THE ASS 223 



Europe, is highly nutritive ; droves of she-asses 

 forming a special feature among the possessions of 

 the Biblical patriarchs. 



Large and long-eared as is the white ass of 

 Damascus and Bagdad, it is exceeded in both these 

 respects by the famous Poitou breed of France, 

 which stands from about 13^ to as much as 16 

 hands at the shoulder, and varies in colour from 

 grey to black ; the black ones being the most 

 highly valued. These Poitou asses, which rival 

 cart-horses in size and make, are ugly-looking 

 beasts, having huge, ungainly heads, enormous 

 ears, in most cases long, heavy coats, pendent 

 manes, stout limbs, and relatively broad hoofs. 

 They are kept almost entirely for breeding mules 

 of a heavy and powerful type. Spain is also 

 celebrated for its asses, which are likewise mainly 

 reared for mule-breeding ; Andalucia and Catalonia 

 being two of the provinces where they are reared 

 in the greatest numbers. Although coloured like 

 the Poitou breed, of which they are believed to be 

 the ancestral stock, they are somewhat inferior in 

 stature and lighter in build ; the same characters 

 reappearing in the mules. 



As the Poitou donkey marks the maximum 

 development of the species in point of size, so the 

 little grey Mahratta donkeys of Western India and 

 Ceylon represent the extreme in the opposite 

 direction, some of them standing no more than 8, 



