786 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the time of the fourth dynasty, the ass was as widely diffused in 

 Egypt as it is now. In the tomb of Shafra-Ankh, at Gizeh, is an item 

 of a drove of seven hundred and sixty trained asses among the assets 

 of the deceased, who was a high functionary of the court of the 

 founder of the great pyramid. In other tombs discovered by M. 

 Mariette, but not yet fully described, I have remarked cases of pro- 

 prietors who boasted the possession of thousands of asses. . . . Fur- 

 thermore, the facts on this subject derived from the study of the 

 monuments were not peculiar to Egypt only. ... In the paintings 

 on the tomb of Noumhotep, at Beni-Hassan-el-Kadim, may be seen 

 the arrival of the family of Aamon, that is, of the nomadic shepherds 

 of the Semitic race, who came to establish themselves in Egypt under 

 one of the first reigns of the twelfth dynasty (about 3000 b. a). Their 

 only beasts of burden are the asses that carry their goods and children." 



Although asses are thus frequently figured on the ancient monu- 

 ments of Egypt, no representation of the mule has been found there, 

 not even on the numerous monuments built after the horse was intro- 

 duced. The people had already a good stock of camels and asses, and 

 their soil was not of a character to call the work of mules into requi- 

 sition ; and mules are still scarce in Egypt. 



On the other hand, the Assyrians have left us but few figures of 

 the ass ; but numerous representations of mules appear in their bas-re- 

 liefs, where these animals are plainly recognizable by their ears and 

 horse-tails. 



The first mules in the East were probably produced in those regions 

 of Asia lying between the Ganges and the Mediterranean littoral of 

 Syria, a short time after the arrival of the first Mongolian immigrants 

 into these countries, where, through their residence, the Asiatic horses 

 and the African or Nilotic asses first met. It is, then, not surprising 

 that the legends carry the existence of mules in Assyria back into fab- 

 ulous times. The cuneiform inscriptions, moreover, furnish certain 

 and quite numerous facts attesting the antiquity of the existence of 

 mules in that and the neighboring countries. 



The iise of mules was condemned by the Mosaic law, and was not 

 adopted among the Israelites till after the priestly power had been sub- 

 ordinated to that of the laity by the establishment of royalty. The 

 most ancient mention of these animals among the Israelites refers to 

 the mules on which the people of the tribes of Issachar, Zebulon, and 

 Naphthali brought provisions to Hebron for David, after the death of 

 Saul (1 Chron. xii, 40). After this they are frequently referred to. 



The mule is mentioned in the Veda ; and Strabo says that the Pra- 

 sii, on the banks of the Ganges, had them at the time of the voyage 

 of Megasthenes to India. 



Herodotus tells of the mules which Cyrus had to draw his water- 

 wagons on his march from Persia to the siege of Babylon, and relates 

 a curious story of one of the mules attached to the expedition of 



