78 HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



Ray observes, one would hardly suppose that their 

 feet were adapted to such perilous achievements; 

 yet, upon a nearer inspection, we find that Nature 

 has provided them with hoofs well calculated for 

 the purpose of climbing; they are hollow under- 

 neath, with sharp edges, like the inside of a spoon, 

 which prevent them from sliding off the rocky 

 eminences they frequent. 



The Goat is an animal easily sustained, and is 

 chiefly therefore the property of those who inhabit 

 wild and uncultivated regions, where it finds an 

 ample supply of food from the spontaneous produc- 

 tions of Nature, in situations inaccessible to other 

 quadrupeds. It delights in the heathy mountain, 

 or the shrubby rock, rather than the fields culti- 

 vated by human industry. Its favourite food is the 

 tops of the boughs, or the tender bark of the young 

 trees. It bears a warm climate better than the 

 Sheep, and frequently sleeps exposed to the hottest 

 rays of the sun. 



The milk of the Goat is sweet, nourishing, and 

 medicinal, and is found highly beneficial in con- 

 sumptive cases : it is not so apt to curdle upon the 

 stomach as that of the Cow. From the shrubs and 

 heath on which it feeds, the milk of the Goat ac- 

 quires a flavour and wildness of taste very different 

 from that of either the Sheep or Cow, and is highly 

 pleasing to such as have accustomed themselves to 

 its use : it is made into whey for those w r hose diges- 

 tion is too weak to bear it in its primitive state. 

 Several places in the north of England and the 

 mountainous parts of Scotland are much resorted 

 to for the purpose of drinking the milk of the Goat; 

 and its effects have been often salutary in vitiated 

 and debilitated habits. 



