116 Defcription of the Equus Hemionut. 
afs*. The defcription given of this animal by Meflerfchrmidty 
which, as he fays in his journal, was made from, three thas 
had‘ been fhot, is all, exeept what is inferted in the faid 
journal, unfortunately for the farther ofteology of the d/big~ 
getat, now loft ;‘and this defcription, as well as the journal, 
has never yet been printed. . ‘ 
Gmelin, when in Dauuria, did every thing in his power 
by fending out hunting parties te procure one of thefe ani- 
mals, but without fuceefs¢. Afterwards, however, by the 
eare of his friend and fellow-traveller Miller, he had an op-, 
portunity, in returning from the Lema, to draw up a defcrip- 
tion of this animal at Irkuzk; but this defeription, which 
fill lies in manufcript among other papers, is fo unintelli- 
gible, that it is almott ufelefg for the naturalifts of the prefent 
day. Zoology, in general, was not Miller’s principal ta- 
lent; aud however much fervice he may have rendered te 
botany, his defcriptions of animals, as may be feen by the 
fpecimens publifhed, are exceedingly defective. During my 
travels through Siberia, I comfidered this animal as almoft 
anknown ; for the Jefuit miflionaries, who. on yarious oc- 
cafions have made excurfions from China into the Mogul 
provinces, fay httle more of it, in the accounts of their 
travels, than merely to mention its name ft. 
Iwas at great pains therefore, and fpared no expence 
during my travels, particularly when in the neighbourhood 
_of the folitary deferts on the borders of the Ruffian empire, to 
procure the ozager or wild afs, as well as the d/biggetai, 
and to acquire a more accurate knowledge of thefe animals. 
‘All my exertions, however, were attended with no fuccefs, 
till I arrived, in the {pring of the year 1772, in the moft 
‘diftant diftrict of Dauuria, which begins between the rivers 
> * Hitt. Nat. tom. xxiv. p. 6, note. ek : 
w + Reife durch Sibirien, part 2) p..197, where a fhort but becurate de- 
feription of this animal is inferted from the information of the Moguls. « 
* . $ Wild mules are mentioned under the Chinefe name of yeofo-t/ee, whick 
expreffes that appellation, by Da Halde in his Defcription.of Chimay.’ ». 
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