OF THE GENUS EQUUS. 3?! 



from the domestic Ass ; but after repeated opportunities of 

 observing them, I could find no reason for such a distinction. 

 The introduction of Camels,*' he remarks, ^^ having super- 

 seded the necessity of employing them as beasts of burden, 

 they are permitted to stray where they please, and now wan- 

 der about in troops of ten or twelve, evincing little fear unless 

 approached very near, when they dart away with much ra- 

 pidity." (Journ. Geog. Soc. 1835, p. 202.) Azara notices, 

 of those which have gone wild in South America, and espe- 

 cially about Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz, where he states that 

 the increasing population was fast destroying them, that those 

 which he saw appeared to be somewhat larger than the do- 

 mestic ones of Paraguay, but smaller than the common asses 

 of Spain ; nor does that large race, which is there used for 

 the breeding of mules, exist in these parts. They also ap- 

 pear to have larger and stiffer ears than in my native country." 

 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." 



Those of Upper Egypt, according to Sonnini, are par- 

 ticularly handsome, but they degenerate towards the Delta. 

 Eraser states, that " the Asses of Omaun are celebrated as 

 the best in Arabia, and individuals of the best breeds sell for 

 very extravagant prices." (Journey to Khorassan, p. 18.) 

 Not, however, that the Asses of warm countries are inva- 

 riably superior to those of the north ; for the domestic breed 

 of India is remarkably small, and Col. Sykes states that in 

 the Deccan they are scarcely bigger than a Newfoundland 

 Dog. In Egypt it appears that the fine breed of that country 

 has existed from very remote antiquity, to judge from the 

 ancient paintings, w^here the cross -line of the shoulders is 

 represented in every instance that I have seen. 



There is reason, I suspect, to infer that the Persians distin- 

 guish the Khur from the Goor-Khur, Ghore-Khur, Gur^ 

 Khor, Gour-Khor, or sometimes simply Gour (which is not 

 to be confounded with the Gaour, Bos gaurus, of India) ; 

 one of these animals inhabiting chiefly the west, and the other 

 the eastern portion of that country : the true Djigguitai is, 

 however, clearly indicated in Morier's second ' Journey 

 through Persia' (p. 200), as the ''wild Ass" of Casvin, not 

 far from Tabriz, " of a light mouse colour, with a dark streak 

 over the shoulders and down the back;" and it is probably 

 that mentioned in 'Johnson's Journey' (p. 149.), as "found 

 in the salt plains near Tehraun, and in greater numbers to- 

 wards Mansila." The Hon. Mountstewart Elphinstone, in 

 his ' Account of the Kingdom of Caboul,' notices it, by the 



