THE CASHMERE GOAT. 639 



all parts, both north and south. Its maintenance costs little or nothing, 

 and its milk is abundant, and can be made into a peculiarly-flavored 

 cheese. The flesh of the young kid is delicate ; its skin furnishes the 

 best kind of leather, and its hair is fashioned into brushes or woven 

 into cloth. 



THE BEZOAR GOAT. 



The Bezoar Goat or Paseng, Capra cegagms, is rather larger than 

 the Domestic Goat. It has very strong, large, curving horns, often 

 nearly three feet in length, which have in front several protuberances. 

 Both sexes have beards, and the coat consists of long, stiff, smooth hair, 

 covering a short, fine wool. The color is a reddish-gray, passing into 

 • white on the abdomen. 



The Paseng is found in Western and Central Asia, and extends to the 

 islands of the Grecian Archipelago, abounding especially in Crete, where 

 it frequents the loftier peaks. The herds usually consist of forty or fifty, 

 and are dangerous, as they will attack a hunter, arid, unless he is 

 cautious, hurl him down the precipices. In the Caucasus they ascend 

 up to the snow-line. In its mode of life it does not differ much from the 

 chamois, climbing and leaping from cliff to cliff with equal agility and 

 skill. The lynx and panther are its deadly foes in the Taurus range, but 

 in all Western Asia it is eagerly hunted to obtain the Bezoar-stones. 

 The Bezoars are balls which form in the intestines of many ruminants. 

 The animal being partial to saline matters, gratifies its taste by licking 

 pieces of rock containing saltpetre. Thus a variety of earthy and 

 silicious particles are swallowed, which become agglutinated by the 

 action of the stomach, and form curious pebble-like accretions. These 

 are regarded as endowed with wonderful power as medicines, especially 

 as safeguards against poison. 



THE CASHMERE GOAT. 



The Cashmere Goat Capra laniger (Plate XLIX), is remarkable for 

 its soft, silky hair, from which the highly-prized shawls are manufactured. 



This animal is a native of Thibet and the neighboring localities, but 

 the Cashmere shawls are not manufactured in the same land which sup- 

 plies the material. The fur of the Cashmere Goat is of two sorts — a soft, 



