Mr. E, Blyth on the different Animals known as Wild Asses. 243 



Ass of Cutch and the north of Guzrat," remarked Col. Sykes 

 in 1835, "is not found further south in India than Deesa, on 

 the banks of the Bunnas river, in lat. about 23° 30' ; nor have 

 I heard of it to the eastward of the 75° of longitude on the 

 southern side of the Himalaya. In Cutch and northern Guzrat 

 it frequents the salt deserts and the open plains of the Opur, 

 Jaysulmir, and Bikanir.'' Again, Masson, in his ' Narrative of 

 a Journey to Kalat ' (published in 1843), remarks that " the 

 Ghor-khur, or f wild Ass/ was formerly to be found on the 

 Dasht Guran, and in Ghurgh'ina, but has disappeared of late 

 years. It is still occasionally seen about Kharan. It also 

 ranges the plain of Dalbanding, on the road from Nushke to 

 Jalk. South-easterly of Kalat, it is said to be found on the 

 Pat of Shikarpur, between Tambu and Rojan." 



To the west of the range of the Ghor-khur lies that of Asinus 

 hemippus, or true Hemionus of ancient writers, — the particular 

 species apostrophised in the book of Job, and, again, that noticed 

 by Xenophon. There is a recent account of it by Dr. A. H. 

 Layard, in ' Nineveh and its Remains' (p. 324). Returning 

 from the Sinjar, he was riding through the desert to Tel Afer, 

 and there he mistook a troop of them for a body of horse, with 

 the Bedouin riders concealed ! " The reader will remember," 

 he adds, "that Xenophon mentions these beautiful animals, 

 which he must have seen during his march over these very plains. 

 He faithfully describes the country, and the quadrupeds and 

 birds that inhabit it, as they are to this day, except that the 

 Ostrich is not now to be found so far north *. ' The country/ 



Bikanir herd consists at most of 150 individuals, which frequent an oasis 

 a little elevated above the surrounding desert, and commanding an exten- 

 sive view around, the animals being exceedingly shy, and making off on 

 discerning an object of suspicion, however distant. There is a low range 

 of hills, several miles off, in which is a watercourse, dry during the hot 

 season ; but at the head of this, about a mile into the interior of the hills, 

 there is a perpetual spring, to which the Ghor-khurs resort to drink during 

 the night, maintaining the most vigilant caution. Once only in the year, 

 when the foals are young, a party of five or six native hunters, mounted on 

 hardy Sindh mares, chase down as many foals as they can succeed in tiring, 

 which lie down when utterly fatigued, and suffer themselves to be bound and 

 carried off. In general, they refuse sustenance at first ; and about one-third 

 only of those taken are reared, but these command high prices and find a 

 ready sale with the native princes. The profits are snared by the party, 

 who do not attempt a second chase in the same year, lest they should 

 scare the herd from the district, as these men regard the sale of a few 

 Ghor-khurs annually as a regular source of subsistence. 



* According to Chesney, Ostriches are still " found in the great Syrian 

 Desert, especially in the plain extending from the Haouran towards Jebel 

 Shammar and Nedja ; some of them are found in the Haouran itself, and 

 a few are taken almost every year even within two days' journey of Da- 

 mascus," &c. (Journal of the Euphrates Expedition, i. 558.) It is well 



