Plinies Na(iii;a!I Hiftdnei iip 



A other councricfe of i!be world /or the moft part3 dxey. pafle not eight. And both fof tSj as well the 

 oneastheother^belpedwithuifoureleapingSj-jfi^ ■ . ..•.^f'-.'-' 



. Cs'Ae,.-i, 



Oats bHng forth foure: kids . otharwhilcsi but that is very feldome. They goe with young 

 five moncths as ewe s do. Shee goats waxc'barren wiili famefle.W hen they be come once 

 to be three yecrs oldjthey arenot lb good to breed : ne yet when they are clderjSnd naaie- 

 iyibeingpaftibiins yeercsof age. They begin atthc fevenrh Ijnoneth, even whiles they fncke 

 B; tiieir dammes. And as well the bucke as the" Doe are held the better fotbrced, if they be nott, 

 and have no hocnes.The firft ti^-ne that the fhee goats are leaped^they ftand not to it ; the lecond 

 leaping fpeedeth betterj and fo forward.They churewillingly to take the btickq in the monerh of 

 November, that they might bring kids in March following, when all feubs put forth and be- 

 gin to fprour and bud, for them to bronze. And thisisfomecime when they be ayeere old^but 

 they never faile at two yeeres :yea and when they befull threejthey are not utterly decayed and 

 doriSj but are good ftill: for they beare 8 yeeres. Subject they be in cold weather, to caft their 

 young and yeane untimely. The Doe, when (lie perceivcth her eies dirame and over- caft eithcE 

 veithpin and web or catarradjpricketh them with the lliarpe point of fomebulrufh, and folet* 

 tcth them blood: but the buckegoeth to the brier and doth the like. ife///?/4;iY/i reporteth, that 

 C he had occaiion upon a time to.marke the witofthis creature: It happened^ that upon a narrow 

 thinplankethat lay for a bridge, that one goat met another comming both from divers parts j 

 now by reafon that the place was fo narrow that chey could notpafTe by, nor turne about, ne yet 

 retire backwards bliadly,confideringhow long the planke was and fo (lender withail j moreoverj 

 the water that ran underneath ran with a fwift iheame, and threatned preient death if they fai- 

 led and went bdides : '^^iutUma (1 fay) affirmeth,thathefaw one of them to lye flat down, and 

 the other to goc over his backe. As for the male goats,thcy are held for the beif which are moft 

 camoife or fnouc nofed, have long eares, and the fame flit in, with great llore.of fnag haire a- 

 bouttheir flioulders. But die marke ,coknow the kindcft females is this, they have two lappets^ 

 locks, or plaits as it were of haire, hanging downe along their bodieon either (idc fr®m their 

 'D nccke. They have not all of them horns,but fome are notc^but in thofe which are horned.a man 

 may know their age by the number of the knots dierein more or kile: and in very truihjthe note , 

 lliee goats are moic Iree of milke. ArcheLim wriEech,that they take their breath at theeares,and ' 

 not at the nolhils ; alfo that they be never cleere of the ague. And this haply is the cau[c,that 

 they are hotter mouthed, and haveaftronger breath than ilieepe, and more egre in their ruti 

 Men fay motcover,that they fee by night as wel as by dayrand therfore they that when evening is 

 come, fee nothingat all, recover their perfect fight again by eating ordinarily the liver of goats* 

 In Cilicia and about the Syrccs,the people clad themfclves with goats haire,for there they jTiere 

 them as Qieepe. Furthermore it isfa]d,that goats toward tb.e fun-letting, cannot in their pafture 

 fee directly one another, but by turning taile to taile : as for other homes of the day>they keepe 

 E head to headjand raunge together with the reft of their fcUowes.They have all of them a tuft of 

 haire like a beard hanging under their chin, which they call Aruncus. II a man take oneofiliem 

 by this beard and draw itfoorthof tlieflockCjalithcteftwillftand (till gazing thereat, as if they 

 \Tere aftonied : and i'o will they doe if any one of them chaunce to bite of a certaine hearb.TheiE 

 teeth kill trees* As for an olive tree, if they doe but licke it, they fpoile it for ever bearing after? A^vS 

 and for this caufe they be not killed in facrifice to Af/7?fr^'drf 



GhAP. LI. 



of Smne^andtheirnAtumi 



F , ^ VVine goe a brimming from the time that the Wefterne wind Favonimis beginnethto 

 j^blow, untillthe fpringiEquino(Stialhand they take the bore when they be eight moneths 

 old ; yea and in fome places at thefourth moneth of thcit:age,and continue breeding unto 

 the feventh yeere.They farrow commonly twice a yeere : they be with piggc foure moneths.One 

 fow may bring at one farrow twemiepiggesj but rearcfo manyfhecannot^ iifgidm {-skh^ih^i 



X- thol^ 



