THE MULE. 21 



ney, they are soon obliged to slacken their pace ; it is 

 in vain that their unmerciful rider exerts his whip or 

 cudgel, the poor animal bears it without a groan, and, 

 conscious of its own weakness and imbecility, does not 

 even make a single effort to move. 



This humble creature, despised by man, is doomed 

 to drag on a life of torture and pain, and, whilst mi- 

 nistering to the ease of the indolent and idle, is only 

 rewarded with cruelty and stripes. The Spaniards, of all 

 the people in Europe, seem alone acquainted with the 

 value of the ass ; they take every precaution to improve 

 the breed, and they frequently attain the height of fifteen 

 hands : of all the animals that are covered with hair, the 

 ass is the least subject both to vermin and disease*. 



The Mule, an animal between the horse and ass, 

 though not equal to the former, either in beauty or 

 speed, is particularly admired for the security of its feet, 

 and in mountainous countries they are thought so essen- 

 tial to the inhabitants, that they sell from fifty to sixty 

 pounds each. When they arrive at the edge of those 

 tremendous precipices, with which the mountainous part 

 of the universe abounds, the animal itself seems sensible 

 of the danger, and stops to survey the best path to pur- 

 sue ; having apparently prepared for the descent, by ex- 

 amining the different tracts in the road, they place their 

 feet in a secure direction, and slide with velocity along 

 the road. During a journey so full of danger, the rider 

 has only to remain firm upon his seat, and, instead of 

 relying upon the guidance of the rein, entirely to de- 

 pend upon the sagacity of the mule ; for the least check 



* The she-ass goes eleven months with foal ; seldom lies down to ob- 

 tain the refreshment of sleep; is four years arriving at perfection, and 

 lives to the age of twenty or twenty-five. 



C v> 



