Defeription of the Equus Hemionus. 119 
tive country. That the fruitlefs attempts made by the Mo- 
guls do not prove the intractablenefs of the dthigectai ap- 
pears probable from this circumftance, that the Kirgifians 
affert the fame thing, on account of the friitlefs attempts 
they have made in regard to the onagers or wild affes, which 
wander through their territories in thoufands; though the 
people of the cat, who live in fettled habitations, have not 
only made thefe animals dametticated fince time immemorial, 
but, as we fee by Varro, Columella, Pliny, and: the tefti- 
mony of other authors, employed with great advantage, in- 
ftead of mules, wild affes, which they caught and tamed. 
Varro fays exprefsly *, that the wild afs ig exceedingly pro- 
per to be ufed inftead of the mule, becaufe it can be eafily 
tamed, and never returns again to its wild condition. 
Hitherto the dfhiggetai has been only an animal of the 
chace for the Moguls and Tungufians, who confider its flefh 
as their greateft dainty, and employ the fkin to make boots. 
It is, however, difficult to kill it; for, on account of the 
keennefs of its fight and the acutenefs of its fmell, by the 
Jatter of which, if to the leeward, it can difeover a man at 
the diftance of feveral werfts, it feldom lets the hunters get 
within fhot.. When running, it is impoffible for the fleeteft 
horfe to overtake it; and therefore it is feldom caught during 
the hunting excurfions of the Moguls, which they call obJaz, 
but mutt be thot, by lying in wait for it; which can be beft 
done in the neighbourhood of the ftreams or pools to which 
it repairs to drink, or of the fpots where it comes to lick falt. 
The Moguls, however, are faid to have remarked, that dur- 
ing rainy and ftormy weather the dfhiggetai becomes, as it 
were, ftupid, and neither fees nor {mells the hunters fo well 
as at other times. The ftallions, which condué herds more 
or lefs numerous of females and young ones of from one to 
two years old, are exceedingly vigilant; keep their females 
together with the moft jealous care; drive from the herd the 
young ftallions which begin to fhow a defire for the females; 
* De Re Ruf. lib. ii, cap. 6. 
14 and 
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