266 ANIMALS OF THE 



fecting their kinds, that the higher order of ani- 

 mals have experienced. But in their present ne- 

 glected state, they vary but little from the wild 

 animals of the same kind : man has left them 

 their primitive habits and forms, and th less 

 they owe to his assiduity, the more they receive 

 from nature. 



The goat seems, in every respect, more fitted 

 for a life of savage liberty than the sheep.* It 

 is naturally more lively, and more possessed with 

 animal instinct. It easily attaches itself to man, 

 and seems sensible of his caresses. It is also 

 stronger and swifter, more courageous, and more 

 playful, lively, capricious, and vagrant ; it is not 

 easily confined to its flock, but chooses its own 

 pastures, and loves to stray remote from the rest. 

 It chiefly delights in climbing precipices, in go- 

 ing to the very edge of danger ; it is often seen 

 suspended upon an eminence hanging over the 

 sea, upon a very little base, and even sleeps there 

 in security. Nature has, in some measure, fitted 

 it for traversing these declivities with ease ; the 

 hoof is hollow underneath, with sharp edges, so 

 that it walks as securely on the ridge of a house 

 as on the level ground. It is a hardy animal, 

 and very easily sustained ; for which reason it is 

 chiefly the property of the poor, who have no 

 pastures with which to supply it. Happily, how- 

 ever, it seems better pleased with the neglected 

 wild than the cultivated fields of art j it chooses 

 the heathy mountain, or the shrubby rock; its 



Buffon. 



