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



colour, but silvery-grey on the ridge of the back and nose, with 

 the forehead, neck, and sides of a beautiful pale ash with a tinge 

 of purple ; the mane, tail, and cruciform streak black *." 



These I take to be choice specimens of the fine Levantine 

 breed of domestic Asses, such as are often represented in antique 

 Egyptian paintings, and always with the black crucial mark. 

 From the remotest times it seems that two races of domestic 

 Asses were known in Egypt, and both are represented in the 

 old paintings. In modern times, Russell (in his ' Natural History 

 of Aleppo/ p. 58) remarks that the Levantine nations have two 

 principal breeds of Asses : " one very large, with remarkably 

 long ears ; the other small, and much like ours in England." 

 Chardin, again, tells us that there are two races of the domestic 

 Ass in Persia : " Les Anes du pais, qui sont lents et pesans, 

 comme les Anes de nos pais, dont ils ne se servent qu'& porter 

 des fardeaux; et une race a" Anes d'Arabie, qui sont de fort 

 jolies betes, et les premiers Anes du monde. Ils ont le poil 

 poli, la tete haute, les pieds legers, les levant avec action en 

 marchant. L'on ne s'en sert que pour montures : les selles 

 qu'on leur met sont comme des b&ts ronds, et plats par dessus, 

 faites de drap ou de tapisserie, avec les etriers et le harnois. 

 On s'assied dessus plus vers la croupe que vers le cou. On met 

 & plusieurs des harnois tout argent, tant le maitre est content de 

 la legerete et de la douceur de leur allure. II y en a du prix de 

 quatre-cens francs, et Ton n'en sauroit avoir d'un peu-bons h moins 

 de vingt-cinq pistoles. On les panse comme les chevaux. Les 

 ecclesiastiques qui ne sont pas encore dans les charges, ou dans 

 les grands benefices, affectent k aller montes sur les Anes." He 

 then proceeds to explain how these fine Asses are taught to amble. 



The large and small races of Levantine Asses may be said to 

 bear somewhat of the same mutual relation as Horses and Ponies. 

 The small kind only have become domesticated in Northern 

 Europe ; and we trace them southward into Darfur, where they 

 are thus described in Mr. G. Brown's ' Travels ' in that country 

 (1799) : — "The Ass here is of the same appearance and of the 

 same indocile nature as that of Great Britain. The only good 

 ones are what the Jelahs bring with them from Egypt. Yet the 

 animal is much used for riding; indeed, few persons mount a 

 Horse but the military and those who are in immediate attend- 

 ance at court. An Egyptian Ass fetches from the value of one 

 to that of three slaves, according to the weight he is able to bear. 

 A slave will purchase three or four of the ordinary breed ; and 

 yet the people are not anxious to improve them." 



The Asses of Upper Egypt, according to Sounini, are parti- 

 cularly handsome, but they degenerate towards the Delta. 

 * Naturalist's Library, xii. 312. 



