]G4 THE ANGORA GOAT. 
with a view to afford additional employment to the 
population of the country, but now a large quantity is 
sent to England, France, and America. The fleece of 
the Angora goat is called at Angora c tiftik,' Turkish for 
goats' hair. 
In a paper written by Captain Conolly, read before the 
Asiatic Society, in January 1840, the country in which 
the Angora goat reaches perfection is described as 
" consisting principally of dry chalky hills, on which 
there are bushes rather than trees, and these chiefly of 
the dwarf oak, or else of valleys lying from 1,500 to 
2,500 feet above the level of the sea, which are quite 
bare of trees, and but scantily covered with grass. In 
this expanse of country there are districts that produce 
finer fleeces than others, such as Ayash, Beybazaar, and 
Yoorrook. These are districts where the goats are 
mostly kept on hills, and the natives attribute a general 
superiority to mountain flocks, which live in a rarer atmo- 
sphere, have more leaves and a greater choice of herbs, 
for which nevertheless they are obliged to range widely, 
and so are kept in health, on which the quality of their 
coats mainly depends. The finest fleeces are said to 
come from the Yoorrooks, roving tribes who keep their 
flocks out day and night throughout the year, except 
when an unusual quantity of snow falls, so that their 
fleeces are not soiled. The fleece of the two-year-old 
she goat is considered the best, that of the males being 
somewhat-inferior. Good common tiftik sells at Angora 
(1840), at 8d. per pound, and the finest picked fleece 
at Is. per pound. Skins well cured, with the 
curly fleece, sell for rugs and saddle cloths, at about £1 
at Angora, and £1 10s. at Constantinople." 
Great care is taken by some flock-masters in 
