THE SHEEP AND THE GOAT. 2"

The Gazelle, The Gazelle, of which there are numerous species,
belongs to Syria, Egypt and Algeria. It is a beautiful animal,
resembling a roebuck, but more delicately and finely limbed,
with hair equally short, but finer and more glossy. It hasa
small tuft of hair on each of its fore limbs. Of all animals
in the world, gazelles are said to have the most beautiful
eyes—extremely brilliant, and yet meek and expressive. Their
swiftness is equal to that of the roe; they do not, however,
bound forward like the roe, but run along in an even unin-
terrupted course. Most of them are brown upon the back,
white under the belly with a black stripe separating these
colours. Their horns are annulated or ringed round.

The Sheep The sheep, so useful to man, furnishing him
and the Goat. with both food and clothing, is one of the most
defenceless and inoffensive of all animals. The goat is more
hardy, more playful, lively, and vagrant than the sheep. It
delights in climbing precipices, for which nature has fitted
it, by giving it hoofs hollow underneath, with sharp edges,
so that it walks securely on narrow ridges. Both animals have
been known from the earliest times, and are frequently men-
tioned in the Sacred Writings. Of the different kinds of sheep,
the common sheep, the long-tailed sheep and the Wallachian
sheep are typical varieties. The common sheep provides us
with our chief supplies of wool. The wool of the Spanish
sheep (the merino) is finer in quality, but much less in quan-
tity. The long-tailed sheep belongs to Syria and Egypt, and
the Wallachian sheep to Crete, Wallachia, Hungary, and
Western Asia. This last has long horns, and its wool is
mixed with hair. The musk sheep of Arctic America resembles
the yak somewhat in appearance, though minus the hump and
with horns more resembling those of the buffalo. It is some-
times called the musk ox. The goat is not much used in
England, but it is practically the cow of Syria and Switzerland.
The Cashmir goat produces the fine wool so much valued for
shawl material; the kid, the materials so largely used by the