Arizona republican., 1897-09-17
GOAT FARMING IN AFRICA.
Four Million Angora Goats in the
 Karoo District

One of the most lucrative industries in the Faroo districts of south Africa is AngOra goat farming, says the Lon don Black and White, and although 1t has only been established for less than forty years the Cape bids fair to become the most important center of mohair production in the world. The early attempts to import this goat from Angora were attended with great loss of money and great disap- pointment, nearly all the goats dying either on the way to the Cape or very soon after landing; in fact, of the early importations only very small number survived. But in 1879 a large importation was successfully made by three different firms or individuals. who landed large number of pure bred Angora goats at Port Elizabeth. where they were sold at from 91OO to 840O apiece. Soon after that the exportation of Angora goats from Turkey was prohibited for a time. but in 1894 MT. Rhodes obtained the re- taxation of this prohibition. Early i1 1895 a shipment of 200 Angora goats. after being quarantined, was sold at Port Elizabeth at an average of $50 apiece, some of the rams selling for as much as e3OO each. At present there are somewhere about 4.OOO 900 Angora goats in the colony.
 The Angora in the colony is rot now pure bred; the original imported rams were crossed with carefully se- iected pure white Boer goat ewes, and from the succeeding in breeding the present f1ocks have sprung, and a fine, glossy, silky fleece secured. In deed, it is accepted that mohair can now be produced in Cape Colony as perfect in quality and as beautiful in luster as any produced in Angora it. self
 The goat itself is a pretty looking little animal, looking, with it long White, wavy fleece, more like a sheen than goat. The beard, too, so char ac-eristic of the goat, is almost hid den in the long hair about the neck and face. The head is small and nar- row, with dropping CT lop ears. Horns light in color, flattened, twisted slightly and spreading outward-ars possessed by both rams and ewes. l though they are smaller in the latter.
 The small body is thickly covered with a beautiful long fleece of white, lustrous, wavy, silky hair, which, in Wei pred goats, nearly reaches the ground; and, in addition to this long halr, there is an inferior under coat Of hair, or second coat, which has Its own separate market value.
 The Karoo and higher lands of the colony are the places where the An | gora fiourishes best. Almost every farmer in Karoo has his flock of An goras, some several f1ocks of several hundred in each. Every morning the 6ocks are driven out of kraals or sheltered enclosures into the veldt. where they are allowed to wander a I'd graze all day, but at night they are driven back to the shelter of the kraal after being taken to the dam to be watered
 Angoras are sheared about June when good fleece will average from five to six pounds in weight, with hair from five to six inches long About November the goats tend tc shed their hair. but, rather than lose IL, the farmer again shears in October Araer shear1ng the wool is packed into large bales, which are fastened SC. curely with iron bands; it is then ex. ported to England for manufacture a large part going to Yorkshire. IT 1853 mohair to the value of 971O.S6, was exported, and at the present time | one-tenth of the total British supply is received from the Cape.
 Among the most dreaded enemies of the timid little Apgora are the Jackal, the red lynx and the baboon the two former kill the kids for theil flesh, but the baboons rip open tht udders of the ewes in search of milk and even open the stomachs of tht kids for the sake of the curdled mill they may obtain. The first two ani
 mals are poisoned and hunted dowr ] with dogs where possible, and to keeI down the baboon shooting parties ar'