444 THE HORSE. 



ceived. Great numbers of she-asses are kept about London 

 and the larger towns, for the purpose of supplying a mild, 

 salutary, and nutritive liquid to the infirm. 



Although the Ass does not well support the temperature 

 of the higher latitudes, yet beyond a question the breed could 

 be greatly improved even in countries colder than our own. 

 Were a proper selection to be made of the parents for breed- 

 ing, and were the young to be properly fed, so that their form 

 might be developed, and were they to be sheltered from the 

 inclemency of the weather in the same manner as the Horse, 

 we would succeed in rearing Asses greatly superior in 

 strength and spirit to the diminutive creatures which we see 

 on our highways and commons. The animals, indeed, are 

 mostly in the hands of those who have not the means to pro- 

 cure proper males, or pursue a right system of management ; 

 but on this account it is the more important that some atten- 

 tion should be paid to the subject by the wealthier classes. 

 Our commercial relations with Spain and the Levant would 

 enable us, at no great cost, to improve the defective races of 

 the country by the easiest means. 



Besides the direct services which the Ass can render to us 

 as a beast of burden, he is endowed with the faculty of pro- 

 pagating a race of animals superior to himself in strength, 

 and equal in sagacity, patience, and fortitude. The Mule is 

 a creature invaluable in the countries in which he is reared 

 for his many and varied services. In Spain, he is the beast 

 of burden the most generally used and esteemed. He is em- 

 ployed in coaches and chariots of all kinds, and used for the 

 saddle even by people of condition, as safe, hardy, and suited 

 to distant journeys. In a rocky and precipitous country he 

 is, of all known animals, the best adapted for the carrying of 

 loads. He has the mountain habits of the Ass with the 

 strength of his other parent. Countries divided from one 

 another by precipitous mountains would remain separated in 

 intercourse but for this hardy creature. In the transporting 

 of merchandise across the dreadful cliffs of the Cordilleras, 



