GOAT, Capra hircus, the domestic goat, which exists, in a wild or semi-wild state, in all the European mountain ranges. It is generally supposed that it may be a descendant of the paseng of Persia (C. rgagrus). The males fight furiously with each other in the rutting time. They have an offensive smell. A most important variety, formed into a breed by artificial selection, is the Angora goat, where almost the whole body is enveloped in that long, silky, white hair. The Angora goat has been introduced into Cape Colony, Australia, and the United States. The Kashmir goat, from Tibet and Bokhara, is almost equally valuable, furnishing the white to brown hair used in making Kashmir wares. It has been successfully accli matized in Prance. A third variety, is the Mamber goat from Asia Minor and Tartary, distinguished by its long pendent ears. The Syrian goat, which also has long ears, is trained in the East to all manner of tricks. The Alpine ibex is a magnificent goat, without beard, but with very strong, slightly divergent much-ridged horns. It is now rare.
The goat is capable of the most perfect domestication, and becomes extremely attached and familiar. The flesh is
good; that of the kid, or young goat, is in most countries esteemed a deli cacy. Requiring but little attention, and able to subsist on rough diet, the goat is in many countries "the cow of the poor." The milk is very rich and nutritious, more easy of digestion than that of the cow, and often useful to consumptive patients. Both cheese and butter are made of goats' milk; they have a peculiar but not disagreeable flavor. Goats' milk is still very much used in Syria and other parts of the East. The skin of the goat was early used for clothing, and is now dressed as leather for making gloves and the finer kinds of shoes (see GLOVES). The hair is used for making ropes which are indestructible in water, and for making wigs for judges, barristers, and other functionaries. For the latter purpose the hair of white goats is used. The horns are used for making knife handles, etc., and the fat is said to be superior to that of the ox for candles. The Rocky Mountain goat is an antelope rather than a goat. See ANGORA GOAT.
In Christian art the goat is an emblem of impurity.