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of the Atabeks with his own nephew weakened his cause. During the winter Richard strove to reunite the various factions, and arranged to give Cyprus to King Guy, and to recognise Conrad of Montferrat, who was, however, killed by the Assassins at Tyre immediately after, on the 28th April 1192. Henry of Champagne, who then married Isabel, was chosen as his successor, being well regarded by both French and English, as being related to both kings. When, however, after Easter, the English again marched to the foot of the Jerusalem hills, the same discord broke out once more. The Syrian Franks said that no water could be found near the city, and again advised an advance on Egypt. Ill and disgusted, King Richard retired to Acre, and prepared to sail home; and Saladin was encouraged to march on Jaffa, which he took by assault. King Richard returned in haste, and, while the garrison of the citadel were on the point of submitting, he leapt into the surf from his red galley, and fought his way on shore in his "sea-shoes." Aided by a few knights mounted on mules, he again drove Saladin to the hills, taking many important prisoners. The two champions thus confronted each other utterly

exhausted, and both were willing to make peace.

The famous truce which was signed on 2d September 1192 was equally distasteful to Christians and Moslems, but it practically settled the Eastern Question for many years after. All the plains remained to the Latins, and the mountains to the Moslems. Jerusalem was recognised as a place of Christian pilgrimage, and priests were allowed in its cathedral, and at Nazareth and Bethlehem. Richard's success was not complete, but Saladin never won a battle against him. He recovered more than 3000 square miles of Syria for Christendom, and added an equal area to the Latin dominions in Cyprus. He defeated the greatest Moslem of the age in three battles-at Acre, Arsûf, and Jaffa-and stayed the Moslem advance on Europe which Saladin threatened. He not only made a mighty name in Europe, which strengthened him at home, but he re-established European trade in all the ports of the Levant. Those who pass over lightly his achievements, and speak of his failure, seem hardly to do justice to his memory, or to be in sympathy with the strong feelings of medieval Europe concerning the Holy Land. C. R. CONder.

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VOL. CLXI.-NO. DCCCCLXXVII.

THE GOAT: HIS USEFUL QUALITIES, AND HOW HE CAME BY THEM.

ALTHOUGH the goat and the sheep are commonly classed together, and not unfrequently run in company, there is a great difference between them in habits and disposition. In the first place, the goat immediately regains the faculties which enable it to thrive as a wild animal whenever it escapes from human control. One finds goats which have run wild almost all the world over where there are mountains. The goat is distinctly a climber among the rocks, whereas the ancestor of the sheep, unless alarmed by a foe, grazed on the grassy slopes of the hillsides. Wild goats to this day prefer to live among precipices and broken crags, and to browse upon the leaves of scattered shrubs which find lodgment in the clefts and crannies. It is a more sure-footed animal than the sheep, and, moreover, adopts different methods of progression when among its native haunts; for where sheep prefer to jump, goats usually prefer to clamber. One can see by merely observing the outline of a goat that it is not so well adapted for jumping, and is better adapted for climbing, than a sheep. It is altogether more alert in its movements, and evidently bestows more thought on the process of locomotion. Its hinder quarters have not the swelling muscles which propel the wild sheep from rock to rock, but are rather lean and light. Hence the great difference (at times overlooked in Wales) between a leg of goat and a leg of mutton. The great difference shown between the two animals in character is probably owing to

the fact that, where the wild goats feed, it is necessary for the herd to become scattered and for each to find its own way. Hence, doubtless, the remarkable independence of the goat. Like his fellow-mountaineer, the ass, he has unshakable nerves, and will keep his presence of mind even when exposed to sudden and unaccustomed danger. How great a contrast is he in this respect to the sheep, which is always liable to sudden seizures of panic, and which, when frightened, invariably loses its head! This independence and sang - froid of the goat have proved of service to its masters on many occasions. It used to be the custom in almost all stables containing a number of valuable horses to keep a goat, which was allowed the free run of the building. The reason given was that, in the case of fire, when terrified horses will sometimes refuse to leave the stables and are therefore in great danger of perishing, such a goat will lead the way with the most perfect calmness, and, encouraged by this example, the bewildered horses will follow it and so escape destruction. I do not know personally of any instance where this has taken place, but the commonness of the custom asserts that it has probably been justified by experience. There seems to be something about a goat's imperturbable character which inspires confidence and respect in other animals. I have known instances of butchers who have kept goats in order to entice victims into their slaughter-yards. Usually as soon as an ox smells the taint of blood he becomes suspicious and

refuses to go farther, but if preceded by a goat he will follow quietly to the place of execution. In like manner specially trained goats are constantly used on the ships which bring sheep from abroad. At the unloading-places in the Thames these decoy-goats become very clever at their business. They will proceed to each part of the ship where sheep are penned and lead forth the huddled and frightened passengers with very little guidance from their masters; and they will continue in this way in the most methodical manner until the whole ship is cleared.

Not only does the goat show more initiative and greater independence than the sheep, but he also displays more versatility. This shows that, when free, he must have lived a kind of life involving frequent changes of habit, and must have been prepared to make shift to meet a great range of emergencies. Mr Romanes, in his book on 'Animal Intelligence,' quotes two "cases of an intelligent manœuvre performed by goats" which illustrate the expedients to which these animals occasionally have to resort :

"On both occasions two goats met on a ridge of rock with a precipice on each side, and too narrow to admit of their passing one another. One of these cases occurred on the ramparts of Plymouth Citadel, and was witnessed by many persons; the other took place at Ardenglass, in Ireland. In both these instances the animals

looked at each other for some time, as if they were considering their situation, and deliberating what was best to be done in the emergency. In each case one of the goats then knelt down with great caution, and crouched as close as it could lie, when the other

walked over its back. This manoeuvre on the part of goats has also been recorded by other writers, and it is not

so incredible as it may at first sight appear, if we remember that in their wild state these animals must not

unfrequently find themselves in this predicament."

Intellectually as well as physically the goat is less specialised for mountain life than the sheep, and hence he finds it easier to adapt himself to the environment of the farm. That he is quick at learning anything new, when he can be induced to give his mind to it, has been shown by the achievements of a most interesting troop of performing goats which has been exhibited several times in London. Another peculiarity of the goat tribe which shows that they are less specialised than the sheep is the way in which certain varieties tend to resemble kindred animals which are not goats. Thus there has been a long controversy as to whether the "Rocky Mountain goat" is really a goat or an antelope; while some of the wild goats of Northern India seem to be akin to the sheep tribe, since they have, on all four feet, certain digital pits or glands, which were at one time supposed to characterise the genus Ovis.

Another point about the goat which we find very useful, and which can be accounted for by ancestral habits, is the liberal supply of milk which it gives. Primarily this is owing to the fact that often two or three kids have to be provided for at the same time; but to some extent the special utility of the goat as a milch animal is due to the same wild habit as that which gave rise to the peculiar usefulness of the cow. The udder of the ewe is small when compared with that of a nanny-goat, and contains but little milk at any one time. In this the ewe resembles the mare, and the cause is the

same in both instances. Each of these animals is in the habit of keeping its young by its side, whereas the cow and the goat put their tender offspring in hiding when they go to search for food, and only suckle them twice or thrice daily. The extreme liveliness, intelligence, and the early developed climbing powers of young kids seem to indicate that they were soon released from their nurseries in the clefts of the rocks, and were allowed to accompany their dams. Certainly when compared with a young calf a kid is a prodigy of intellect.

Almost every movement of a kid proves the mountain origin of its

race.

Its powers of climbing are extraordinary, and must be witnessed to be believed. I have seen them clamber on slippery roofs and up the almost perpendicular face of a quarry to places which seemed impossible to reach without the aid of a ladder, or the clinging power of claws or fingers. I remember once seeing a pair of kids running races up and down the shafts of a disused farm roller which were tilted up at an angle of about 45°. On the extreme ends of the shafts, high in the air, the little creatures would stand, one on each, and turn about as on a pivot, with the tips of all four hooflets close enough together to rest on a penny-piece.

Such feats on the part of the goat are far more artistic exhibitions of skill in climbing than anything that can be done by a cat or a monkey; for he does everything by calculating his distance with absolute exactitude, and by an infinitely delicate power of adjusting his weight so as to maintain his balance. What gives such finish to the performance is his sublime confidence in himself, and the extraordinary precision with which

every movement is executed. His judgment is so perfect that he scarcely ever makes a mistake. Necessity has been his grim schoolmaster; for it is of course easy to see that, when leaping from ledge to ledge along the face of a precipice, the least error in calculating either his distance or the amount of muscular force to be exercised would instantly prove fatal.

This is a branch of the study of natural history which has a peculiar fascination for me, and which, the more I think of it, fills me with admiration and amazement. What a mathematician the goat would make if he could only tell us the process by means of which he performs his feats! A Senior Wrangler or a Smith's Prizeman would be nowhere beside him. Let me endeavour, very briefly, to point out the nature of certain problems which he is in the habit of solving with absolute accuracy at a moment's notice. Supposing a goat, following a new path, has to take a leap so as to alight on a pinnacle or narrow crag overhanging some abyss. First of all he must estimate the distance to be traversed, and having got it, whether by trigonometry or by some capricious method of his own, he has next to compute, to the fraction of an ounce, how much propulsive force is required to project his body (the exact weight of which has to be taken into account) precisely that distance and not a quarter of an inch farther. Moreover, he must take into calculation whether the spot he wishes to reach is above or below his starting-point; and plainly his brain, when it sends forth motor impulses to the numerous muscles involved, must beforehand reckon and apportion to each its share in the task. At the same moment he must also estimate the exact

proportionate amount of muscular force which will be required in each of his limbs to stop and balance his body on his new and precarious foothold.

Of course one need scarcely say that the whole process goes on without reaching the consciousness of the goat, or anything that could, even by courtesy, be called his mind. But, nevertheless, it is obvious that, in some way or other, the calculation is made, and is completed in a time and with an unerring accuracy which completely puts to shame the mathematical triumphs of the human intellect.

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One term habitually and alliteratively applied to goats appears, when we regard his feats as a mountaineer, to be peculiarly inappropriate. People speak of him as giddy"; and as long as the word is applied exclusively to his morals (which, judged by our standard, I admit to be something worse than negative), I have not a word to say against it. But if any one ventures to impute physical giddiness to a goat, he lays himself open to a charge of false and malicious libel-false, because it must be obvious to everybody who has seen goats perched aloft in their native haunts, that they can never experience any such feeling; and malicious, because, the goat being above all things one whose distinct calling it is to climb in perilous places, the charge is one involving professional in capacity.

In spite of the goat's splendid qualities as a mountaineer, and the toughness and vigour which he evidently possesses, man has made little or no use of him as a beast of burden. Doubtless his small size largely accounts for this; and he has been, in almost every hilly country where he could have been

of use, cut out by the superior muscular capabilities of the donkey and the mule. Had we been unable to make use of larger and more robust animals, the goat might have come to our aid in this particular kind of service, just as did the llama among the ancient Peruvians. Moreover, I see no reason why, under the influence of domestication and proper selection, his size and strength should not have been doubled or trebled. We find, however, in investigating the growth of civilisation among primitive races, that as soon as their affairs are complex enough to require pack - animals, they find it profitable to disregard the claims of the goat and to take into their service some more sturdy creature, such as the yak, the donkey, or the mule. There are several reasons for thinking that the goat was one of the first animals domesticated by man. We find, from the numerous records of prehistoric races yielded by the mud on the shores of the Swiss lakes, that the bones of goats are associated with human remains belonging to a period long anterior to that of the advent of the domestic sheep in Central Europe.

Probably in nearly all cases where savages have habitually tamed wild animals the custom has arisen in the following way. The hunter, having killed the dam and captured the little ones, carried the latter home, very likely as playthings for his children. If the little orphans were pretty and playful, they would be cherished by the "squaws" and "papooses," and would become, as it were, members of the family circle. Now young kids have very engaging manners, and are to this day universal favourites with children; hence they would be very likely to

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