In our former investigations into the general properties of wool, and the leading facts connected with the woollen trade and manufacture, we dealt only with the wool of the sheep and, generally speaking, whenever we think of wool, it is the sheep" s wool that we mean.
Other animals, however, besides the sheep yield valuable wool; we shall now proceed to examine them and their products, one by one.
They are all ruminants; among them the most closely allied to the sheep is the goat. The common goat has a more or less coarse covering of long hair, but some of the goat family are clothed in wool of excellent quality.
The most important of the wool-bearing goats is the Asiatic, or, more properly speaking, the Angora goat. It has a long, white, silky fleece, which is clipped annually, and averages from 2 to 3 lbs. in weight.
Angora wool is in great demand; England"s annual imports reach, on an average, 7,000,000 lbs. weight, and are valued at ?1,000,000 sterling. It is known as "mohair," and it varies in quality according to the length and fineness of its staple and the softness and silkiness of itsappearance. The manufacture of this wool is confined tothe West Riding of Yorkshire.
The Angora goat has been transported from its original home into many parts of the world, and is now successfully reared in South Africa, in several of the Australian colonies, and in the United States, especially on the western or Pacific slopes. In all these places the stock is increasing rapidly, as the animals are exceedingly prolific.
In very close relationship to the Angora goat are the Thibet, Persian, and Circassian goats. Indeed, all four are one and the same animal, differing only according to the varying conditions under which they live.
The Thibet, more generally known as the Cashmere goat, haslong been famous for the soft, downy silkinessof its wool. The best of it is known as pashum, or shawl wool, and ismanufactured locally into costly shawls. Much tedious care and labor are bestowed on the production of these shawls, each part of the process being allotted to separate individuals. Indeed, it is said that the manufacture of one pair of shawls has been known to occupy every member of a workshop for a year and a half. As a consequence of this extreme care on the part of the manufacturer, these Cashmere shawls are very expensive and greatly prized. The production of a single shawl often represents as much as ?600 or ?700; and Eastern potentates always bestow these costly shawls upon their most distinguished visitors, as a special mark of their favor.
The llama is another important wool-bearing animal. It is a native of South America, where it is used as a beast of burden. Even the cottagers of Peru have their little flocks of these animals, perhaps a dozen or more, to carry theirgoods to market. The more important traders usually drive them, with their burdens, in flocks varying from 500 to 1000.
