THE ASS. 51 



1? leetne'-s Mode of descending the Alps, or Andes. 



pair them with tame asses ; but this is not easily 

 performed, for they are so remarkably fierce, that 

 they frequently wound the persons who under- 

 take to manage them." 



These wild animals possess all the fleetness of 

 the horse; and neither declivities nor precipice* 

 can check their career. When attacked, they 

 defend themselves by means of their heels and 

 mouth with such address, that, without slacken- 

 ing their pace, they often maim their pursuers. 

 It is worthy of remark, however, that after car- 

 rying their first load, their celerity leaves them, 

 their dangerous ferocity is lost, and they soon 

 contract the dulness and stupidity peculiar to 

 their species. They always feed together ; and, 

 if a horse happen to stray into the place where 

 they graze, they all fall upon him, and, without 

 even allowing him to retreat, they bite and kick 

 him till they leave him dead on the spot. 



The manner in which these quadrupeds de- 

 scend the dangerous precipices of the Alps or 

 the Andes is too curious to be passed over with- 

 out notice. In the passes of these mountains 

 there are often on one side steep eminences, and 

 on the other frightful abysses ; and, as these, for 

 the most part, follow the direction of the moun- 

 tain, the road forms at every little distance steep 

 declivities of several hundred yards downwards. 

 These can only be descended by asses ; and the 

 animals themselves seem perfectly aware of Jhe 



OI,. 11. NO. IX. E 



