- 

 ally that hair is long and shaggy, but fine in its gloss, and 

 remarkable for preserving that gloss for a long time after the 

 death of the animal. In some peculiar climates this hair is 

 longer and of finer staple, as in the goat of Angola, which 

 country by the way is remarkable for the length and beauty 

 of the hair in some other of its mammalia. In some other 

 countries again, as for instance on the northern slopes of the 

 Himalaya mountains, there are goats \vhich are furnished 

 with two sorts of hair, one which is rough and bristly, cal- 

 culated for thowing off the heavy snows which fall upon 

 their upland pastures during the winter; and another 

 which is shorter, of finer staple, and superior perhaps to 

 the covering of any animal for the purposes of domestic 

 economy. The animals which are thus provided are the 

 Cashmere goats, or rather the goats which furnish the 

 materials of the splendid shawls known by the name of 

 Cashmere ; for the goats themselves are rarely met with on 

 the south side of the smmits, and will not live in the valleys 

 or plains of the lower and warmer parts of India. The 

 wool of these goats, which forms as it were, their inner 

 clothing, is not near so fine in the staple as the wool of 

 many of the sheep ; but there is a durability, and also a 

 facility of fixing permanent dyes upon it, both of which 

 render it of great value in an economical point of view. 

 And it may be said with truth that there is no tissue woven 

 of any sort of material which lasts so long, preserves its 

 color so well, or so difficult to be soiled, as a genuine shawl 

 made of the hair of the cashmere goat. On this account 

 these articles are esteemed the most valuable productions 

 of the oriental loom ; and as such they are favourite pre- 

 sents among persons of distinction in that country, the 

 abode of fashion, pomp and luxury : and though in point 

 of beauty and design, and fineness of texture, many 



