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GOATS. 



The varieties of the Goat are almost numberless, and it will be impossible to engrave, or 

 even to notice, more than one or two of the most prominent examples. One of the most valu- 

 able of these varieties is the celebrated Cashmir Goat, whose soft silky hair furnishes 

 material for the soft and costly fabrics which are so highly valued in all civilized lands. 



This animal is a native of Thibet and the neighboring locality, but the Cashmir shawls 

 are not manufactured in the same land which supplies the material. The fur of the Cashmir 

 Goat is of two sorts : a soft, woolly under coat of grayish hair, and a covering of long silken 

 hairs that seem to defend the interior coat from the effects of winter. The woolly under coat 

 is the substance from which the Cashmir shawls are woven, and in order to make a single 

 shawl, a yard-and-a-half square, at least ten Goats are robbed of their natural covering. Beau- 



ANGOKA GOAT.— Capra hircus car. angorensis. 



tiful as are these fabrics, they would be sold at a very much lower price, but for the heavy and 

 numerous taxes which are laid upon the material in all the stages of its manufacture, and after 

 its completion upon the finished article. Indeed, the buyer of a Cashmir shawl is forced to 

 pay at least a thousand per cent, on his purchase. 



Attempts have been made to domesticate this valuable animal in Europe, but without 

 real success. It wid unite with the Angora Goat and produce a mixed breed, from which 

 may be procured very soft and fine wool, that is even longer and more plentiful than that of 

 the pure Cashmir Goat. As a commercial speculation, however, the plan does not seem to 

 have met with much success. 



There are at least forty acknowledged varieties of the Goat, among which may be men- 

 tioned the Berbttka, or Ram Sagul, of India, a Goat which is remarkable for being destitute 

 of beard and for the large dewlap which decorates the throat of the male. Its ears are very 

 short, and its smooth fur is white, mingled with reddish-brown. The Syrian Goat is notable 

 for the extreme length of its ears, which hang downwards, and when the animal raises its 

 head nearly touch the shoulders. The Spanish Goat is destitute of horns, and the Mark- 

 hur, or Snake-eating Goat, of India and Thibet, is celebrated for its large and exquisitely 

 twisted horns, which are not dissimilar to those of the koodoo, only twisted in the opposite 

 direction. 



