CHAPTER V. 



THE WILD AND THE COMMON ASS. 



THE WILD ASSES — THE KUI.AN OR DZIGGETAI — THEIR SPEED— DOMESTICATION — THE WILD ASS 

 OF THE BIBLE — THE AFRICAN WILD ASS — THE COMMON ASS — ITS PATIENCE — ITS INTELLI- 

 GENCE^THE EGYPTIAN ASS. 



u 



TE follow the usual arrangement, and classify the Ass as a 

 ' variety of the Horse. Dr. Gray, however, who has been 

 followed by Professor Bell, separates the Ass under the 

 generic name of Asinus, leaving the horse alone to fill the genus Equus. 



THE KULAN. 



The KULAN or Dziggetai, Equus hcmiomis, is thus described by 

 Pallas : " The Dziggetai cannot be called either Horse or x\ss. It is an 

 intermediate form which its first discoverer, Merserschmied, called 

 'prolific mules.' It is not a mongrel, but a separate species, with a 

 much more beautiful figure than any mule. The body is generally light, 

 the limbs slender, its look wild ; the head is rather heavy, but the ears 

 are better proportioned than the mule's are, the hoofs are small, the tail 

 resembles that of a cow. Its color is a light reddish-brown in the sum- 

 mer, but changes in the winter into a grayish-brown. The mane and 

 tail are black, and on the back is a black stripe which becomes broader 

 at the loins." Nothing need be added to this description. 



The Kulan is a child of the steppes, and peoples the most dissimilar 

 portions thereof. Although preferring the vicinity of lakes and rivers, it 

 does not avoid the waterless and barren regions, nor even the hills, pro- 

 vided they are steppe-like, that is, without trees. It is found from the 

 eastern slopes of the Ural to the Himalaya, and especially on the Mon- 

 golian and Chinese frontier, where it bears the name ot " Kiang." It 

 avoids the presence of the pastoral nomads, and only finds itself secure 



