428 THEASSANDTHEMULE. 



olds from a New-England drove, that had never eaten any grain. I gave $105 for the 

 pair, and tiierc is one of them thut I would not take §100 for now. Five ears of corn at a 

 leed is sufficient for a working mule with corn blades. Tiiej' will keep fat on it under the 

 severest labour — I have worked them eight years, exclusively ; never had one sick or lame, 

 and find them fully efficient for any kind of tiirm liibour, in this region (Talbot County, 

 Maryland.) Our soil is txtremely stiff, but a pair of mules will carry a plough through the 

 toughest sward ; and in carting, will move the heaviest lo!ids. In forming our large com- 

 post beds of manure (sometimes 300 loads in a bed,) and having the raw materials to haul, 

 first under the cuttlc, and again to the field after it is made, you may know that our teams 

 have little idle time. After the ground is broke, a single mule carries the plough in culti- 

 vating corn, or ploughing in wheat. Kentucky mules, of large size, three years old, sold last 

 year in this county for $200 a pair: — now they would not bring as much. I paid for one, 

 raised by a neighbour, four years old, $70 ; and after he was peri'ectly broke, refused SI 00 for 

 him. I'hey are easier broke than horses, and do not kick or bite. Negroes, not accustomed 

 to them, regard them as wild beasts, are afraid of them, and tlius many are spoiled in 

 breaking. 



"Mules are more used in Spain and Portugal than in any other countries I have visited. 

 The king of Spain used them for his carriage when I was in Miidrid — and most of the 

 grandees. In Lisbon I was told SI 500 was often paid for a pair of carriage mules. The 

 Dutchess of Braganza (Don Pedro's widow,) was a decided mule-woman, and drove six of tlie 

 most splendid greys I ever saw. Dona Maria used English horses. 1 went through her 

 stables with her coachman, who was an Englishman. He told me that in that mounliiinous 

 country, native horses were the best for service — mules better than either. 1 travelled in 

 the Diligence from Barcelona to Madrid, via Valencia, 400 miles, and back. Mules were 

 used the whole route, six to the team, and travelled as fast as our stages usually do. Their 

 public vehicles are much heavier than ours. 



"They have a beautiful race of asses in Egypt — small but exquisitely formed, and of great 

 spirit. They are much used for the saddle. If you should ever go to Alexandria, you will 

 never forget the importunity of the Jackass boys at the landing, where there are always 

 hundreds ready for service. Our hackmen at a railroad depot are nothing to tliem ; and 

 they all speak a little English. — " This a fine Jack, Sir, don't take that one, that lellow 's a 



d d rogue," &,c. The Egyptian Ass is generally of a mouse colour, with a black streak 



down ti)e back and cross on the shoulder — some of them blue, (sacre bleu.) 



"I cannot inform vou the average number of mares impregnated in Talbot by Jacks. If 

 I could, the criterion would not be fair — as it is known that an old Jack is much more err 

 tain tlian a young one; and they are not in their prime till fifteen.* Mules, I think, would 

 hnn<r more at three years old than horses from the same dams. A respectabl'^-lonking man 

 told me at the fair at Ellicott's n)ills, that he knew a Jack then covering at Pittsburg, that 

 was sixty years old. Would it not be well to try to. verify this ? Judge Brackenridge could 

 assist you in doing it. — My brother Edward told me that he kept a Jennet and Stallion some 

 weeks together, but he would not notice her. Against this, I heard of a case of a Stallion 

 covering a Jennet without producing a colt. It appears to be a mere matter of taste. When 

 abroad 1 could get no satisfactory information as to breeding mules; but am of opinion that 

 the best mules are not. from the horse and jennet. I was told that they were so scary and 

 timid as to be of little value. Your Jack is always the leader of a cam van of camels in Asia 

 Minor. In Syria, I travelled from Beyrout to Damascus, 70 miles, and back, on a mule, over 

 the Lebanon mountains. I could give you no idea of the badness of the road — the el{ viition 

 is 6000 feet above the sea. The owner of our mules (a man about my size, and consequently 

 above saddle weight,) rode a small Jack, and carried sundry bags filled with barley and cut 

 straw. I doubt whether your old sorrel that ran away with C^ampino, could have carriid 

 him as safely. In our expeditions to Balbec, over the same mountains, and to Jerusalem, 

 we had mules. In Genoa the mules are large, but coarse. In Italy they are little u.sed in 

 carriages, and I believe not much in France; but they "go tlieir death on them" in the 

 Spanish possessions, Cuba, &,c. 



" The relative expense of keeping, I think, is aa 5 to 8 ; or, to be on the safe side, a mule 

 can be kept at one-thiid less." 



If the preceding views, in which the attentive reader will have noticed a remarkable coin- 

 cidence generally, needed any further confirmation or support, none could be adduced nioro 

 conclusive than tlic following, from Col. N. Goldsborough. The more especially so with 

 all who, having the pleasure of his acquaintance, unite in their respect for his candour, and 

 and in deference to his superior judgment in such matters. 



''I regard," says he, "the point as settled, that the mule is superior to the horse, for all 



* Mares, grazing on clover, are supposed not to breed well. 



