500 ' HISTORY OF 



Thus there is much greater resemblance between the horse and 

 the ass, than between the sheep and the goat : and yet the latter 

 produce an animal that is by no means barren, but which quicklv 

 reproduces an offsprin;; resembling the sheep ; while the mule of 

 the former is marked with certain sterility. The goat and the 

 sheep may be therefore said to be of one kind, although so much 

 unlike in figure ; while the horse and the ass are perfectly distinct, 

 though so closely resembling. It has, itideed, been said by Aristo- 

 tle, that their male is sometimes prolific ; this, however, has not 

 been confirmed by any other testimony, although there has elapsed 

 a period of near two thousand years to collect the evidence. 



But what tends to put the subject out of dispute, is that the 

 two animals are found in a state of nature entirely diflTerent. 

 The onager, or wild ass, is seen in still greater abundance than 

 the wild horse ; and the peculiarities of its kind are more dis- 

 tinctly marked than in those of the tame one. Had it been a 

 horse degenerated, the likeness would be stronger between them, 

 the higher we went to the original stock from whence both have 

 been supposed to be sprung. The wild animals of both kinds 

 would, in such a case, resemble each other, much more than 

 those of the tame kind, upon whom art has, for a succession of 

 agef), been exercising all its force, and producing strange habits 

 and new alterations. The contrary, however, obtains, and the 

 wild ass is even more assinine, if I may so express it, than that 

 bred in a state of domestic servitude ; and has even a natural 

 aversion to the horse, as the reader will shortly learn. 



The wild ass has, by some writers, been cenfounded with 

 the zebra, but very improperly, for they are of a very diflferent 

 species. The wild ass is not streaked like the zebra, nor is his 

 shape so beautiful ; his figure is pretty much the same as that 

 of the common ass, except that he is of a brighter colour, and 

 has a white list running from his head to his tail. This animal 

 is found wild in many islands of the Archipelago, particu- 

 larly in that of Cerigo. There are many wild asses in the deserts 

 of Libya and Numidia, that run with such amazing swiftness 

 that scarcely even the coursers of the country can overtake 

 them. When they see a man, they set up a horrid braying, and 

 stop short all together, till he approaches near them ; they then, 

 as if by common consent, fly off with great speed ; and it is 

 upon such occasions that they generally fall into the traps which 



