250 SIZE OF ASSES 



halter. The halter-rope lies on the left side, and is pulled 

 to turn him to the left, or borne across the neck to turn 

 him to the right. The stick is used to touch his neck on 

 either side if you desire him to turn to the other. Or the 

 least raising of the stick suffices; while, if you are walk- 

 ing behind him, a mere touch on either Hank will turn him 

 quickly and surely. It is most commonly the stick which 

 is used, and this serves the double purpose of guiding and 

 striking. But, Lord save the mark ! it is wont to be the 

 man who needs the stick, not the beast. No more patient 

 creature exists ; it is not he who is obstinate or treach- 

 erous, it is his master. Dear, patient ass ! did we but rec- 

 ognize the half of thy virtues, we should glory in being 

 called by thy name, not resent the appellation ! 



The donkey in the Orient is often very small. I have 

 measured them, full-grown, only thirty-two inches high — 

 no bigger than a St. Bernard ; not so big as some of the 

 prize-winners. I rode one last winter to Abraham's Oak 

 from Hebron, on which my toes touched the ground though 

 I was on a pad ; and I measure but five feet seven. The 

 little fellow seemed to make nothing of my one hundred 

 and fifty pounds, but racked away at a good four and a 

 half miles an hour. On a creature like this a load equal to 

 half his own weight will habitually be put ; his owner will 

 ride atop of the load, and the little hero will go off at a 

 sharpish running-walk and do his twenty-five miles a day. 

 This sounds incredible, but it is literally true. The ass in 

 Algeria often carries three-fourths of his own weight all 

 day long. One sees two men on a donkey which weighs 

 a bare four hundred pounds — a load and a man on a 

 donkey they claim to weigh only two hundred and fifty 

 pounds. The little creature can be bought for seven or 

 eight francs, does during his life the work of a dozen men, 

 and exhibits the virtues of a score of saints. I was tempted 



