Goats.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



147 



I 



without difficulty. On the first alarm, away scours 

 the troop, not in a tumultuous mass, but in single 

 file following a leader. Their speed, as might be 

 expected from the vigour and compactness of the 

 body and limbs, is very great. Sometimes, how- 

 ever, when any object of apprehension appears, 

 they do not exert it, but plunge about, flinging out 

 their heels, butting, and tossing up their heads, and 

 exhibiting emotions of violent fury. It is seldom, 

 however, that they venture upon an attack, unless 

 hard pressed or wounded, when they defend them- 

 selves with desperation ; dropping on their knees, 

 they dart forward upon their assailants with extraor- 

 dinary force and impetuosity, and unless he be cool 

 and prepared he cannot escape his fate. 



Mr. Pringle assures us that the gnu taken young 

 will become as domesticated as the cattle of the 

 farm, with which it associates harmlessly, going and 

 returning to pasture ; it appears, however, that few 

 farmers like to domesticate it, as it is liable- to a 

 cutaneous eruption which it communicates to the 

 cattle, and which is invariably fatal. In confine- 

 ment the gnu often becomes ferocious, and is not to 

 be approached without caution ; the females are 

 less dangerous than the males, and more easily 

 manageable. 



The general colour of the gnu is deep umber- 

 brown verging upon black ; the tail and mane are 

 grey ; the latter indeed is nearly white. Fig. 656 

 represents a herd of gnus on the karroo ; Fig. 659, 

 a front view of the head of the animal, which may 

 be compared with the characters we have detailed. 

 Besides the common gnu, two other species of this 



genus are known. The first is the Kokoon, as the 

 ooshwanas term it (A. taurina, Burchell). It is 

 larger than the preceding species, with which, 

 though inhabiting the same districts, it never asso- 

 ciates ; it is far less daring than the gnu, and is 

 sometimes found solitary, but most frequently in 

 herds, which wander over the vast plams of the 

 interior. 



The next species is the Brindled Gnu (A. Gorgon, 

 H. Smith) : little is known respecting it, and it 

 appears to be comparatively rare, and is perhaps 

 restricted to certain territories beyond which it does 

 not wander. 



A specimen exists in the Museum of the London 

 Missionary Society, which was brought from South 

 Africa. It is certainly very distinct from either of 

 the preceding animals. 



So far then as the specimens in our ' Pictorial 

 Museum ' permit, have we endeavoured to give a 

 sketch of the Antelopes, a family which, as it usually 

 stands in systematic works, consists of a num- 

 ber of distinct forms or genera, ill-assorted under 

 one head, and exhibiting very different degrees 

 of relationship to each other. When we compare 

 the Canna on the one side, and the Pronghorn 

 on the other, with the Gazelle of the desert, we 

 see few points of affinity, and are forced to the con- 

 viction that the division-line between the family 

 " Antelope " of most writers, and that of the ox 

 and the goat, is purely arbitrary. Our object has 

 been, without departing from our plan of clothing 

 science in a popular dress, to convey some idea of 

 the principal groups, as illustrated by our pictorial 

 specimens, into which the Antelopes are resolvable, 

 and to delineate succinctly the habits and manners 

 pervading each group, or displayed by the more 

 remarkable species. Though we have given generic 

 titles and definitions, yet we have used the term 

 "Antilope," throughout, in the specific name of 

 each animal, as being more familiar to general 

 readers than such words as Catoblepas, the title of 

 the genus comprehending the gnu ; Calliope, that of 

 the koodoo, &c., deeming it sufficient to have stated 

 them, and noted their characters at the head of 

 each genus. Those who wish to investigate this 

 subject at length, may consult Col. Hamilton Smith's 

 ' Treatise on the Ruminants,' in Griffith's transla- 

 tion of the ' Regne Animal ' of Cuvier ; and a paper 

 by Mr. Ogilby, in the ' Zool. Proceeds.' for 1836, p. 

 132, et seq. 



Goats and Sheep. — Though the domestic races 

 of goats and sheep, as we are accustomed to see 

 them in Europe, exhibit marked distinctive features, 

 yet the diagnostics fail us in a great measure when 

 we turn to the breeds of sheep in other countries, 

 which exhibit a greater length of limb, a more goat- 

 like form of body, and a clothing of hair ; and it is 

 from paying attention to domestic breeds, rather 

 than to truly wild species, that naturalists have been 

 inclined to consider both goats and sheep as gene- 

 rically the same, seeing that it is for the most part 

 in countries where the domestic sheep is woolly 

 that its difference from the goat is at once palpable. 

 " So little," says Cuvier, " do the sheep deserve to 

 be generically separated from the goats, that they 

 even produce together a mixed fertile race," an 

 assertion we query. Again in the ' Zool. Proceeds.' 

 1834, Mr. Hodgson, after a long table of differ- 

 ences between sheep and goats, adds, "After all, 

 there are no physical distinctions at all equivalent 



to the moral ones (those deduced from temper and 

 disposition of the two species) so finely and truly 

 delineated by BufFon, and which, notwithstanding 

 all that Col. Hamilton Smith urges in favour of the 

 courage and activity of the', sheep, will even be re- 

 cognised as the only essential diagnostics of the two 

 genera." If there are, indeed, no other distinctions, 

 the " moral ones " are nothing, for the wild species 

 of goat and sheep are not so contrasted in dispo- 

 sition ; and even if they were, it is not from such 

 points that the naturalist has to deduce generic cha- 

 racters. 



In the goats, and also in the sheep, there are 

 horns in both sexes ; there are also glandular inter- 

 digital pits in the sheep and goat, and they are 

 alike formed for rocky or mountain abodes ; the 

 muzzle is small and hairy. The females have two 

 teats. The goats have the horns compressed late- 

 rally, rugose on their anterior aspect, and arching 

 upwards and backwards; there is no suborbital 

 iinus. The sheep have the horns voluminous, turned 

 to the sides, curling downwards, and often making a 

 double flexure. There are deep suborbital sinuses, 

 with a linear oriflce incapable of being expanded, 

 and, unless sought for, not to be seen amidst the 

 wool or dense hair. Besides these characters, the 

 chafFron is generally more arched in the sheep 

 than the goat ; and the latter has mostly the lower 

 jaw furnished with a beard. Neither have inguinal 

 pores. 



Genus Capra — the Goats. 



660.— The Common Goat 



(Capra Hirais, Linn.). A/| (» xai n, but generally 

 used for the female), 'rpiym, x't^"?" (the male), 

 ipiipts (young male kid of three or four months), 

 x'l^'pii (young female before its first winter), of the 

 Greeks; Caper and Hircus (male), Capra (female), 

 Hoedus, or Hsedus (a young male kid), Hoedulus, or 

 Hoedillus (a very young male kid, or kidling, i>?«), 

 Capella (female kid), of the ancient Italians ; Becco 

 (male), Capra (female), Capretto, and Caprettino 

 (kid and kidling), of the modern Italians; Bouc 

 (male), Chevre (female), Chevreau (kid), of the 

 French; Cabron (male), Cabra (female), Cabrito 

 (kid), of the Spanish ; Cabram (male),Cabra (female), 

 Cabrito (kid), of the Portuguese ; Bock (male), 

 Geisz (female), Bocklein (kid), of the Germans ; 

 Bok (male), Giyt (female), of the Dutch ; Bock 

 (male), Geet (female), Kiidh (kid), of the Swedes ; 

 Buk, Geedebuk (male), Geed (female). Kid (kid), of 

 the Danes ; Bwch (male), Gafr (female), Mynn (kid), 

 of the ancient Britons. 



As is the case with almost every domesticated 

 quadruped, great uncertainty hangs over the origin 

 of the goat. Some naturalists refer it to the Ibex 

 of the European mountain-ranges, others regard it 

 as descended from the Paseng of Persia (Capra 

 iEgagrus) or from the Caucasian Ibex (Capra Cau- 

 casica, Giildenst.). Cuvier says that the Ibex of the 

 European Alps, as well as that of the Caucasus, 

 breecfs freely with the common goat, producing a 

 fertile progeny ; and there were in the Garden of 

 Plants at Pans, goats of very large stature, taken 

 wild on the Alps and Pyrejnees, the produce, as 

 asserted, of the Ibex with the common goat. After 

 all, however, nothing positive can be ascertained 

 on the point in question ; it is one of those which 

 must be left in abeyance. The subjugation of the 

 goat, whatever may be its primitive stock, took 

 place at a very early epoch, and it is evident that 

 the flesh of the kid was accounted a delicacy. There 

 wiu formerly in Syria, as there is at the present day, 

 a breed of igoats with long pendent ears, and fine 

 long hair fit for the manufacture of some kinds of 

 stuffs. In this respect they perhaps resembled the 

 Angora goat (Angora is in Anatolia, Asiatic Tur- 

 key). We read that the Israelites made curtains of 

 goats' hair as a covering for the Tabernacle, and 

 the modern Arabs manufacture the cloth of their 

 tents from the hair of the long-eared breed, which 

 is generally of a black colour, and which they 

 prefer to the hair of the camel. The females of 

 this breed yield excellent milk in profuse quantity, 

 and are therefore much esteemed. Burckhardt no- 

 tices a very fine breed of goats of this race in the 

 valley of Baalbec, which he says are not common 

 in other parts of Syria ; they have very long ears, 

 large horns, and long hair, but not silky like that 

 of the goats of Anatolia. The hair of the goats 

 of Italy in the time of Virgil was long, but of 

 coarse quality. In the 'Georgics' (lib. iii.) the 

 shepherds are directed to shear the beards and long 

 hair of the Cinyphian goats for the service of the 

 camp, and for garments for the mariner. Varro 

 also observes that goats were shorn for the use of 

 sailors, for coverings to engines of war, and to work- 

 men's instruments. From the earliest antiquity the 

 milk of the goat has been in requisition, and in the 

 present day the goat and sheep in Syria take 

 the place of the cow, if not exclusively, to a great 

 extent. 

 From the beginning of April to the beginning of 



September, the towns are supplied with milk by 

 large herds of goats, which pass through the streets 

 every morning, and are milked before the houses of 

 the customers. The products of the milk are fur- 

 nished in abundance at the same season. In Switz- 

 erland, flocks of goats are kept for the sake of their 

 milk, and our classical reader will remember the 

 lines in Virgil ('Georgics,' lib. iii.) which are still 

 applicable, "Pascuntur vero sylvas," &c. Besides 

 the long-eared and long-haired race of Syria, of 

 which Figs. 661, 662, and 663 are representations, 

 there is also a breed closely resembling that common 

 in Europe : among other races, we may here notice 

 the Dwarf African, with close hair, almost beardless, 

 and with a little pendulous tassel-like excrescence of 

 skin hanging from each side of the throat : of this 

 breed we have seen specimens in England. 



The most celebrated variety of f he domestic race 

 is the goat of Cashmir (Figs. 664 and 665), which 

 produces a wool of exquisite fineness, from which 

 are manufactured the costly Cashmir shawls, not 

 to be purchsised even in the country where they are 

 wrought but at a great price. This goat is spread 

 through Thibet, and in the country of the Kirghiz, 

 at the bend of the Ural, north of the Caspian Sea; 

 it is covered with silky hair, long, fine, flat, and 

 falling, and with an under-vest in winter, of delicate 

 greyish wool ; and it is this wool which constitutes 

 the fabric of the shawls. The average weight of 

 wool produced by a single goat is about three 

 ounces, and it sells in Thibet for about five shil- 

 lings a pound : ten goats are required to furnish 

 sufficient wool for a shawl a yard and a half square. 

 It appears that in Thibet the wool is first combed 

 from the goats in the mountains and sent to Cash- 

 mir, where it pays a duty on entry. It is there 

 bleached with rice-flour, spun into thread, and 

 taken to the bazaar, where another tax is paid 

 upon it ; the thread is then dyed, and the shawl is 

 woven and the border sewed on ; but the weaver 

 has now to carry it to the custom-house, where a 

 collector puts on it any tax he pleases, and in this 

 he is only limited by the fear of ruining the weaver, 

 and consequently losing future profit. All the 

 shawls intended for Europe are packed up and sent 

 to Peshawer across the Indus: this part of the 

 journey is generally performed upon men's backs, 

 for the road is in many parts impassable, even by 

 mules, being across deep precipices, which must 

 be traversed by swinging bridges of ropes, and per- 

 pendicular rocks, which are climbed by wooden 

 ladders. At each station of this toilsome journey, 

 which lasts twenty days, a tax is paid, amounting to 

 about two pounds sterling for the whole journey. 

 From this point till they come near the confines of 

 Europe, in addition to the many custom-houses at 

 which they must pay tribute, these valued articles 

 of merchandise are exposed to the marauders of 

 Afghanistan and Persia, and to the Turkomanic 

 hordes, whose forbearance must be purchased at a 

 high price. After leaving Persia, many shawls get 

 to Europe over the Caucasus, and through Russia, 

 but the largest number reach Constantinople through 

 the Turkish provinces. 



In April, 1819, M. Jaubert, under the French 

 government, succeeded in bringing a flock of 

 Thibet goats, with great loss and difficulty, from 

 the Kirghiz territory to France ; but the small pro- 

 duce of wool obtained from each animal precluded 

 all hope of making a profit by rearing these animals, 

 and the scheme would have failed had it not oc- 

 curred to M. Polonceau that a cross between the 

 Thibet and Angora goat, remarkable for the length, 

 and silkiness of its hair, might be an improvement 

 on both. The experiment was tried, and succeeded ; 

 and instead of three ounces, several of the mixed 

 race produced thirty ounces of down in one season, 

 and of a superior quality, being of finer and longer 

 staple, while the animals themselves were more 

 hardy and docile. 



In 1824 some of the pure Thibet goats were im- 

 ported from France into England by Mr. Tower, and 

 located at Weald Hall, Essex; but their limited 

 produce militated against the extension of the breed 

 with advantage. In 1831 Mr. Riley, an enterpris- 

 ing proprietor of New South Wales, purchased from 

 M. Polonceau ten females and three males, which 

 he conveyed safely to London, and thence to New 

 South Wales ; but with what ultimate results we 

 are not able to state. 



To describe the common goat is superfluous ; its 

 habits, its boldness, and its activity are well known. 

 It climbs rocks and rugged mountains with great 

 agility, and will stand secure wherever it can 

 manage to get the most limited footing. In Egypt 

 and Syria goats are often taught various feats of 

 dexterity, for the performance of which their natural 

 address and activity peculiarly qualify them, but to 

 execute which, nevertheless, requires considerable 

 practice. Dr. Clarke, in his 'Travels' (vol. ii.), notices 

 an instance of this kind, which he describes as fol- 

 lows : — " Upon our road we met an Arab with a 

 goat, which he led about the country for exhibition, 



U2 



