Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/338



said to be derived from the circumstance, that in Cilicia goats were first shorn for this purpose. De Re Rustica, L. ii. c. ii. p. 201. ''ed. Bip.''

The language of Varro in this passage indicates, that the female goat was shorn as well as the male; and that the excellence of goats'-hair, which was used only for coarse articles, consisted in its length. Columella mentions the long bristly hair of the Cilician goats.

Aristotle says, "In Lycia goats are shorn, as sheep are in other countries." ''Hist. Anim.'' viii. 28. This testimony of Aristotle agrees with that of his nephew and pupil, Callisthenes, who says (ap. Ælian. de Nat. Anim. xvi. 30.), "that in Lycia goats are shorn just as sheep are everywhere else; for that they have a very thick coat of excellent hair, hanging from them in locks or curls; and that this hair is twisted so as to make ropes, which are used in navigation instead of cables."

Pliny, in his account of goats, says, "In Cilicia and about the Syrtes they are covered with hair, which admits of being shorn." From this it may be inferred, in conformity with the testimonies already cited from Varro and Virgil, that the longest and best goats'-hair was obtained in Cilicia, and on the coast of Africa opposite to Sicily and Malta, the modern Tripoli. It is remarkable, that Virgil, in order to designate the latter district, refers to the romantic river Cinyps, which flowed through it, observing the same practice, which we have seen to be so common with the poets in regard to the countries noted for the produce of the most excellent wool. In the interior and more hilly portion of this district of Africa both sheep and goats are still reared.

The geographer Avienus asserts that goats'-hair was obtained for the purpose of being woven in the country of the Cynetæ in Spain. Isidore of Seville, in his enumeration of the different kinds of cloth (Orig. xix. 22.), uses the following expres-*