THE ASS. 185 



518,837 of these animals, the numbers having gradually 

 increased up to that date, while their improvement had also 

 kept pace with their larger numbers. This improvement was 

 more especially directed towards furnishing the best possible 

 asses for mule production, which is a somewhat important 

 industry in France and Spain, and for this purpose the stallion 

 ass has been brought to a high degree of perfection. 



The asses of France, Tuscany, Spain (Andalusia), Persia, 

 Asia Minor, Arabia, and Egypt, are extolled for their large 

 size and good qualities ; and in the United States of America, 

 and also in South America, these animals are valued chiefly for 

 their share in mule-breeding. In France, those found in Gas- 

 cony and Poitou are recognised as the best for this purpose. 



The Spanish ass is nearly double the size of that with 

 which we are familiar in England, and in the Island of 

 Bahrein, in the Persian Gulf, there are said to be donkeys 

 exceeding in size those of all other countries. As a general 

 rule, the ass is large and smooth-haired in warm countries, 

 small and long-haired in colder ones. 



According to the country, the breeds of asses, and their 

 strength, they are employed to carry or draw loads, or as riding 

 animals — rendering, in fact, though on a smaller scale, the 

 same kind of service as the horse. The peculiar qualities of 

 the ass render him, in certain conditions, particularly valuable, 

 and these can be greatly developed by good food in sufficient 

 quantity, and careful attention in breeding and general 

 management. This is proved by what is seen in Asia, Arabia, 

 in some parts of Africa, and in the south of Europe, where 

 this animal is much stronger, taller, altogether better shaped 

 and graceful to look at, while better able to endure fatigue and 

 privations, and faster and j^leasanter paced. If possessed of 

 less brilliant qualities than the horse, the ass in those countries 

 has them of a more varied character, and can consequently 

 be put to a greater number of uses. 



