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GOAL
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GOAL , originally an See also:object set up as the See also:place where a See also:race ends, the winning-See also:post, and so used figuratively of the end to which any effort is directed. It is thus used to translate the See also:Lat. See also:meta, the boundary See also:pillar, set one at each end of the See also:circus to See also:mark the turning-point. The word was quite See also:early used in various See also:games for the two posts, with or without a See also:cross-See also:bar, through or over which the See also:ball has to be driven to See also:score a point" towards winning the See also:game. The New See also:English See also:Dictionary quotes the use in See also:Richard See also:Stanyhurst's Description of See also:Ireland (1577); but the word gal in the sense of a boundary appears as early as the beginning of the 14th See also:century in the religious poems of See also: The horns are somewhat erect and See also:spiral, with an outward See also:bend. The See also:Angora goat is often confounded with the See also:Kashmir, but is in reality quite distinct. The See also:principal feature of this breed, of which there are two or three varieties, is the length and quantity of the hair, which has a particularly soft and silky texture, covering the whole See also:body and a See also:great See also:part of the legs with See also:close matted ringlets. The horns of the male differ from those of the See also:female, being directed vertically and in shape spiral, whilst in the female they have a See also:horizontal tendency, somewhat like those of a See also:ram. The coat is composed of two kinds of hair, the one See also:short and coarse and of the See also:character of hair, which lies close to the skin, the other long and See also:curly and of the nature of See also:wool, forming the See also:outer covering. Both are used by the manufacturer, but the exterior portion, which makes up by far the greater bulk, is much the more valuable. The See also:process of shearing takes place in early See also:spring, the See also:average amount of wool yielded more or less mingled with domesticated breeds, the Cretan See also:animal being distinguished as Capra hircus creticus; but the large typical race C. h. aegagrus is met with in the mountains of See also:Asia See also:Minor and See also:Persia, whence it extends to See also:Sind, where it is represented by a somewhat different race known as C. h. blythi. The horns of the old bucks are of great length and beauty, and characterized by their bold See also:scimitar-like backward sweep and See also:sharp front edge, interrupted at irregular intervals by knots or bosses. Domesticated goats have run See also:wild in many islands, such as the See also:Hebrides, See also:Shetland, Canaries, See also:Azores, See also:Ascension and Juan See also:Fernandez. Some of these reverted breeds have See also:developed horns of considerable See also:size, although not showing that regularity of See also:curve distinctive of the wild race. In the Azores the horns are remarkably upright and straight, whence the name of " See also:antelope-goat " which has been given to these animals. The concretions known as bezoar-stones, formerly much used in See also:medicine and as antidotes of See also:poison, are obtained from the See also:stomach of the wild goat. Although there have in all See also:probability been more or less important See also:local crosses with other wild See also:species, there can be no doubt that domesticated goats generally are descended from the wild goat. It is true that many tame goats show spirally See also:twisted horns recalling those of the under-mentioned See also:Asiatic See also:markhor; but in nearly all such instances it will be found that the spiral twists in the opposite direction. Among the domesticated breeds the following are some of the more ° important.
Firstly, we have the See also:common or See also:European goats, of which there are several more or less well-marked breeds, differing from each other in length of hair, in See also:colour and slightly in the configuration of the horns. The ears are more or less upright, sometimes horizontal, but never actually pendent, as in some Asiatic breeds. The horns are rather See also:flat at the See also:base and not unfrequently corrugated; they rise vertically from the See also:head, curving to the .See also:rear, and are more or less laterally inclined. The colour varies from dirty See also: The colour varies from white or See also:grey to black, but is frequently fawn, with a dark See also:line down the spine and another across the shoulders. The other variety has a shaggy coat, generally reddish-black, though sometimes grey or pied and occasionally white. The head is long, heavy and ugly, the nose coarse and prominent, with the horns situated close together, often continuing parallel almost to the extremities, being also large, corrugated and pointed. The legs are long and the sides flat, the animal itself being generally gaunt and thin. This breed is See also:peculiar to Ireland, the Welsh being of a similar type, but more often white. The short-haired goat is the English goat proper. Both British breeds, as well as those from abroad, are frequently ornamented with two tassel-like appendages, hanging near together under the See also:throat. It has been supposed by many that these are traceable to See also:foreign blood; but although there are foreign breeds that possess them, they appear to pertain quite as much to the English native breeds as to those of distant countries, the peculiarity being mentioned in very old See also:works on the goats of the British Islands. The See also:milk-produce in the common goat as well as other kinds varies greatly with individuals. Irish goats often yield a quantity of milk, but the quality is poor. The goats of See also:France are similar to those of See also:Britain, varying in length of hair, colour and character of horns. The See also:Norway breed is frequently white with long hair; it is rather small in, size, with small bones, a short rounded body, head small with a prominent forehead, and short, straight, corrugated horns. The facial line is See also:concave. The horns of the See also:males are very large, and curve See also:round after the manner of the wild goat, with a tuft of hair between and in front. by each animal being about 22 lb. The best quality comes from castrated males, See also:females producing the next best. The breed was introduced at the Cape about 1864. The Angora is a See also:bad milker and an indifferent See also:mother, but its flesh is better than that of any other breed, and in its native See also:country is preferred to mutton. The kids are See also:born small, but grow fast, and arrive early at maturity. The Kashmir, or rather See also:Tibet, goat has a delicate head, with semi-pendulous ears, which are both long and wide. The hair varies in length, and is coarse and of different See also:colours according to the individual. The horns are very erect, and sometimes slightly spiral, inclining inwards and to such an extent in some cases as to cross. The coat is composed, as in the Angora, of two materials; but in this breed it is the under-coat that partakes of the nature of wool and is valued as an See also:article of See also:commerce. This under-coat, or pushm, which is of a See also:uniform greyish-white tint, whatever the colour of the hair may be, is beautifully soft and silky, and of a fluffy description resembling down. It makes its See also:appearance in the autumn, and continues to grow until the following spring, when, if not removed, it falls off naturally; its collection then commences, occupying from eight to ten days. The animal undergoes during that See also:time a process of combing by which all the wool and a portion of the hair, which of See also:necessity comes with it, is removed. The latter is afterwards carefully separated, when the fleece in a See also:good specimen weighs about See also:half a See also:pound. This is the material of which the far-famed and costly. shawls are made, which at one time had such a demand that, it is stated, 16,000 looms were kept in See also:constant See also:work at Kashmir in their manufacture. Those goats having a short, neat head, long, thin, ears, a delicate skin, small bones, and a long heavy coat, are for this purpose deemed the best. There are several varieties It is one of the species which render it so difficult to give a precise See also:definition of either See also:sheep or goats. The short-horned Asiatic goats of the genus Hemitragus receive mention in the article See also:TAHR; but it may be added that fossil species of the same genus are known from the Lower See also:Pliocene formations of See also:India, which have also yielded remains of a goat allied to the markhor of the Himalayas. The Rocky See also:Mountain goat (q.v.) of See also:America has no claim to be regarded as a member of the goat-See also:group. For full descriptions of the various wild species, see R. Lydekker, Wild Oxen, Sheep, and Goats (See also:London, 1898). (R. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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