304 DIVISION I. VEKTEUKAL ANIMALS. — CLASS I. MAMMALIA. 



domestic goats, wliii'li, tliougli less delicate than the Thibet, would undoubt- 

 edly have yielded a web t'ar more fine and even than the most admired 

 merino sheep. 



The male goat, in the menagerie of the Janlin des Plantes, is admired 

 for his symmetry, his graceful motion, and his quiet temper. But he has a 

 much greater distinction — he is free from smell ; whereas nearly all Euro- 

 pean goats are known to emit a strong, unpleasant odor. The Cashmere 

 coat is of middlinir size ; two feet luLrh at the neck ioiiit, and two feet ten 

 inches from the snout to the root of the tail ; his head, from the snout 

 between the horns, is nine inches, and his tail five, llis horns are erect and 

 spiral, diverging off towards the points, llis silky hair is long, Hat, and 

 fine, instead of gathering up in hunches, like that of the Angora goats. It 

 is black about the head and neck, and white about the other parts of the 

 body. The woolly hair is always of a grayish white, whatever be the color 

 of the rest. 



C. Co)unnuiis. — The Connnon Goat. This animal is so well known 

 that description is unnecessary. It is kept on account of its milk and the 

 ficsh oi' its young, the former being in much recjucst as a medicine for per- 

 sons of weak constitutions, or threatened with pulmonary diseases. It is 

 also frequently kept about stable-yards as a pet, where it becomes remark- 

 ably tame and attached, throwing otf all the timidity and shyness which it 

 exhibits naturally. Ships and steam-packets also keep a number of goats 

 on board, for the su]i|ily of fresh milk which they furnish. 



Genus Ovis. — The Sheep. This useful and gentle animal is a native of 

 the four <piarters of the glolie. In a wild state it is gregarious, watchful, 

 defenceless, and extremely timid. It inhabits mountainous countries, and, 

 though less active than the goat, climbs rocks and precipices with a facility 

 and speed, when alarmed, which baffle the pursuit of the hunters. The 

 fleece, in the wild state, approaches nearer to hair than wool, or at least the 

 wool is short, and forms the under covering, and is plentifully mixed with 

 long and coarser hair. In a state of domestication the hair gradually 

 disappears, and the ilcece liecomes all wool. 



The sheep has alwaj-s occupied a })roniinent place in the human economy, 

 the wool being manufactured into an infinite variety of cloths for garments, 

 and the flesh, nutritious, wholesome, and cheap, is everywhere a popular 

 article of food. 



But sheep are sometiuies employed for other purposes. In some parts of. 

 South America the children use them as ponies, and ride them to school. 

 INIajor Skinner asserts that in some parts of India they are used as beasts of 

 burden. " I met," he says, " several merchants of the province of Bisehur 

 driving a flock of sheep, bearing loads of from thirty-live to forty pounds 



