io6 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



We do not make much use of the hair of the goat in England. 

 But in some countries, such as Turkey and Persia, it is made into 

 carpets, which are esteemed of very great value. 



There is a kind of goat which lives in Thibet, from whose hair 

 very beautiful shawls are made. This is called the Cashmir goat, 

 and as it lives in a very cold country, it has two coats of hair 

 instead of only one. Next to the skin is a warm garment of 

 woolly fleece, and outside this is a covering of long, silken hairs. 

 It is from the soft inner fleece that the shawls are made, and 

 in order to make one small shawl no fewer than ten goats have 

 to be shorn. 



The largest member of the goat tribe is the Ibex, an animal to 

 be found only in the loftiest mountains of Europe and Asia. The 

 ibex differs from the ordinary goat in the character of its horns, 

 which are of enormous size. 



We do not often eat the goat's flesh; it is tough and hard. 

 But that of the kid is naturally more tender, and in some parts 

 of the world it is almost the only meat to be procured. Those 

 who have tasted it say that it is like very delicate mutton. 



The male goat is sometimes verj/- quarrelsome, and \\\\\ butt 

 with his horns at any stranger. But if his beard be seized, he 

 at once loses all his courage, and begins to bleat in a very pitiful 

 way. 



THE ANTELOPES 



Midway between the oxen and the goats come the Antelopes. 

 Some members of the famil)- can scarcely be distinguished from 

 oxen, others, as we shall see, are as closely related to the goats. 



One of the prettiest of the antelopes is the African Kudu, an 

 animal whose habits closely resemble those of the deer. It is to be 

 found throughout the greater part of Central and Southern Africa, 

 but is extremely shy, and makes its home only in the most in- 

 accessible districts. 



Among the steep precipices of the European mountains, from 

 the Pyrenees to the Caucasus, dwells the Chamois, another member 

 of the antelope tribe, an active and graceful little animal, which in 

 general appearance is not at all unlike a small goat. 



