HISTORY. 445 



o aiiimal can be compared with the Mule. The parent Ass, 

 sagacious as he is, though he will bear the rider through 

 the dizzy pass, cannot support those weighty loads which the 

 Mule can carry with ease. Even when human life is at stake, 

 the sagacity and sure-footedness of the Mule may be equally 

 trusted as the parent Ass. Like him, he moves along the 

 slippery edge of the precipice, climbs the barrier of rocks, 

 and slides down the steep descent. In the Alps and Pyrenees 

 his services are in continued requisition, and the danger of 

 transporting the traveller and his baggage would be extreme 

 without his assistance. In the tropical settlements of 

 Europeans, where the sugar-cane is cultivated, the Mule is 

 greatly superior to the Horse for the labours of the mill and 

 other works. 



The Mule was known in the earliest ages. The Jews made 

 use of him, though their law prohibited the coupling of dif- 

 ferent kinds of animals together. He was well known to the 

 Persians and other Asiatics, to the Greeks, who employed 

 him in rural labour, as we learn from Hesiod and others, and 

 to the Romans, who made use of him in their equipages and 

 in various ways. The race cannot be propagated by breeding 

 from the individuals, though instances exist of the fertility 

 of mules with a horse or ass. 



The Mule may be the produce either of a male -ass and a 

 mare, or of a she-ass and a horse ; but it is remarkable that, 

 in all cases, the former is the larger, finer, and more spirited 

 animal. The progeny always most resembles the dam. The 

 Mule in which the Ass is the mother has long ears, and is of 

 a duller temperament and less beautiful form. The mare 

 receives the male Ass with a species of aversion, though, 

 when the union takes place, conception seems to be as cer- 

 tain as when the animals are of the same species. 



The breeds of the Mule are greatly varied, for the progeny 

 is affected by the difference of character of both parents. 

 The Spaniards use the tallest and finest asses for breeding, 

 but the progeny varies according as the mare shall be of the 



