Goat skin

“ The skin of the Rocky Mountain goat has never had any regular commercial value. The stiff, coarse, brittle hair that is mixed with the wool renders them unsuitable for robes or rugs, and this hair can not readily be plucked out. The only demand for them is for mounting. Very few white hunters and none of the Indians understand how to skin and preserve them properly for this purpose, and this fact, taken in connection with that of the rough and dangerous nature of the ground they inhabit, makes it difficult to secure good skins, or even heads for mounting. ”

“ They are loaded up by their husbands, a piece of goat skin separating the rough sticks from the woman’s bare skin, and the burden being tied on by a rope of vines which rests on the forehead. In addition to this goat skin on her back, the woman usually has an apron or skirt of skin tied about the waist and reaching to the knees and sometimes below them. ”

“ The skin of the animal will be a little fluffy, and not suitable for fine goat skin trade.50 It will not take a good polish after tanning, and it is not desirable for shoe leather. It will be worth about half as much as common goat skin. The meat of the animal will be a little better than that of the common goat, but it will be inferior to Angora venison. ”

“ The strong smell of the goat does not proceed from his flesh but his skin. These animals are not permitted to grow old, or perhaps they might live to ten or twelve years; but it is usual to kill them as soon as they cease to multiply, because the older they are the worse is their flesh. Both male and female goats have horns, with a very few exceptions; they vary very much in the colour of their hair: it is said that those which are white, and have no horns, give the most milk, and that the black ones are the strongest. ”

“ They all go naked, except a few who wear goat skins before and behind. They anoint their skins with goats tallow, mixed up with the juice of certain herbs, which thickens the skin, and defends them against the cold, of which they complain much, although their country is so far to the south. They have neither walled, nor thatched houses, but dwell in grottos and caverns of the mountains. They feed on barley, flesh, and goats milk, of which they have abundance, and some fruits, particularly figs. As the country is very hot, they reap their corn in April and May. ”

“ Each man had his own supply generally in a goat skin, and it looked anything but tempting when poured out—being quite discoloured and warm, from the skin being exposed to the sun. Some of the men had met with accidents and lost their supply ”

“ Wooden or metal vessels would be too heavy, and, besides, the slight though constant evaporation that always takes place through the pores of the leather keeps down the temperature of the water, even under a burning sun, the slight loss which is caused by the porousness of the skin being more than counterbalanced by the coolness of the 193 water. It is true that the goat-skin communicates to the liquid a flavour far from pleasant, but in those countries the quality of the water is of little consequence, provided that it is plentiful in quantity, and tolerably cool. ”

“ The best goat-skins come from the Saxon and Bavarian Highlands, Swiss Alps, Pyrenees, Turkey, Bosnia, Southern Hungary and the Urals. The goats being exposed to all winds yield fine skins. A good number come from Argentina and from Abyssinia, the Cape and other parts of Africa. Of all light leathers the goat has the toughest and tightest grain; it is, therefore, especially liked for fancy work. The grain is rather too bold for glacé work, for which the sheep is largely used. ”

“ The water is carried in large entire skins of the goat, which they tan with the pounded bark of a mimosa, very common in the jungle near the town, and which, moistened with a little water, they rub well into the skin. If it be designed to be divested of the hair, the skin, before being tanned, is left for two or three days until slight putrefaction has commenced, and the hair is then easily detached. The most laborious occupation of the women is grinding the jowaree, or millet, which is imported into Tajourah from Aden and the Persian Gulf. ”

“ In our days the skins of goats are made into [164] leather. Kid skins are used for gloves and shoes, and goat skins for morocco, shagreen, and other fine kinds of leather. The hair is made into ropes which may be kept in the water without injury; also in England to make wigs for judges and others, the hair of white goats being used for this. Goats' hair is also used to make brushes and hats. Knife-handles and other things are made from the horns, and the fat is better than that of the ox for candles.
A Pair of Angora Goats
I must now speak of two kinds of goats of use for their wool. ”

“ The wool of the goat is much less extensively used, yet appears in some rugs, not only as warp and weft, but also as pile. The32 goats of Kashmir, which live in the cold climate of a table-land three miles above the ocean level, produce the finest and most beautiful wool; but as it grows near the skin, and beneath wiry hairs from which it can be removed only with tedious care, it is too precious to be used excepting for the most beautiful shawls and choicest carpets. Of next importance and finest texture is the wool of the Angora goat, known to commerce as mohair. ”

“ They greatly resemble the Hottentots in this filthy taste of dress. The rest of their body is naked; a piece of skin only covers them before; and they wear a goat's skin on their shoulders, in shape of a woman's handkerchief, or tippet. ”

“ A fawn’s skin, worn originally by hunters; an attribute of Dionysus, and assumed by his votaries. It is represented in ancient art as worn not only by male and female bacchanals, but also by Pans and Satyrs. It was commonly put on in the same manner as the ægis, or goat’s skin, by tying the two fore-legs over the right shoulder, so as to allow the body of the skin to cover the left side of the wearer. ”

“ In the East, the long soft hair of the goat is used in making the beautiful Cashmere shawls; and from the skin is manufactured morocco leather. The skin of the kid is well known for its use in making gloves. ”

“ I wore a high cap of goat's skin, with a flap that hung, down, to keep the sun and rain from my neck, a coat made from the skin of a goat too, the skirts of which came down to my hips, and the same on my legs, with no shoes, but flaps of the fur round my shins. ”

“ Those who choose to indulge in the luxury of dress, by wearing linen, or turbans, send a few goat-skins, collected from the goats that have served them occasionally for food, to Mogodor, or Marocco, or barter them with some Jews for linen or shoes, and thus supply all their wants; so that their resources considerably exceed their wants, for some of them have several thousand camels which cost them nothing. These animals browse on the bushes in the environs of their habitations, and are continually increasing and multiplying. ”

“ Clean cold water must always be at hand in all weathers, and a drink of milk coloured with tea is nourishing. Goat's milk is particularly suitable for the dog: many owners keep goats on their premises to give a constant supply. It is a mistake to suppose, as many persons do, that meat diet provokes eczema and other skin troubles; the contrary is the case. The dog is by nature a carnivorous animal, and wholesome flesh, either cooked or raw, should be his staple food. Horseflesh, which is frequently used in large establishments, is not so fully to be relied upon as ordinary butcher meat. ”

“ Before speaking of actual processes of manufacture, it is necessary to devote some attention to the structure and chemical constitution of hide or skin, which forms the raw material. Although a great variety of skins are employed in tanning, they are all constituted on the same general type, and an anatomical description of the hide of the ox will apply almost equally to those of the calf, sheep, and goat ”

“ Each particular species of goat hide possesses its own peculiarities of texture. The thickness and grain differ according to the environment in which the animal has been raised. It is peculiar that those raised in cold climates do not have as thick skins as those raised in warmer climates, for the long, thick hair apparently takes the strength.
We may wonder where all the skins come from that are made up into glazed kid, mat kid, and suede, at the rate of several thousand dozen every day. The great proportion of the skins are goatskins. ”

“ As no kids or he-goats are admitted, the scene is very orderly, and there is none of the deafening bleating which usually characterises large flocks.
"These mountain goats are a solemn set, and by the gravity of their demeanour excite a suspicion that they have had no youth, and never were kids. They need no herdsman to bring them home in the evening, for, fully sensible of the danger of remaining unprotected, they hurry homewards of their own accord as soon as the sun begins to decline."
Like the wool of the sheep, the hair of the Goat is used for the manufacture of clothing ”

“ Until recently, when man became a menace, he had but few, and no serious, enemies. Being alert and capable among the crags, and in defense of himself exceedingly skillful with his deadly sharp horns, [Pg 15] he is rarely attacked by the lion, wolf, or bear. True, the kids are sometimes captured by eagles.
There are a number of species of wild goats in the Old World—in southern Europe, in many places in Asia and in northern Africa. The white Rocky Mountain goat is the only representative of his species on our continent. ”

“ He who wishes to form a flock of goats should consider in choosing them: first of all that they are of an age capable of breeding, and that for some time to come, for a tiro is more useful for that purpose than a veteran. As to conformation, see to it that they are strong and large, with a smooth body and thick coat: but beware of the short haired goat, for there are both kinds. The she goat should have two excrescences, like little teats, hanging under the muzzle: those which have them are fecund: [124] the larger the udder the more milk and butter fat she will yield. ”

“ Only the kid is prized for eating, especially in the South, where the aromatic vegetation of the hills takes away its natural tastelessness. The goat’s fleece, though used for certain coarse fabrics, is not of much importance, either, and cannot in any way take the place of sheep’s wool. But a breed native in the hilly regions of Central Asia, the Cashmere goat, furnishes a down of incomparable fineness, from which precious stuffs are made. This goat, under a thick fur of long hair, bears an abundant down that protects it from the rigors of cold and is shed naturally every spring. ”

“ We might change the nature of their hair, and render it as useful as the finest wool, by intermixing them with the goats of Angora. The goat species, although greatly degenerated, is less so in our climate, than that of the sheep; and in the warm countries of Africa and India, it appears to be still more degenerated. The smallest and weakest goats, are those of Guinea, Juda, &c. and yet in those countries we find the largest and strongest sheep. ”

“ The sum of my experience is, that first I killed some plainly old male goats (they were off by themselves, no longer with the herd) , and of these the coats were dingy; that presently I found a plainly younger male goat (he was lighter in weight and his horns and hoofs showed less wear) , and his coat was spotless; and that finally I found the coat of a kid born that same year to be equally spotless. What is the inference—almost the conclusion? Is it not that in the older goats the color was discoloration, from causes external; that by nature the goat is perfectly white ”

“ Goats are very valuable for flesh, milk, wool, and skins, particularly in warm, dry regions. The greater part of the world’s goats are grown in southern Europe, northern Africa, and Syria. Goat’s leather is employed for innumerable uses, some of the chief of which are glove making, shoemaking, and bookbinding. In the United States goats have never attained much importance as farm animals. They have been established in the Pacific States, however, notably in Oregon, and in Iowa and Missouri. ”

“ But on the plains of Northern India, under ranges of hills on which the Persian ibex wanders wild, the common domestic goat is a very different animal from that of Europe, and has peculiar spiral horns of the same pattern as the markhor, another grand species of wild goat which draws eager hunters to the higher reaches of the same mountains. From this it would appear that two species of wild goat have been domesticated and kept to some extent distinct, one eventually finding its way westward, but not eastward and southward. ”

“ The body is snow white, consisting of long, soft wool, which is longer and coarser on forelegs, neck and chin than on the body. Males have a distinct beard.
Mountain goats range from Washington and Idaho north to Alaska. Their nearest relatives are the Old-World antelopes, especially the alpine species of Europe and Asia.
[Pg 407]
The mountain goat is an animal of the high mountains. Their habitat is the bare-rock cliffs and rock-strewn slopes of the Arctic-alpine and Hudsonian Life-zones. Where extensive, open rocky areas occur they descend to the Canadian Life-zone. ”

“ He lives where romantic streams start on their adventurous journeys to mysterious and far-off seas; arctic flowers and old snow fields have place in the heights he ever surveys; he treads the crest of the continent [Pg 12] and climbs where the soaring eagle rests. The majority of goats are born, live, and die on peak or plateau above the limits of tree life.
The goat distinctly shows the response of an animal to its environment. Of course an animal that can live among cañons, ice, and crags must be sure-footed, keen-eyed, and eternally wide-awake. ”