674 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



greatly by domestication. The tamed horse, with his rider on 

 his back, can run down his wild congener, while the tamed ass 

 only excels his untamed fellow in docility and patience and en- 

 durance under hardship. For ages he has been the beast of 

 burden, and the companion of poverty. Prior to that, and be- 

 fore the horse became the favorite with kings and potentates 

 for show and parade, the ass had been esteemed and bred for 

 that purpose. Deborah, in her song, apostrophizes the great 

 and powerful of the land as "Ye that ride on white asses." 



Colonel Smith, in his study of the equine races, found, near 

 Bassorah, a breed of white asses remarkable for their excel- 

 lence, and as ancient as the time of the kings of Judah. In 

 "Blame's Encyclopedia of Rural Sports," we are informed that 

 the asses in Guinea are large, and excel even the native horses 

 in shape. The same authority says, " The asses of Arabia are 

 perhaps the handsomest animals in the world. Their coat is 

 smooth and clean; they carry the head elevated; have fine, 

 well-formed legs, which they throw out gracefully in walking 

 and galloping. In Persia, also, they are well formed, some being 

 even stately, and much used in draught and carrying burdens, 

 while others are light proportioned and used for the saddle by 

 persons of quality, frequently fetching the large sum of four 

 hundred livres ; and, being taught a kind of easy, ambling pace, 

 are richly caparisoned and used only by the rich and luxurious 

 nobles." 



There are many passages of Scripture which show that the 

 princes and rulers, of Israel especially, rode on asses. Jaer, of 

 Gilead, had thirty sons, who rode on as many asses, and com- 

 manded in thirty cities. It is not probable that our Savior's 

 riding into Jerusalem was made on the ass's colt as an emblem 

 of humility; but he mounted on the animal that from time im- 

 memorial had been used by the kings of the Jews, and his ac- 

 tion may as well be construed into the triumphal entry of 

 Israel's greatest King into the capital city. 



The superstition that the mark across the shoulders and 

 along the back of the ass that the Savior rode, has appeared 

 ever since on asses and their descendants, the mule, does not 



