268 ANIMALS OF THE 



yet it becomes more fruitful, being generally 

 found to bring forth three, four, and five at a 

 single delivery. The buck is capable of propa- 

 gating at the age of one year, and the female at 

 seven months : however, the fruits of this pre- 

 mature generation are weak and defective ; and 

 their best breeding time is generally delayed till 

 the age of two years, or eighteen months at least. 

 One buck is sufficient for a hundred and fifty 

 goats : his appetites are excessive ; but this ar- 

 dour brings on a speedy decay, so that he is 

 enervated in four years at most, and even be- 

 comes old before he reaches his seventh year. 

 The goat, like the sheep, continues five months 

 with young, and in some places bears twice a- 

 year. 



The milk of the goat is sweet, nourishing, and 

 medicinal ; not so apt to curdle upon the stomach 

 as that of the cow, and therefore preferable to 

 those whose digestion is but weak. The peculi- 

 arity of this animal's food gives the milk a flavour 

 different from that either of the cow or the sheep j 

 for as it generally feeds upon shrubby pastures 

 and heathy mountains, there is an agreeable wild- 

 ness in the taste, very pleasing to such as are fond 

 of that aliment. In several parts of Ireland, and 

 the Highlands of Scotland, the goat makes the 

 chief possession of the inhabitants. On those 

 mountains where no other useful animal could 

 find subsistence, the goat continues to glean a 

 sufficient living, and supplies the hardy natives 

 with what they consider as varied luxury. They 

 lie upon beds made of their skins, which are soft, 



