f6(j NATURAL HISTORY. 



force naturalists and many travellers have done, with 

 the zehra. The angra, or wild ass, is not striped like 

 the fcebra, and is not near so elegant in figure. Wild 

 ;isses are found in some of the islands of the Archipel- 

 ago, and particularly in that of Cerigo. There are 

 also many in the deserts of Lybia, and Numidia. 

 They are grey, and run so fast, that the horses of 

 Barbary only outstrip them in the chase. When they 

 see a man, they give a loud cry, turn themselves a- 

 bout, and stop, and do not attempt to fly till he ap- 

 proaches pretty near them. They are taken in snares 

 made with ropes, and go in troops both to pasturage 

 and to drink ; their flesh is also eaten. There were 

 also, in the time of Marmol, wild asses in the island 

 of Sardinia, but less than those of" Africa; and Pietro 

 della Valle said, he has seen a wild horse at Bassora, 

 whose figure differed in no respect from a domestic 

 one. He was only of a lighter colour, and had, from 

 the head to the tail, a stripe of white ; he was also 

 much livelier, and lighter in hunting, than the greater 

 number of asses. 



Neither asses nor horses have been found in Amer- 

 ica, although the climate, especially of North America, 

 is as good for them as any other. Those which the 

 Spaniards have transported from Europe, and which 

 they have left in the West Indies, and on the conti- 

 nent, have greatly multiplied ; and in some parts wild 

 asses are found in troops, and are taken in snares like 

 wild horses. 



The ass with the mare produces large mules, and 

 the horse with the she-ass produces small mules, dif- 

 fering from the first in many respects. 



As wild asses are unknown in these climates, we 

 cannot actually say whether the flesh is good to eat ; 



