166 THE ANGOKA GO AT. 
animal is covered, and wliicli liair is of little value. 
The wool on the contrary is exceedingly valuable, and 
worth from 5s. to 7s. per pound. The wool sheds 
naturally in the spring of every year, and is then care- 
fully combed out, but is much matted and intermixed 
with the coarse hair of the outer coat. The hair is 
afterwards shed. In some breeds the goats yield two 
fleeces in the year. 
This variety of goat is found on the highland slopes 
of the Himalayas, and in the valleys of Thibet and 
Cashmere. It is a very handsome animal, and is more 
prolific than the Angora goat, the female generally 
producing twins. Its colour is white, with bluish or 
reddish patches on the neck and shoulders, or sometimes 
almost pure white, with a rich reddish or golden tinge 
on the surface of the fleece. The wool is white or a 
light brown colour. 
From the recorded results of experiments in crossing 
the Angora and Cashmere goats, I at one time in- 
tended to try this cross, with a view to increase the 
yield of shawl wool or under-down, and get rid of 
the outer hairy coat. That this is no chimerical 
idea may be inferred from the fact that nearly all 
the wild breeds of sheep have a double coat of hair 
and wool. Some breeds of African sheep have skins 
covered with short hair like that of a horse, with 
scarcely any wool, the Moufflon of Corsica, and the 
Argali of the Caucasus, or its near relative the Argali 
or wild sheep of the Kocky Mountains, have long 
coarse hair with an undercoat of wool. Some domesti- 
cated breeds, such as the Orkney and Shetland sheep, 
still retain their outer coat of coarse hair. Kempy 
hairs on some of the best Merinos occasionally appear 
