320 MAMMALIA— MULE. 



ly occupied, to the no small surprise of this gentleman, who imagined 

 that, from some accident, the animal had never been shipped on board 

 the Ister. 



On the return of this vessel to repair, the mystery was explained; and it 

 turned out, that Valiante (as the ass was called,) had not only swam safely 

 to shore, but, without guide, compass, or travelling map, had found his way 

 from Point de Gat to Gibraltar, a distance of more than two hundred 

 miles, thro igh a mountainous and intricate country, intersected by streams, 

 which he had never traversed before,' and in so short a period, that he could 

 not have made one false turn. His not having been stopped on the road 

 was attributed to the circumstance of his having formerly been used to 

 whip criminals upon, which was indicated to the peasants, who have a 

 superstitious horror of such asses, by the holes in his ears, to which the 

 persons flogged were tied. 



THE MULE 



is an intermediate creature, springing from the union of the male ass with 

 the mare, or of the horse with the female ass, (the former being the best,) 

 and it accordingly inherits the small legs and handsome shape of the horse, 

 and the long ears, and cross on the back, which characterize its more hum- 

 ble parent. In obstinacy it surpasses the latter; but it is valuable for its 

 sureness of foot, which enables it to pass with safety along the most tremen- 

 dous precipices, if left to the guidance of its own instinct. The mule is 

 fond of handsome trappings, and is longer lived than either the horse or the 

 ass. This animal is much used in the southern states, in the West Indies, 

 and in South America. 



ORDER IX. — RUMINANTIA.* 



Animals of this order have no incisors in the upper jaw; in the lower jaw 

 usually eight; a vacant space between the incisors and the molars, but in 

 which one or two canines are found in some genera. Molars, twelve in 

 each jaw, the crown marked with two double crescents of enamel, of which 

 the convexity is outwards in the lower jaw, and inwards in the upper. No 

 clavicles; extremities disposed for walking; two toes furnished with hoofs ; 

 metacarpal and metatarsal bones united; four stomachs; intestines long ; 

 two or four inguinal mammae ; horns in the males, and often in the females 

 of most species. 



* The term ruminantia, indicates the singular faculty of masticating the food twice. 

 The first three of the stomachs of these animals are disposed in such a manner that their 

 food may enter into cither of them. Their food is invariably vegetable, and they are 

 widely distributed over both continents. 



