The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous ... - Cd3wd.com

304 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT.
have two shirts, we ought not to have a second except for the
purpose here mentioned. From this it is clear, that tlie Cili-
cium \vas not commonly worn by the monks, but only at par-
ticular times for the sake of humiUation.
Dr. Sibthorp {in Memoirs, edited hy Walpole,) informs us,
that in the present day the shepherds of Attica " shear the
goats at the same time with the sheep, about April or May,"
and that the hair is made into sacks, bags, and carpets, of
which a considerable quantity is exported. In modern as in
ancient times, the inhabitants of Greece subsist in a great
measure upon goats'-milk and the cheese made from it*.
The wives of the Arabian shepherds still weave goats'-hair
for their tents. This hair-cloth is nearly black, and resembles
that of which our modern coal-sacks are madet. The Arabs
also hang bags of the same cloth, containing barley, about the
heads of their horses to supply them with foodt.
The goat, as is the case with some other quadrupeds, if con-
fined to a country, which is hot in summer and very cold in
\vinter, is always protected in the latter season by an additional
covering of fine wool beneath its long hair. A specimen of the
Syrian goat in the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow shows both
the hair and the wool. In Kerman and Cashmere this very
fine wool is obtained by combing the goats in the spring, when
it becomes loose ; and, having been spun into yarn, it is used to
make the beautiful shawls brought from those countries.
We will now conclude this chapter with the following inter-
esting communication from Mr. E. Riley, being the substance
of a paper lately read before the Society of Arts, London,
Mr. Riley " in 1825 and 1828 transported to that territory
two flocks of the finest sheep procurable throughout Germany,
* Dodwell's Tour, vol. i. p. 144.
t Banner's Observations, ch. ii. Obs. 3G. Dr. Shaw's Travels, Part iii. ch. 3.
4 6. E. F. K. Rosenmuller, Biblische Alterthumskunde, iv. 2. p. 89.
The use of goats'-hair for making cloth among the Moors is mentioned by
Rauwolff, Travels, part ii. ch. 1, p. 123 of Ray's Translation. The herdsmen on
the wide plains about Smyrna live in tents of " black goats'-hair."—C. Fellows's
Discoveries in Lijcia, p. 8.
X D'Arvieux and Thevenot, ap. Harmcr, ch. v. Obs. 9.