ABORIGINAL ANIMALS OF GREAT BRITAIN. BY MARY ROBERTS. THE DOMESTIC GOAT AND HIS "Look at Billy, what a beard he has!" Thus say the boys when a goat makes his appearance; and then the most venturesome among them either fence at the venerable appendage under his chin, or attempt to push his horns, scampering off as fast as they can run, when Billy prepares to chasten them for their imperti nence. This we have often seen, either on village commons, or in public roads; and while the passers-by have looked on and smiled at the grotesque appearance of the animal, we have thought that many might advantageously be more acquainted with the natural history of the Caprine races than they are. Much of history and mythology, of poetry and legend, is associated with them. In Grecian annals, Pan, the fabled guardian of shepherds and of huntsmen, is represented with the horns and feet of a goat; during the spring season, Osiris, that good king of Egypt, to whom divine honours were accorded, assumed the same characteristics; and both Minerva and the Jupiter of Greece, wore the ægis of a goat-skin as a breast-plate. The goat, moreover, holds a distinguished place among the constellations: by some he is presumed to commemorate the faithful services of a Cretan maiden, who nourished the infant Jupiter with the milk of her flock; but more probably, Egyptian or Chaldean shepherds named the stars within their range of vision, connecting them with animals and facts associated with pastoral life, and these, as time went on, became objects of idolatrous observances. Nor is this all. The goat was rendered a type of the Grecian or Macedonian empire; and about two hundred years before Daniel the prophet, the subjects of the latter were called Ægeadæ, or the goats' people. Caranus, the first king, as heathen authors relate, was enjoined by an oracle to take the goats for his guide to empire, when, having left his native land with a band of fugitives, he sought a home in Macedonia. The country through which they passed was wild and forest-like, intersected with broad streams and rocky passes, yet still they went on, looking in vain for the promised guides, till a violent storm compelled them to take shelter at this moment a herd of goats rushed by, and Caranus, with his followers, regardless of the tempest, quickly followed them, till they came to a wide plain, on which afterwards arose the city of Edessa; hence the king, who fixed there his seat of government, made the goat his ensign, and called the city by a name, implying the goats' town. This memorable spot, became, in after years, the buryingplace of Macedonian kings; the birthplace, also, of many who swayed the sceptre: and in commemoration of its origin, the son of Alexander the Great was named Alexander Ægus, or the son of the goat; and many of his successors are represented, in statues and on coins, with goats' horns. Men, in ancient times, clothed themselves with the skins of animals. To this succeeded an improved kind of vestment; when, according to the testimony of ancient writers, the long hair of the Caprine races was blended, by the aid of gum, or glue, with the softer fur of wild animals, or wool, and manufactured into a strong felt, known in northern Asia, and noticed by the poet of the "Georgics." "For hairy goats of equal profit are With woolly sheep, and ask an equal care. Is dearly sold, but not for equal use: And eases of their hair the loaded herds. Their camelots, warm in tents, the soldiers hold, And shield the shivering mariner from cold." The Editors of Cuvier's "Animal Kingdom" conjecture that the black war-tunics of the Cimbri were made from this material; certain it is, that such was the winter-dress of the Roman legions stationed in Britain, and that they wore no other till the reign of Constantius Chlorus. Goats'-hair was, likewise, the chief material of Scandinavian dresses a fact readily proved by referring to the figured vestments of their divinities in rough bas-reliefs and on coins. But, though black war-tunics, chiefly made of goats'hair, continued to be worn by auxiliary cohorts, Scandinavian matrons had become acquainted with the use of the distaff, and from them it passed into Britain. Goats'thread, at first plaited into ribbon-like stripes, and then sewn together, was gradually superseded by woollen yarn, woven at length into narrow, and, lastly into broad pieces that formed plaids. Hence the origin of those picturesque dresses of varied colours which characterize the Highland soldier. Goatherds, doubtless, preceded shepherds, in the northern and western regions of the world by many ages. The learned Editors of Cuvier's "Animal Kingdom,' conclude that they predominated, while the country was chiefly covered with forests; and that wool-producing animals were not brought across the Rhine, or Upper Danube, till the Roman empire fell to pieces. It was otherwise, as regarded the shores of the Euxine, and throughout Greece; in Spain, Southern Gaul, and Italy in each, flocks abounded, and without doubt the Argonautic expedition had reference to the importation of ovine races into the classic isles of the Mediterranean. : The common goat is a lively, capricious, and playful animal; by nature fond of climbing, and delighting in wild and mountainous regions; frequenting with his brethren even the borders of perpetual snow, if some favourite herbage invites them to such Alpine solitudes. You may see them standing secure on the verge of inaccessible and dangerous precipices, apparently loving to look down or gazing fearfully from the summit of a giddy height. Their small feet seem little adapted for such perilous expeditions, and yet, upon a near inspection, we notice in the hoof a beautiful adaptation of means to a desired end. The hoofs are hollow underneath, with sharp edges, and this effectually prevents them from slipping off the dangerous sites which they frequent. Goats are always in motion, searching after new objects, and ranging hither and thither; they are easily sustained, and find an ample supply of food from the spontaneous productions of the soil, in situations nearly inaccessible to all other creatures. They delight rather on heathy mountains or shrubby rocks, than in green pastures, or commons covered with herbage, the resort of sheep and bees. Those who visit the Alpine regions of Italy, Piedmont, or Switzerland, frequently notice one of these sprightly and wandering creatures looking down upon him from some high crag, or sleeping exposed to the full rays of a meridian sun. A goatherd can rarely manage more than fifty of these untractable creatures, however strong and vigilant he may be; and one of his chief cares consists in leading them forth to pasture when dew lies heavy on the grass, as sung the Sabine poet: "Before the sun, while Hesperus appears, First let them sip from herbs the pearly tears But when the day's fourth hour has drawn And the sun's sultry heat their thirst renews, When creaking grasshoppers on shrubs complain, Then lead them to their watering - troughs In summer's heat, some bending valley find, To shield them with its venerable shade. Thus sung the poet of the "Georgics," in Mantuan fields, among groves of mulberry-trees and vineyards; and the directions, which he gave to goatherds of ancient times, are equally applicable to those of the present day. In the warmer regions of the globe, men, when thus employed, often pass the night in the open air. Chardin, who lived in the reign of Charles II., and received the honour of knighthood at his hands, tells us that when travelling by moonlight through a solitary region in Asiatic Turkey, he was alarmed by a furious barking of dogs. The sound was welcome, for it boded the habitation of man, and the wearied company thought that they were approaching a considerable village. Great, however, was their disappointment, when, on drawing nearer, they saw only some glimmer ing embers, beside which lay extended a few poor goatherds, wrapped in thick loose coats. Little is known with certainty concerning the natural history of the Caprine tribe, as, though associated with men in stables, or employed to draw small carriages for children, they are not especial favourites. Few, if any. care to make companions of them, excepting boys, who rather teach them to play tricks than try to improve their natural faculties. We may infer, however, that notwithstanding their love of mischief, and predilection for cropping pet flowers when attainable, they possess excellent dispositions, and are great lovers of peace among themselves; in proof of which many interesting facts have been preserved, from which we select the following. It chanced one day among the valleys of Piedmont or Switzerland, that some young children went forth on a summer holiday to gather wild flowers in a favourite glen. The spot was wild and lovely, a prattling stream leaped forth from a hollow fissure in the rock, where grew bee-orchises, and harebells of the deepest cerulean blue. The rock itself was lofty, and precipitous; it was such as the boldest chamois-hunter had never essayed to climb; but wild goats pastured there, and might be often seen to look down complacently from eminences that were almost lost in the clouds. High above the clear streamlet, so high that children would gaze at it with astonishment, and ask one another, in their simplicity, if it did not reach the stars, projected a narrow crag, on which one might almost fancy that even a sure-footed Alpine mouse would hardly dare to venture. The children had finished gathering flowers for an approaching festival, and sat themselves down to rest beneath the shade of a group of alders; they spread their provisions on the grass, and their ringing laughs and merry voices woke up many a sleeping echo in that quiet glen. Suddenly one of the joyous company exclaimed in a tone of alarm, "Look, look, look! what's that on the crag?" and the children all saw with terror two goats on the narrow ledge. The ledge was not only narrow, but exceeding steep, and there was no room for the creatures to pass each other; therefore the goat which had ascended to the extreme point, could not by any possibility regain a safe resting-place, neither could the descending goat retrace his steps. There they stood, as if considering what was best to be done, while the children ran off with the utmost speed to the neighbouring village, begging all whom they met to save the poor goats. The people naturally hastened to see what was the matter, and stood with anxious upturned faces towards the ledge. It was really piteous to see the condition of the animals, whose fall they dreaded every moment. No such thing; the two venerable personages still looked one another in the face, till at length a bright thought seemed to pass their minds. The goat that was coming down, deliberately folded his legs under him, and lay as close to the ground as possible; his brother, with equal self-possession, walked warily over him, for a spring could not be ventured without imminent risk; and then the prostrate goat, having arisen, crept down to the extreme point, which admitted of turning round. A few seconds more, and the two friends were seen cropping some of the scant herbage which grows on a terrific elevation. What exclamations of delight burst from the children; and what a deafening shout was raised by the young men. The goats looked down as if to say, "Who among you could have done the same?" Nine different species belong to the Caprine family; none attain any considerable size, but they are equally robust, and capable of enduring both heat and cold. Endowed also with great strength and agility-such as inhabit the mountainous regions of Europe and Asia-will often spring down the slippery flanks of precipices with astonishing celerity, or mount a perpendicular rock, fifteen feet high, with three successive bounds, if assisted by the slightest projections. When safe from their pursuers, they may be noticed in almost every variety of action; they run, and then stop short, leaping at one time, and apparently approaching some object with the utmost eagerness, then retiring quickly to a short distance, in the most capricious manner, as if the strange restlessness of their temperament, excited them to the most eccentric movements. The wild goat appears to be the stock of all our domestic breeds, and is distinguished by its anteriorly sharp horns, very large in the male, short and sometimes wanting in the female; which is also sometimes the case with the different ibexes. It inhabits the mountains of Persia in troops, where it is known by the appellation pasing, and perhaps those of several other countries, even the Alps. The oriental bezoar is a concretion found in its intestines. Domestic goats vary exceedingly in size, colour, and the length and texture of their coat; also in the magnitude, and even the number of their horns. Those of Angora and Cappadocia have the longest and most silky hair. The Thibet goats are celebrated for the admirably fine wool which grows among their hair, of which the Cashmere stuffs are fabricated. There is a race in Upper Egypt with short hair, convex chanfrin, and projecting lower jaw, which probably is hybrid. The goats of Guinea, termed mambrines and juida, are very small, with horns inclining backwards. All of them are robust, capricious, wandering animals that betray their mountain origin by affecting dry and wild situations, where they feed on coarse herbage and the shoots of bushes. They do much injury in forests. The one which approaches most nearly to the common goat, is the Syrian Goat, whose long hair was employed at a very early period for the manufacture of stuffs; whilst the milk yielded by the females has been a most important article of food to the inhabitants of that region. The Angora Goat has the hair longer and more silky; whilst the general aspect of the animal more resembles that of the sheep. The length and silkiness of the hair is still more remarkable in the Cashmere Goat, a native of Thibet; from which material are woven the Cashmere shawls, that are so highly valued in Europe. The quantity of wool produced by each goat is not above three ounces; and ten goats are required to furnish sufficient wool for a shawl, a yard and a half square. The wool collected in Thibet is sent to Cashmere, where it is manufactured; and a long and toilsome journey must be traversed before the shawls can be transmitted to Europe. upon him unawares, for the creature is wonderfully endowed with means for facilitating his escape. His visual organ enables him to discern objects at a great distance; his sense of hearing is extremely acute, his smell equally so, and his huge horns, so far from offering any impediment to his rapid course, render him an essential service in protecting his head in the event of an unexpected fall, or the necessity of throwing himself from some great height to avoid his pursuers. Others of the tribe have their geographical limits very accurately defined; the Temlah goat inhabits the highest range of Central Asia; the gagras is often seen among the Caucasian mountains; the Abyssinian ibex affects the rocky fastnesses of Arabia; the Caucasian ibex is confined to the region whence he derives his name. But, as regards the domestic goat (capra hircus), his varieties are widely diffused through almost every part of the known world, and, however varying either in shape or the quality of their hair, they are equally valuable in their assigned localities. Some of our readers are, probably, acquainted with the adventures of Alex |