THE ASS. 439 



by a discipline wliicli never fails, reduces the horse to such 

 complete obedience, that he is soon trained to lend his whole 

 speed and strength to the capture of his companions." 



There is a remarkable difierence in the dispositions of the 

 Asiatic and South American wild horses : those of the former 

 country can never be properly tamed, unless taken and 

 trained very young ; if captured when adults, they fre- 

 quently break out in fits of rage in after life, exhibiting 

 every mark of natural wildness ; whereas those of America 

 can be brought to perfect obedience, and even rendered 

 somewhat docile within a few weeks. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE ASS AND MULE. 



THE ASS. 



This animal belongs to the same natural genus as the horse, 

 and has been under the dominion of man from the earliest 

 ages of which we have any account. Indeed, he seems to 

 have been sooner domesticated than the horse ; for we find 

 asses mentioned in the twelfth chapter of Genesis, as dom.es- 

 ticated, 1920 years before the Christian era, although no- 

 thing is said of the horse. 



In early times, the ass was not, as is now the case with 

 us, considered a despicable animal ; for we find that he was 

 rode by the rich and noble, in preference to the horse, as 

 will appear from the following instances, which we select 

 from many that are recorded in the sacred writings : — 

 When Abraham went to ofier his son Isaac, he rode upon an 



