1 82 The Book of the Horse. 



from tlie Cordilleras to Buenos Ayres is always done by the ' Coileros ' on mules, for the reasons 

 I have just given. I have often asked them why they did not come on horses. They laugh, 

 and tell you that they do not want to be left on foot — that is, horses would get sore-footed, 

 and would not stand the fatigue of the journey. Mules have nearly always very dark hoofs ; they 

 are much tougher than those of the horse. I have helped to cut and trim a good many, and, if I 

 may be allowed to make use of the comparison, there is about the same difference in cutting 

 a horse's hoof and a mule's as there is in cutting a piece of birch- wood and a piece of elm. 

 In the time of drought in the River Plate, when horses can with difficulty be found with sufficient 

 strength to carry themselves, mules are still to be seen working in the ' diligencias' and 

 carts; and fortunate is the proprietor of a 'diligencia' who has some teams of mules in 

 these hard times. They are not generally used in Buenos Ayres or the Uruguay, for the 

 reason that they are more difficult to tame than a colt, and are slower ; and as pace is everything 

 with these 'diligencias,' mules are not thought much of till the pastures are all scorched up, and 

 nothing is left but thistle-stalks and roots to eat, upon which the mules keep in good hard 

 condition, when the horses are nothing but skin and bone. 



Mules are also used in Brazil. A macadamised road was made for one hundred miles 

 to the north of Pheopolis in 1875. A coach, built after the English pattern, starts every day 

 at 6 A.M. from opposite the Emperor's palace at Persepolis, and deposits passengers at 6 P.M. 

 at the door of the hotel at Juiz da Fora. In this time is included not only the work of one 

 hundred miles, but an hour for dinner and another hour for halts at other stations. The work 

 is done by relays of elegant little mules, which seemed to enjoy the fun of going as fast as 

 they could. I timed four over a ten-mile stage: they did it in fifty minutes; and a stage of 

 six miles has been done in twenty minutes. They never seemed tired or hot. No horses could 

 keep up such a pace in such a climate.* 



To carry burdens or pack-saddles the mule is, no doubt, from iiis conformation, superior to 

 the horse. In war, for drawing artillery, he has one disadvantage: it is not every man that will 

 make a muleteer, but every one can lead a horse. 



The Spaniards do not write books; but Mrs. Ramsay, who is familiar with all the post and 

 travelling animals of Europe, says in her delightful book, "A Summer in Spain," published in 1874, 

 after a visit to the royal stables at Madrid : "Until one has seen a Spanish mule one has no 

 idea to what perfection the animal may be brought. They were not glossy, but their skins looked 

 like black velvet. We were carefully warned that the majority were vicious." In another place 

 Mrs. Ramsay mentions that it is the custom in Spain to have one horse ridden by a postillion as 

 leader to the ten mules that draw the diligence, and it is the duty of this postillion never to leave 

 his horse; nevertheless, on one occasion she awoke to see the postillion fast asleep beside the 

 driver, and the whole team galloping free alongside frightful precipices. 



The Earl of Mayo, in his "Sport in Abyssinia," says: "English hunting saddles did well for 

 the mules we rode in Abyssinia." He adds at another place that they should have had cruppers. 

 The Earl also used snaffle bridles, "which were a great deal better than the severe bits of 

 the country." 



"A good sheepskin numbdah, or one made of cotton cloth folded in many folds — the older, 

 and therefore the softer, the better — is put under the Abyssinian saddle. On the march, when 

 they halt for the day, they take off the saddle, but leave the numbdah on, tying up the mule 

 in the shade until the animal is cool. They then remove the nuvibdali and lead the mule 



• "Over the Sen," l>y T. \V. IlinchclilT, M.A. 187C. 



