44 HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 



first, indeed, they look more like slices of flint, stones, or 

 rather like mountain jasper, than of anything else, and they 

 require some vigor in mastication. But, notwithstanding 

 this, and their unpallatable saltness and peculiar flavor, 

 it is astonishing how those slices of goat's ham stimulate 

 the salivatory glands, moisten the parched throat, and allay 

 thirst when one is breasting a steep mountain under the 

 ardor of a mid-day sun. 



The flesh of female goats when in proper condition is 

 tolerably good ; that of a young kid forms a delicious and 

 withal a savory stew ; and when goats are kept for the pur- 

 poses of domestic economy, and the males are multiplied 

 as is done with oxen and sheep, they get very fat, and their 

 flesh is described as being excellent. The milk of goats is 

 rendered superior in many respects to that of any other 

 animal. It contains less oil, and on this account it sits 

 lighter upon the stomach, Hence consumptive people are 

 not unfrequently recommended to go to the goat-feeding 

 districts, as a dernier ressort against that most direful of 

 human maladies. With them, however, it is the whey 

 after cheese or curds have been made, and not the entire 

 milk, which is recommended ; and even then it is probable 

 that the fine air of the goat-country exerts as salutary an 

 influence as the supposed medicine ; but whether this be 

 or be not the case, is not much worthy of inquiry ; because, 

 if valuable life can be saved (and as consumption is a dis- 

 ease of the young, the life of consumptive patients is 

 always valuable), any circumstance that may bring them 

 to the pure air of those cliffy regions, which goats inhabit; 

 is always worthy of being cherished. 



It is a fact worthy of notice, that the remains of the goat 

 and also those of the sheep, have not been found in any of 

 the accumulations of fossil animals ; though, with the ex- 

 ception of Australia, which is very peculiar in its zoology, 

 goats are found native in all the more extensive countries 



