THE GOAT. 127

Scripture, and, indeed, “ under the Jewish rituals the goat
was an important animal, and used as the appropriate sym-
bol of atonement in the splendid rites ordained by the
Supreme Lawgiver himself*.” Both the sheep and goat
make an important figure in the mythology of ancient
nations. Pan, the god of shepherds, had the attributes of
a goat; the Libyan Jupiter was distinguished by having
the horns of a ram; the Algis, or shield of Minerva and
of Jupiter, was originally a goat-skin; the goat was thus
connected with supreme power and wisdom in the persons
of these divinities, which shows the estimation in which the
character of the animal was held. The skin of the goat
seems to have been very early used for clothing, and a kind
of felt made from the hair, stiffened with gum, was proof
both against the weather and the weapons of an enemy.
‘¢The war-tunics of the Cimbri, which, in their wars with
Marius, are represented as being such strong defences, were
of this material; and the Roman auxiliaries had winter
dresses of the same in Britain and all the other colder
provinces of the empire. We have evidence of the early
domestication of the goat in the fact that all the Celtic
tribes, which are justly regarded as the most ancient races

* British Cyclopedia.