wild goats of Juan Fernandez are descendants of these
Spanish-American domesticated breeds.

The species of true _wild goats_ are not numerous, but are very
generally distributed over the world--particularly over the old
continents. In America only one wild species is indigenous: that is,
the Rocky Mountain goat. Some authors have asserted that this species
is not indigenous to America; but most certainly this statement is an
error. From its peculiar appearance, as well as from the locality in
which it is found, it could never have sprung from any known
domesticated breed. It is a long-haired creature, snow-white in colour,
and with very short straight horns. Its hair is of silky hue and
fineness, and hangs so low that the animal appears as if without legs.
Its skin makes one of the most beautiful of saddle covers; and for this
purpose it is used; but the animal itself being rare, and only found in
the most remote and inaccessible regions of the Rocky Mountains, a good
skin is as costly as it is valuable. It is met with in the great
central range, from Northern Mexico, as far north as the Rocky Mountains
extend; and it is supposed also to exist among the higher summits of the
Californian mountains.

The Ibex is another species of wild goat, somewhat celebrated. It is
the wild goat of the European Alps, where it is known by the Germans as
Stein-boc, and as Bouquetin among the French.

Another ibex belongs to the Caucasian Mountains, called Zebudor, or
Hach; and still another kind inhabits the Himalayas, where it passes
under the name of Sakeen. There is also an ibex in Siberia; and still
another in the Pyrenees.

In addition to these, there is a large wild goat in the loftiest
Himalayas, known as the Jaral, or Tur; and another in India called the
Jungle Kemas, or Wild Sheep of Tenasserim. In Northern Africa, again,
there are several species of native wild goats, as the Jaela in Egypt,
and the Walie of the African-Arab countries; but in South Africa no
indigenous wild goats have been observed--their place in that region
being supplied by their near congeners the Klipspringers, and other
rock-loving antelopes.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

ANTELOPES.

The Antelope tribe is so closely related to that of the Deer, that it is
often difficult to distinguish one from the other. Indeed, certain
species of antelopes are more like to certain species of deer, than
either to their own kind. This is more especially t