HISTORY. 447 



be more considerable than many who have never seen the 

 animal in his state of improvement could believe. We should 

 have an animal with speed superior to the draught-horse, 

 hardy, free from innumerable maladies to which the Horse 

 is subject, easily maintained, and as docile to the yoke as 

 any animal used in labour. It is an error to believe that 

 the Mule is vicious and intractable : this is the result of de- 

 fective education and improper usage, and will rarely occur 

 when the animal is trained up with care, as he should always 

 be, in the manner of the saddle-horse. When a number of 

 horses are used in carriers' waggons, as in England, we should 

 derive this advantage from the substitution of the Mule, that 

 an equal number of mules would do the same work as the 

 larger horses, would be fed at considerably less cost, 

 would be less liable to accidents and diseases, especially of 

 the feet and limbs, from which the Mule is remarkably ex- 

 empt, would continue to work longer without fatigue, and 

 would last longer. The farmer, too, might derive consider- 

 able advantages from a partial use of the Mule. He would 

 certainly find him able to maintain an equal pace in the field 

 with his other working cattle, and as fit for every labour of 

 the farm. As an animal of all work upon a farm, many indi- 

 viduals have found the advantage of possessing a single mule. 

 Although made the common drudge, subjected to irregular 

 labour, harnessed or ridden as the case may require, this, 

 the worst-used animal on the farm, has been found to main- 

 tain his condition with the best, and at less expense of feed- 

 ing. In the few cases in this country where mules have been 

 used for the humbler classes of carriages, as taxed carts, 

 common gigs, &c., they have been found to endure fatigue 

 and careless usage to an extent which no horse could sus- 

 tain ; and these trials, it is to be observed, have been usually 

 made with an inferior breed of mules, destitute of size, 

 strength, and good breeding. 



The Ass of Africa, it has been said, differs in certain cha- 



