212 , HISTORY OF 



dryness and the hardness of his skin. Like the 

 horse he is three or four years in coming to per- 

 fection, he lives till twenty to twenty-five, sleeps 

 much less than the horse, and never lies down for 

 that purpose, unless very much tired. The she- 

 ass goes above eleven months with young, and 

 never brings forth more than one at a time. The 

 mule may be engendered either between a horse 

 and a she-ass, or between a jack-ass and a mare. 

 The latter breed is every way preferable, being 

 larger, stronger, and better shaped. It is not yet 

 known whether the animal called the Gimerro 

 be one of these kinds, or, as is asserted, bred 

 between the ass and the bull. While naturalists 

 affirm the impossibility of this mixture, the natives 

 of the Alpine countries, where this animal is bred, 

 as strongly insist upon its reality. The common 

 mule is very healthy, and will live above thirty 

 years, being found very serviceable in carrying 

 burdens, particularly in mountainous and stony 

 places, where horses are not so sure-footed. The 

 size and strength of our asses is at present great- 

 ly improved by the importation of Spanish jack- 

 asses ; and it is probable we may come in time to 

 equal the Spaniards in breeding them, where it is 

 not uncommon to give fifty or sixty guineas for a 

 mule ; and, indeed, in some mountainous coun- 

 tries, the inhabitants cannot well do without them. 

 Their manner of going down the precipices of the 

 Alps, or the Andes, is very extraordinary ; and 

 with it we will conclude their history. In these 

 passages, on one side are steep eminences, and 

 on the other frightful abysses ; and, as they 



