yo On the Onager of the Antients^ 



cording to Dapper's account, were found wild formerly in 

 fome of the iflands of the Archipelago, but of which, at pre- 

 fenl, no traces remain. 



By the accounts which I have received from fome of the 

 wandering Afiatic tribes, and fronj Rufliaus and Tartars who 

 efcapcd from the flavery of ihefe people, and alfo from Bu- 

 chanan nierchanis who had travL-Ht'd with ihf caravans, it 

 appears certain that in the iliflrifts of Great Tartary there 

 are abundance of wild alfcs, which thefe people call kulan. 

 'J'hele animals proceed from the fouth in innumerable herds, 

 and fpread ihcmrtlves in the mountainous naked deferts King 

 to the north and taft of the lake Aral, where llie\ feed during 

 the fummer, and in autumn unite in hundred.^, and evea 

 thoufands, in order to feek for a warmer winter refidence in 

 the fouthern diltii6ls on the borders of India and I'crlia. 

 From a paOage in Barboza's Travels * it appears that thefe 

 emigrations extend even to the fouthern parts of India ; but 

 it is certain that Perfia is the moll comiuon winter relidence 

 of the wild afs, and every year they are found in the moun- 

 tainous dilirifts around Calbin. Befpe6ling their emigra- 

 tions, in the diftrifils of Taitary, eve-witnefles have aflured 

 me that traces of large herds, from two to three hundred 

 fathoms in breadth, may be often fccn on the plains. But 

 as they remain at a confiderable dillance from the Ruflian 

 frontiers, and feldtmi proceed northwards bevond the 48th 

 degree of lalitude, it was never poflible for me, during my 

 refidence on the borders, nolwithflandino all my exertions, 

 to obtain a defcription of this animal liom the Kirgifians. 

 I therefore rcquefted profefl'or Gmclin, whom on my return 

 to Aftracan I found on the eaftcrn coaft of the Cafpian fea, 

 ready to fet out on a Iccond tour to Perfia, to procure all the 

 information he could refpe6ting the kuliw, and to make us 

 at length acquainted with the nature of the afs in its wild 

 flate : but he was not able to obtain from the interpreters a 

 real v.ild kul n. We are, however, much indebted to him 

 for two animals of this kind, bred at Cafbin from kulan colts 

 which had been caught wild, and which he brought with 

 him from Perfia. The ingenious pupil ot Gmelin, who ac- 

 companied hitn on his iVcond tour to Perfia, M. Hablizl, 

 has given a careful defcription and meafurement of the kulan 

 ftallion which died in the courle of the fea voyage to - ftra- 



of tlie ifland uf Forte vtinura wcie oblicrtd to undcrtt^ke on acioiint of the 

 great increuic tf wild alfcs, and during which 15CC of tlicf'e animals were 

 tlclinyid. 



' btK the account of Odoard Barbo7.:i in Kamujxd, part ii. p. 300. where 

 wild affcs are naiitioiitd in the mountdins of Malabar and Golcoud.!. 



can> 



