THE GOAT. 
7 
HISTORY. 
panions, leading them from the richer pastures to the more steril hills. When the Goat is kept apart from the flock, he becomes 
attached to his protectors, familiar and inquisitive, finding his way into every place, and examining whatever is new to him. He 
is eminently social, attaching himself to other animals, however different from himself. He is frequently kept in stables, under 
the belief that he contributes to the health of the horses. The effect, if any, is probably to be ascribed to his familiar habits, it 
being known that horses in their stalls are fond of companions to cheer their solitude. The Goat is frequently attached to the 
little carriages of children, and appears to delight in the gay equipage, and capricious commands, of the youthful charioteers. 
Two children, in London, having escaped from their nurse, seated themselves in their tiny vehicle, and set off, whip in hand, along 
the Strand. The Goat, apparently enjoying the frolic, carried them full tilt through the most crowded parts of the city, nicely 
avoiding every obstacle, and foiling every attempt of the passengers to arrest him. Having satiated himself and his young mas¬ 
ters with their morning’s drive, he brought them back to their home in safety. 
The female of the Goat produces, in the natural state, in spring; but when food is supplied to her, she will receive the male 
at almost any season. She goes with young upwards of twenty weeks, and is very prolific, generally producing two at a birth, 
and often breeding twice in the year. The Kids are exceedingly hardy, and the most sportive of animals. The mother watches 
them with tender care, protecting them from every assailant. She yields a large quantity of milk in proportion to her size; a 
common produce is two quarts in the day for five or six months. Her milk is viscid and nourishing, little productive of oil, but 
abundant in the albumen of cheese. She allows herself to be milked without reluctance, and readily adopts other animals, and 
nurses them as if they were her own. When she has suckled such animals as the foal and the calf, it is interesting to observe 
how she attaches herself to them, and still watches over their safety, when their own habits cause them to separate themselves 
from her. In India, the children of the Hindoos, who have lost their parent, are frequently suckled by the Goat. Travellers 
report that, in the countries of the Negroes, this is very frequent. The Goat comes to the cradle where the infants lie, and mani¬ 
fests the utmost tenderness towards them; nay, when they are able to walk and play, she does not forget her maternal cares, but 
follows them as if to keep them from harm. 
The Goat, besides the milk of the female, affords hair, which is shorn from the body, and made into certain coarse fabrics of 
the nature of camblets. Of this substance are formed the tents of the Arabs, of the Turcomans, and of all the migratory tribes 
of the Tartar countries. The hair of the Goat is likewise fabricated into ropes. With such ropes the hardy natives of St Kilda 
used to swing themselves over the dreadful precipices of their coasts, in search of the eggs of sea-fowls. The skin of the Goat 
is made into leather, which is more useful and durable than that of the Sheep. It forms the fine Morocco leather of commerce, 
and is largely used for sandals, boots, gaiters, and similar parts of dress. In the countries of the East, the skin is likewise made 
into bags, for containing water, wine, and oil; and on many rivers, as the Nile and Euphrates, it is made into sacs, for floating 
the inhabitants across the stream. The skin of the kid is in universal demand for the manufacture of gloves. The flesh of the 
kid, when very young, is nearlv as delicate as that of the lamb. The flesh of the older Goats is hard and ill-flavoured, and there¬ 
fore always gives place to that of the Sheep, as countries become cultivated. 
In the British Islands, the number of Goats has been continually diminishing, with the extension of sheep, and the progress 
of agriculture. In the Highlands of Scotland, they used to be very numerous, but are now confined to a few of the remoter dis¬ 
tricts, where their milk is employed for the making of cheese. Wales long abounded in Goats : they are now in small and de¬ 
creasing numbers, and the finer and larger kinds have been lost. But in Ireland, there are still great numbers of Goats, scattered 
throughout the country, and kept by the poorer inhabitants for supplying them with milk. The Goats of Ireland are many of 
them very fine: those of Kerry and the other mountain districts, resemble the best Goats of the Mediterranean, and even exceed 
them in size. 
In this country, it is chiefly for the supply of the domestic dairy that the Goat can be regarded as of economical value. This 
arises from the want of demand for the flesh, even for that of the kid, which is so delicate. Were it otherwise, the Goat could be 
cultivated in the mountainous parts of the country with perhaps greater advantage than the Sheep. The hair of the Goat is indeed 
less valuable than wool, yet the skin is of greater value than that of the Sheep. The animals, too, are more hardy, and exempt 
from those fatal diseases which yearly destroy so great a proportion of the Sheep of the higher countries. The Goat, too, is more 
easily maintained, especially in countries of heath, and the females are more prolific. But an insurmountable objection exists to 
the extension of the husbandry of the Goat, from the want of all demand for the flesh of the fattened animal. Yet if the caprice 
of taste could be reconciled to the use of the kid, the Goat could be kept for the rearing of her young as a substitute for the 
house lambs, now produced at so much cost. The females, m this case, could be made to yield then kids at any season. They 
could be kept in houses and fed on the commonest hay, with occasional portions of turnips or green food of any kind. They could 
be maintained at less expense than the Sheep ; and as they are more prolific, and yield a large supply of milk after the kids 
