THE CASHMERE OR SHAWL GOAT. Nowhere have goats, other than Angoras, received more at tention or been brought to a higher usefulness than in India, where a long list of varieties might be named and described, such as the streaked `nags' of Assam; the 'bukee' of the Deccan, the `maycay' of Mysore, etc. None of these equal in importance, however, those of the western Hima layan region, which are cultivated for the sake of their wool, of which the genuine Cashmere shawls are made. Two principal varieties of these are dis tingulshed—the lesser, or chappoo, and the more common changra or 'shawl goat.' This variety is rather small, of various colors, but generally sil very white, with long, flattened, spiral horns, and pendent ears. These goats are valued not for the long outer hair, but for the underwool or pashm, which in summer is combed out and appears like grayish down. It is beautifully fine, soft, and
silky, and from it are made the famous and often extremely costly shawls of Kashmir and its neigh borhood. These goats were introduced into France and Germany during the last years of the nineteenth century, and have thriven well. Their natural home extends through Tibet through the mountains southwestward to the country of the Kirghiz, and enormous flocks are pastured by the natives in the high Himalayan valleys.
For the 'Rocky Mountain goat,' see ROCKY MOUNTAIN WHITE GOAT.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Pegler, The Book of the Goat Bibliography. Pegler, The Book of the Goat (London, 1886) ; Schreiner, The Angora Goat [in South Africa] (London, 1898) ; Thompson, "The Angora Goat," in United States Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin Ye. 137 (Wash ington, 1901).