Asses anu Mii.ks 1^1 



tures, where they are named Para. Thajiiov. Atou aud Orud. 

 Scott's version of the description by Job of the wild ass Para is 

 as follows : 



Wild tenant of the waste. 1 semi Mm there 



Among the shrubs, to breathe in freedoms" air. 



Swift as an arrow in his speed he tiies; 



Sees from afar the smoky city rise; 



Scorns the throng^l street, where slavery drags her load, 



The loud-voiced driver and liis urging goad: 



Where e'er the mountain waves its lofty wood 



A boundless range, he seeks his verdant food. 



ANTIQUITY OF THE MULE 



Mules were used and much prized from a remote antiquity, and 

 are mentioned both in sacred and profane history. They were 

 introduced into the chariot races in the seventieth Olympiad, or 

 about 500 years before the Christian era ; and, in the time of the 

 Romans, Q. Axius, a Komaii Senator, according to Pliny, paid 

 400,000 sesterces — or more than $i:;,(M)() — for a male ass for 

 the stud. He also states that the best female asses were worth 

 a like sum to breed sires. When we compnte the difference m 

 value between money then and now, the price was greater than 

 that now paid for the most celebrated racing- and trotting' horses. 



BKEEU1AC;-.JACKS 



The best jacks now are those of Spanish origin. They are large, 

 strong-boned, long-bodied, and. of course, long-eared. Fig. 4'.» 

 gives a good representation of the Foitou ass, an animal similar 

 to the Spanish jack. 



The jack, whatever the breed, is sensitive to cold and to the 

 influence of storms, and, if not warmly housed in winter, soon 

 becomes useless and disabled from rheumatic and other afl'ections. 



Of the jacks imported at an early date into America, as a 

 present to General Washington. Mr. Custis has written as follows: 



The Roval Gift and Knight of .Malta were sent to General Washington about 

 the vear 1787 The (iift with a jennet, a present from the kmg of Spam, and 

 ^aid"to have been selected from the royal stud. The Knight, I believe, was 

 from the :»Iarquis de Lafavette, and was shipped from Marseilles 



The (xift was a huge and ill-shapened jack, near sixteen hands high, with 

 very large head, clumsv limbs and to all appearance little calculation for 

 active service. He was" of a gray color, probably not young when imported, 

 and died at Mount Vernon, l»ut little valued for his mules, winch wen- 



iinwieldv and dull. . • • mi ^i 



The Knight was of moderate size, clcan-liml.ed. of great activity, with ttie 

 fire and ferocity of a tiger; a dark brown nearly black colour, white belly and 



