THE GOATS. 



107 



also darker stripes can be distinguished, as 

 well as on the under parts of the flanks and 

 the legs. Formerly these goats were much 

 hunted in Asia Minor, because peculiar 

 medicinal virtues were ascribed to the round 

 swellings which are formed in the stomach 

 of these as well as many other ruminants, and 

 which are known as bezoar balls. 



Here the question of the origin of the 

 Domestic Goat {Capra hircus) is forced upon 

 us, a question which, as in the case of all 

 other animals domesticated at a remote 

 period, is complicated by the number of 

 varieties, the mingling of species, and the 

 influence of man. In the first place it is 

 incontestable that the wild goats already 



Fig. 184. — The Angora Goat (Capra hircus, var. angorensis). page 108. 



mentioned and figured, as well as many others, 

 all originally belonging to Asia, which have 

 not been figured in this work, are capable of 

 producing fertile hybrids with our domestic 

 goat. On the other hand, it is equally in- 

 contestable that goats belong to the oldest of 

 domestic animals, that their remains have 

 been found in the neighbourhood of lake- 

 dwellings, that among the ancient Egyptians 

 at least two, if not more, easily recognizable 

 races were represented, and that at the present 

 day we know at least a dozen different races 

 distributed over all countries of the world. 

 Yet we are now acquainted with not a single 

 wild goat either in Western or Central Europe, 

 or in Africa, with the sole exception of the 

 ibex, which is essentially different in the struc- 



ture of its horns from the domesticated breeds. 

 1 1 is accordingly probable that the goats were 

 introduced into Egypt and the lake-dwellings. 

 The two species represented in this work are 

 so like certain domesticated races that we 

 must allow that they have contributed to 

 their formation, which does not exclude the 

 possibility that other species also have co- 

 operated with these towards the same end. 

 But whatever the truth may be as regards 

 this matter, it is at least certain that goats 

 easily revert to the wild condition, just as 

 wild goats are very easily tamed. 



But it is not our business to discuss the 

 tame races which have been formed by the 

 influence of man. We take, however, this 

 opportunity of expressing our opinion of the 



