CHAPTER IV.
GOATS-HAIR.
ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT—ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.
Sheep-breeding and Goats in China—Probable origin of sheep and goats—Sheep
and goats coeval with man, and always propagated together—Habits of Grecian
goat-herds—He-goat employed to lead the flock—Cameo representing a
goat-herd—Goats chiefly valued for their milk—Use of goats'-hair for coarse
clothing—Shearing of goats in Phrygia, Cilicia, &c.—Vestes caprina, cloth of
goats'-hair—Use of goats'-hair for military and naval purposes—Curtains to
cover tents—Etymology of Sack and Shag—Symbolical uses of sack-cloth—The
Arabs weave goats'-hair—Modern uses of goats'-hair and goats'-wool—Introduction
of the Angora or Cashmere goat into France—Success of the
project.
The inquiry into the origin and propagation of the Goat, no less than that of the sheep, may justly be considered a subject for interesting investigation. Goats were no less highly prized by the ancient inhabitants of Greece and Italy than by the modern. We have seen, that the great value of sheep always consisted in its fleece. The goat, on the contrary, was more valued for the excellence and abundance of its milk, and for its suitableness to higher and more rugged and unproductive land[1].
We observe a clear allusion to this distinction between the principal uses of sheep and of goats in the twenty-seventh chapter of the book of Proverbs[2]. The management and use
- ↑ Virgil, Georg. iii. 305-321.
- ↑ "Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of thy field; and thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance of thy maidens." Prov. xxvii. 23, 26, 27. Bochart has quoted a great variety of ancient testimonies to the value of goats'-milk in his Hierozoicon, l. ii. cap. 51. pp. 629, 630. ed. Leusden.
