10 THE GOAT. 



brown interspersed ; and on the cheeks the hair is long and 

 coarse, hanging like a lion's mane on each side of the head. 

 Nothing is known of the habits of this beautiful Goat. Its 

 external characters shew it to be distinct from the Ibex of 

 the Caucasus and Europe. 



The JAHRAL GOAT, Capra Jahral of Hodgson, has been 

 found in the mountains of Nepaul. It is described as having 

 the head finely formed, full of expression, clad in short hairs, 

 and without any vestige of beard. It is of a compact and ro- 

 bust make ; is found solitary or in flocks ; is bold, capricious, 

 wantcn, pugnacious, and easily domesticated. It has the 

 horns nine inches in length, smooth, and sharpened towards 

 the points, and not turned inward or nodose, like those of the 

 Jemlah. It is clothed with a coat of hair covering a fine and 

 delicate wool, of one length and colour. Superficially the 

 hair is brown, but internally it is blue, and the mane is for 

 the most part of the same colour. The tongue, the palate, 

 and the skin of the lips, are black, and the iris is of a deep 

 reddish hazel.* 



In America, the Goat is represented by the Wool-bearing 

 Antelope, which approaches so nearly in character to the 

 Goat, that it is by some naturalists included in the latter 

 genus. 



Such are the wild of the Caprine family which naturalists 

 have discriminated ; but how far the list yet remains to be 

 corrected, or extended, is unknown. The great mountains 

 and elevated plains of Central Asia have as yet been imper- 

 fectly opened to European research, and the paths of the tra- 

 veller are but as specks and lines in the countries to be ex- 

 plored. The boundless terraces and interior mountains of 

 the African continent, which may be regarded as the centre 

 of a distinct order of living beings, may be said to be as yet 

 untrodden by the foot of civilized man ; and we know nothing 

 of the treasures which this vast wilderness may contain, be- 



* Hodgson Proceedings of the Zoological Society. 



