30 THE HOUSE AND ITS DISEASES. 



unpleasant to ride. The Shetland pony, called in 

 Scotland, Sheltic, is a very diminutive animal, some- 

 times not seven hands and a half high ; he is often very 

 handsome, with a small head, good tempered counten- 

 ance, a short neck, fine towards the throttle, shoulders 

 low and thick — one of them 3 feet high, carried a man 

 of 12 stone, 40 miles in one day. It has been disputed 

 whether the pony and large horse were, or could have 

 been originally from the same stock ; the question is 

 difficult to answer. The Arab ponies are very fast. I 

 had a chestnut pony in Poena, East India, that carried 

 me half a mile in one minute. I matched him against 

 a celebrated pony (the property of the King of Persia) 

 in 1855, at the above distance, which he accomplished 

 on that occasion in 57 seconds, beating his opponent by 

 three lengths. 



The Ass. 



This animal belongs to the same natural genus as the 

 horse, and has been under the dominiou of man from the 

 earliest ages of which we have any account. He seems 

 to have been sooner domesticated than the horse ; for 

 we find asses mentioned in the 12th chapter of Genesis, 

 as domesticated 1920 years before the Christian era, 

 although nothing is said of the horse. 



Tlfe Mule. 



It is not known where mules were first bred. The 

 first mention of them in the Sacred Writings, is 1740 

 years before the Christian era. In the book of Genesis, 

 it is said, '' This was that same Anah that found mules 

 in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Libeon, his 

 father !" It is disputed whether he was the first breeder 

 of them ; Aristotle and Pliny were of opinion that he 

 was ; however that may be, mules do not appear to 

 have become common in India, until the reign of David, 

 which was about 300 years after the death of Anah. 



