IV 

 THE ASS AND THE MULE 



The ass is closely related to the horse, as it 

 is easy to see by comparing their skeletons, 

 between which there is no essential difference. 

 Their dental system is also precisely the same. 

 Between the living animals, as they appear to 

 our eves, the differences are very perceptible, 



Thk Wild Ass 



although they can scarcely be very deep in 

 view of the fact that fruitful mating is possible 

 between horse and ass. 



The most salient differences are in the size 

 of the body, the length of the ears, the hairs 

 of the tail and mane, the situation of the 

 horny excrescences on the fore and hind legs 

 (probably the rudimentary remains of sabots, 

 with which they may have some relation, the 

 ancestors of the equine race not having always 

 been solipedous), and finally the voice. 



Asses are generally much smaller than horses. 

 The head is heavy, the lips thick, the ears long, 

 the tail, which is usually not covered with long 

 hair, has a tuft at the end like that of cattle ; 

 the hair of the body has a more or less marked 

 tendency to be striped, and the bray is easily 



distinguished from the neigh of 



the horse. 



I. The Wild Ass 



The wild ass must be re- 

 garded as the ancestor of the 

 domestic ass of Europe. He 

 inhabits, in great droves, cen- 

 tral Asia, Tartary, Afghanistan, 

 Baluchistan, Bokhara, Persia, 

 Arabia, Syria, Phrygia, and the 

 deserts of northern Africa and 

 l^arbary. These animals live in 

 herds, each under the lead of 

 a male ass, which migrate north 

 and east of Lake Aral in sum- 

 mer, but never beyond 48° 

 north latitude, while in winter 

 they come down by hundreds 

 and thousands into Persia and 

 sometimes as far as the East 

 Indies. 



The ass is recorded as being 

 in those countries in very 

 ancient times, as we learn from 

 the oldest books in the Bible. He is cited by 

 Job for his love of freedom : " Who hath sent 

 out the wild ass free ^ or who hath loosed the 

 bands of the wild ass .? Whose house I have 

 made the wilderness, and the barren land his 

 dwellings. He scorneth the multitude of the 

 city, neither regardeth he the crying of the 

 driver. The range of the mountains is his pas- 

 ture, and he searcheth after every green thing." 

 That description exactly characterizes the 

 wild ass. He inhabits by preference regions 



158 



