THE CHAMOIS. 105 



et produisent ensemble." In this he is mistaken. He adds however 

 that he never heard of any example of the kind. " J'avoue cependant 

 que ce fait, le plus important de tous, et qui seul deciderait la ques- 

 tion (of homogeneousness of race), ne nous est pas connu; nous n'avons 

 pu savoir, ni par nous, ni par les autres, si les chamois produisent 

 avec nos chevres ; seulement nous le soup^onnons." 



It is quite evident then that chamois are not merely feroe caprce. 

 It was an originally wild animal, and not one become so by having 

 wandered away into the wilderness. Animals wild by nature always 

 retain somewhat of that original state, if taken even at their birth 

 and attempted to be tamed. Goats, though quite at liberty, still 

 like the society of man, and will come skipping to the spot where he 

 is ; indeed from the earliest times the goat is always mentioned as a 

 household animal. The chamois, on the contrary, will flee at the very 

 approach of a human being ; and its terror and natural timidity can 

 never be overcome, even though you may have reared it as a kid, 

 and it has lived among men for years. 



