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296 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT.
that this abode w£is somewhere in the elevated land of central
Asia, in the region, for example, of Arinenia, we adopt an hy-
pothesis, which explains in the most simple and satisfactory
manner the apparent fact of the propagation not only of men,
but of these quadrupeds with them, from that centre over immense
regions of the globe.
With regard to historical evidence, it is certaiidy very defec-
tive. No express testimony assures us of the facts included in
the above-named hypothesis. One thing, however, is certain,
and it appears very deserving of attention, viz. that the sheep
and the goat have always been propagated together. We find
great nations, which had no acquaintance with either of these
quadrupeds, but depended for their subsistence upon either
oxen or horses. We find others, on the contrary, to whose
mode of life the larger quadrupeds were of much less impor-
tance than the smaller ; but we find none, which were accus-
tomed to breed sheep without goats, or goats without sheep.
The reader will find numerous illustrations of this fact on
reviewnng the evidence contained in the preceding chapters.
General terms were employed in the ancient world to include
both sheep and goats*. Where more specific terms are used,
we still find " rams and goats," " ewes and she-goats" mentioned
togetlier. Sheep and goats were offered together in sacrifice,
and the instances are too numerous to mention, in which the
same flock, or the wealth of a single individual, mcluded both
these animals.
In consequence of this prevailing association of sheep and
goats, they are often represented together in ancient bas-reliefs
and other works of art. Of this we have a beautiful example
in the Rev. Robert Walpole's collection of " Travels in various
countries of the East." At the end of the volume is a plate
taken from a votive tablet of Pentelic marble dedicated to Pan,
and representing five goats, two sheep, and a lamb. As the
goats are in one group, and tlie sheep and lamb in another, the
artist probably designed to represent a flock of each. For,
* It should be observed, that the Hebrew word traBslated sheep in Ex. ix. 3.
included Goats.