100 THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



for these goats was so brisk that the market value of a rain 

 was twelve hundred dollars, and a ewe brought five hundred. 

 The valuable part of its fleece is the outer coat of fine long 

 silky hair, generally of a pure white, but sometimes a light 

 gray. The fleece weighs on an average under eight pounds 

 but as it has no yolk and loses little in its preparation for 

 manufacture, this weight, at the ordinary current prices, is 

 far more profitable than those of the wool of the sheep. 

 Fifteen pounds is the largest weight of fleece reported, this 

 being sheared from an aged ram. 



The staple has an average length often to twelve inches 

 for the rams, and eight for the ewes, these bearing a much 

 finer and more lustrous wool. There has been much mis- 

 understanding in regard to this and the above named animal, 

 both being included in the common reports made and pub- 

 lished a few years ago under the single name of the Cash- 

 mere, which, as will be readily perceived from the entire dif- 

 ference between the two, is a distinct misnomer. So that 

 these reports are entirely untrustworthy as regards the high 

 value as alleged of the Angora fleece. Some of these reports 

 stating the value to be six or more dollars a pound for the 

 raw fleece, and the weight of the fleece ns ten pounds or 

 more, it is easily perceived how the public may have been 

 deceived into paying exorbitant prices for these animals, 

 and explains the costly disappointments which arose from 

 the deception. These of course at once threw a deep dark 

 cloud over this really valuable animal, and it soon became 

 an object of quite undeserved disrespect. Animals that had 

 been purchased for five hundred dollars were quickly sac- 

 rificed for a mere trifle, and indeed some were given away, 

 as the easiest method of ridding the unfortunate owners of 

 them. 



But more correct information being gained, the goat soon 

 found a place among our wool bearers, and has since that 

 early time been reared with much profit in large flocks, 

 especially on our Western borders, mostly in California, 

 where one of the adjacent islands became a most suitable 

 home for a large flock. It is to be noted that the sheared 

 fleece is not the only source of profit, for the skins are largely 

 used for rugs, for carriages and domestic uses, and are in 

 constantly good demand for these purposes. The fleece, 



