Note 89 — Chapter XVI · PEASANT HOME AND LIFE.

The chamois is a small species of antelope, somewhat resembling a goat. Its hoofs are remarkably cloven, with a protruding border, which enables it to climb almost perpendicular declivities. Its muscular power is great: it can leap chasms twenty feet wide, and jump down rocks the same distance to platforms with only just room enough for its four hoofs. In the autumn, when strongest and fattest, it is black, in the early spring gray, and in the summer red.