The domestic Goat is almost certainly descended from the Paseng, or Ibex, of the mountains of Asia, with little or no admixture of other blood. In it, however, the female is bearded as well as the male, which is not the case with the Paseng. It has been subjugated from time immemorial, when the flesh of the kid was considered a delicacy. Its sure-footedness and its boldness are proverbial, as is its unpleasant odour. The power possessed by the species of ascending precipitate heights is marvellous. On more than one occasion it has been recorded--contrary to the teaching of Æsop--that whilst two individuals have met on a path too narrow for both to pass, one has lain down in order that the other might go over its back. With no great bulk of body; coarse hair of different lengths and tints, springing from out of a mass of much shorter wool; horns of varying size, but always out-turned at the tips; narrow ears, an almost entirely hair-covered nose; sight, hearing, and smell all acute; powerful thick-set legs, and a short tail naked below, it stands its own in mountainous and less civilised districts. Varieties occur with large pendulous instead of upright ears; others with extra horns, occasionally spiral as in Nepaul, or none at all. In the Angora and Cashmere breeds the hair is white. The Goat of Cashmere is famous on account of the long and very fine wool with which it is covered, which is employed in the manufacture of Cashmere shawls. It is said that the wool of ten of these Goats is required for the material of a single shawl. [Illustration: IBEX.] The IBEX is found in the Alpine heights of Europe and of Western Asia, including the Himalayas. The large scythe-blade-shaped horns of the male curve boldly upwards and backwards, diverging all the way. Along the front of their convex surfaces there is a series of protuberances or partial rings, which are only just indicated laterally. The largest specimens reach three feet and a half in height at the shoulder, which is a little less than the length their horns sometimes attain. The body colour is a yellowish-grey, white below, with a dark brown line along the middle of the back. The soft and close-set hair hides an under-fur still finer. The beard is black. European specimens are smaller than those from Asia, rarely exceeding two feet and a half in height, with horns three feet in length. The species inhabits the most precipitous and dangerous parts of mountain regions, and is wonderfully sure-footed.