438 THK HOUSE. 



But besides the Wild Ass, properly so called, it has been 

 believed that another species, approaching yet more in con- 

 formation to the domesticated kinds, is found within the same 

 geographical limits. It has been described as the Hamar of 

 the Persians. But Hamar is merely the Arabic for a male 

 Ass ; and the figures given by travellers of a species of this 

 name, are manifestly the representation of an animal that 

 has been domesticated, and not of a species really wild. 



But Wild Asses extend to the great African Continent, 

 and present characters which appear to distinguish them from 

 those of Asia. They were classed by the Romans under the 

 general term, Onager, and were from time to time exhibited 

 in the bloody sports of the amphitheatre, while their colts were 

 regarded as a luxury by the gluttonous epicures of Rome. 

 They have been seen by many travellers, from the countries 

 of the Red Sea to Cape Verde on the Atlantic ; and they 

 have been recently observed in great numbers above the cata- 

 racts towards the high lands of Bahr-el Ariad, or White Nile. 

 They are described as being of delicate form, as having the 

 hair very fine, of a silver-gray colour on the back, and pale 

 ashy-blue on the neck and sides, with the mane and tail black, 

 a dark cross on the shoulder, and a streak along the dorsal 

 line of the same colour. It is not known whether all the 

 Asses of Africa present the same characters. Those in the 

 subjugated state exhibit a certain difference of aspect in dis- 

 tant localities. Adanson, in describing those of Senegal, 

 brought by the Moors from the interior, says that he could 

 not recognise them to be the same animals as those of Europe. 



From the Onagri of Asia and Africa, however distinguished 

 from one another by minor characters, it is reasonable to 

 suppose the domesticated races have been derived. But, at 

 the same time, from the different characters which appear in 

 the subjugated races, even in the same localities, it is not im- 

 possible that the blood of allied species, as of the Hemionus, 

 to be immediately referred to, has been mixed with that of 

 the common kinds. But from whatever stirps in the natural 



