■8 Q^,U ADRUPEDS. 



Numidia : they run wich fuch amazing fwiftnefs, fcarce even the 

 courfeis of the country can overtake them. When they fee a man, 

 they fet up a horrid braying, and flop fhort all together, till he 

 approaches near them ; then fly off with great fpeed ; and on fuch 

 occafi,)ns generally fall into traps which are previoufly prepared. The 

 narives take them chiefly on account of their flcfh, which they 

 efteem delicious eating j and for their fldns, of which that kind of 

 lea'her is made which is called fhagreen. 



The afs was originally imported into America by the Spaniards. 

 That country feems to have been peculiarly favourable to this race of 

 animals; and, where they have run wild, they have multiplied in fuch 

 numbers, that in fome places they are becomic a nuifance. They 

 have the fwiftnefs of horfes ; neither declivities nor precipices retard 

 their career. Vv'hen attacked, they defend themlelves with their 

 heels and mouth with fuch adivity, that, without flackening their 

 pace, they often maim their purfuers. But the moil remarkable pro- 

 perty in thcfe creatures is, that after carrying their firft load, their 

 celerity leaves them, their dangerous ferocity is left, and they foon 

 contrafl the ftupid look and dulnefs peculiar to their fpecies. It is alfo 

 obfervable, that thefe creatures will not permit a horfe to live among 

 them. They always feed together j and if a horfe happens to ftray 

 where they graze, without giving him the liberty of flying, they bite 

 and kick him till they leave him dead on the fpot. 



But the afs, in a ftate of tamenefs, is the moft gentle and 

 quiet of anim.als. He fufi^ers, without refiftance, the ill treatment 

 of his owners : he is temperate with regard to the quantity and quality 

 of his provif^on i and makes his humble repaft on what the horfe and 

 other animals leave behind : he prefers the plantane among herbs ; is 

 delicate with refpedt to his water ; drinks only at the cleareft brooks, 

 and chiefly thofe to which he has been accuftomed. He drinks as 

 foberly as he eats J and never, like the horfe, dips his .iofe into th« 

 ftream : he never rolls, like the horfe, in the mud ; he even fears to 

 wet his fccr ; and turns out of his way to avoid dirt. 



When over-loaded, the afs hangs down his head, and lowers his 

 cars ; when too hard prefled, opens his mouth, and draws back his 

 lips in a very difagreeable manner. If his eyes are covered he will not 

 ftir a ftep j if he is laid down in fuch a manner that one eye is 

 covered with the grafs while the other is hidden with a ftone, or what- 

 ever is next at hand, he continues in the fame fituacion, and will not 

 ^ attempt 



