) 



THE CHAMOIS GOAT. 



to twelve pounds of fuet, of a fuperior quality to that of the common 

 Goat. 



They climb and defcend fuch parts of the fcabrous hills as are perfectly 

 inacceflible to men, and even to dogs, with great facility, always purfuing 

 their courfe in an oblique direction. When defcending, they throw themfelves 

 acrofs a rock, of twenty or thirty feet in height, without having any 

 intermediate fupport; they ftrike, however, twice or thrice with their 

 hoofs, in their defcent, till they reach a proper retting place. The ftrength 

 and elalticity of their tendons is fuch that, when feen at a diftance, bounding 

 from one precipice to another, a fpectator might be almoll inclined to 

 imagine that nature had fupplied them with wings, rather than with fuch 

 limbs as are common to quadrupeds. Their legs are remarkably long and 

 pliant, and the hinder ones are crooked, a formation which favours their 

 fpringing to fuch great diftances, and tends to break their fall, when they 

 precipitate themfelves from the heights of the mountains. 



The chace of the Chamois is replete with difficulty and danger: it is 

 generally performed in winter, and the moll common method is, to moot 

 them with rifle- barrelled guns, from behind fome large mafs of ftone, or the 

 clefts of the hills. Some, however, deem themfelves more prudent in 

 ftationing proper perfons at all the outlets of a glade or valley, and fending 

 in others to roufe the game. Dogs are entirely ufelefs in this chace, as they 

 would merely alarm without overtaking, and would either provoke the 

 objects of purfuit to turn upon the hunters, and throw them down the 

 precipice, or to fly off to the diftance of feveral leagues. 



A hairy fubftance, covered with a hard cruft, of an oblong form, has been 

 frequently found in the ftomachs of thefe animals. Their ordinary flations 

 are lefs elevated than thofe of the Ibex, but they are commonly feen in 

 greater numbers. 



