of the American s. 141 
for any species of goat ever having been found with a covering 
wholly or chiefly of wool. 
“ It may be unnecessary to enlarge farther upon the classifica- 
tion of the animal, as the question cannot perhaps be satisfacto- 
rily decided, without the possession of a living specimen. 
“ The skin seems to be that of a full grown animal. A num- 
ber of observations might be offered in illustration of this opi- 
nion. But it may suffice _to state, that the horns and general 
aspect of the head, have all the appearances of maturity. The 
teeth, in particular, are evidently fully grown, and such as are 
observed in a sheep upwards of three years old. Four of them, 
on one side, are more or less broken, which may have occurred 
either from accident or age. 
t£ The wool, which forms the chief covering of the skin, is fully 
an inch and a half long, and is of the very finest quality. It is 
unlike the fleece of the common sheep, which contains a variety 
of different kinds, suitable to the fabrication of articles very dis- 
similar in their nature, and requires much care to distribute 
them in their proper order. The fleece under consideration is 
wholly fine. That on the fore part of the skin has all the appa- 
rent qualities of fine wool. On the back part, it very much re- 
sembles cotton. The whole fleece is much mixed with hairs ; 
and, on those parts where the hairs are long and pendant, there 
is almost no wool. 
“ The wool, if separated from the hairs, would, I think, be 
adapted for the finest purposes of manufacture. But, in its pre- 
sent state, it could not be so applied, though many of the hairs 
would fly off in the manufacturing processes. It is, however, 
highly probable, that, by a careful selection of breeding stock, 
the hairs might, in a great measure, or perhaps entirely disap- 
pear in the course of a very few generations. It has always been 
observed, that where sheep have been neglected their wool has 
been comparatively coarse ; and wherever they have been pro- 
perly treated, and due advantage taken of the accidental finer 
varieties, the quality of their wool has been proportionally ame- 
liorated. Indeed the improvement in the qualities of wool has 
uniformly been marked as keeping pace with the progress of 
arts and civilization. I am, therefore, of opinion, that the wool 
of the Bocky Mountain Sheep would soon become a great ac- 
