66 LETTER XUI. 



ferior in utility. The ass was, according to the most 

 probable conjecture, as well as the horse, originally 

 a native of Arabia and the adjacent countries ; and 

 the supposition is not a little corroborated by the 

 congeniality of a warm climate to its constitution. 



Asses were not, any more than horses, originally 

 found in America, although the climate, in some parts 

 of that continent, is as congenial to their nature as 

 that of Asia or Africa. Those which the Spaniards- 

 carried thither from Europe have greatly multiplied, 

 and, in some parts, run wild, and are taken in snares, 

 like the wild horses. The manner of hunting the wild 

 asses, in Quito, is this : A number of Spaniards, or 

 Creoles, on horseback, attended by Indians on foot, 

 form a large circle, in order to drive them into a nar- 

 row compass. Then, riding at full speed, they throw 

 ;) noose over them, and having secured them with 

 cords, leave them until the chace be over, which 

 sometimes lasts three or four days. These asses have 

 all the swiftness of horses, and neither declivities nor 

 precipices will stop their -flight. When attacked, 

 they defend themselves by kicking and biting, with- 

 out ever slackening their pace. From this descrip- 

 tion of the ass-chace, given by a celebrated Spanish 

 writer, it seems that hunting the wild horses and asses, 

 in South America, must afford better pastime to a 

 sportsman, than hunting the hare or the fox in 

 Europe. 



It is very remarkable, that the wild asses, when 

 taJten, after carrying their first load, lose their dan- 

 gerous ferocity, and soon contract the stupid look and 

 dulness which we observe in the rest of the species. 

 It is also observable, that they will not suffer a horse 

 to live among them. If a horse happens to stray 

 into a place where a herd of them is grazing, they all 

 fall upon him, and bite arid kick him to death. 



Even in the tame state, the ass will occasionally 

 manifest great courage, and even fierceness. Mr. 

 Pennant tells us, that he was witness at Les combats 

 dcs animau.r, the theatre, or bear-garden of Paris, to 

 an extraordinary instance of spirit and prowess in a 



