256 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1890. 



Mules have an extraordinary number of peculiarities which 

 may be considered distinctively their own. These are a matter 

 of common experience and do not always favourably impress people 

 who have to do with them, as is shown by the common sayings, 

 •'Vicious as a mule," "Obstinate as a mule," and so on. Among 

 equines, mules are characterised by a peculiar mental distortion, 

 ••crankiness," as it may be termed, which sometimes proves very 

 embarrassing to those who, accustomed to horses or even donkeys, 

 have to deal with mules, for the first time. Writers on travels record 

 some of these. Galton, for example, says : — 



" Mules require men who know their habits ; they are powerful 

 beasts, and can only be mastered with skill and address. A savage 

 usually fears their heels, and will not assist in packing them. They 

 have odd secret ways, strange fancies, and lurking vice. When 

 they stray they go immense distances, and it is almost beyond the 

 power of man on foot to tend them in a wild country. The female 

 is in most breeds the most docile. They suffer from African distem- 

 per, but in a less degree than horses." And again : 



" The instincts of the mulish heart form an interesting study to 

 the traveller in the mountains. I would liken it to a woman's, for 

 it is quite as uncertain in its sympathies, bestowing its affections 

 when least exjaected, and when bestowed quite as constant, so long 

 as the object is not taken away/' It is customary to have a horse in 

 the mule train of the traders of Northern Mexico, as a sort of mag- 

 net to keep together the separate atoms of the train, for, whatever the 

 temptation, they will never stray from him {Taylor's Eldorado). 



From personal observation I quite agree that mules are animals 

 of which one can get very fond, that they take an intelligent interest 

 in what is going on around, and are rarely troublesome when they 

 know what is expected of them. A mule must not be handled like a 

 horse, his long ear and narrow jaw against the tushes give excellent 

 hold of the head. He strikes cleverly with his fore-feet. Such, then, 

 are some of the questions which hinge round the subject of mules. 

 Let us next proceed to consider some practical matters as regards 

 these most interesting animals. 



Premature birth is said to be frequent in mule-breeding, though 

 the mule, as a rule, is carried longer than an ordinary horse foal by 



