ANIMALS. 507 



Though now so common in all parts of England, the ass was 

 entirely lost among us during the reign of queen Elizabeth. 

 Holingshead informs us that our land did yield no asses.' 

 However, there are accounts of their being common in England 

 before that time. In Sweden, they are at present a sort of 

 rarity ; nor does it appear by the last history of Norway, that 

 they have yet reached that country. It is in the hotter climates 

 alone that we are to look for the original of this serviceable 

 creatuie. In Guinea, they are larger and more beautiful than 

 even the horses of the same country. In Persia, they have two 

 kinds ; one of which is used for burdens, being slow and heavy ; 

 the other, which is kept for the saddle, being smooth, statelv, 

 and nimble. They are managed as liorses, only that the rider 

 sits nearer the crupper, and they are taught to amble like them. 

 They generally cleave their nostrils to give them more room for 

 breathing, and many of these are sold for forty or fifty jjounds. 



The ass Is a much more hardy animal than the horse, and lia- 

 ble to fewer diseases. Of all animals covered with hair, he is 

 the least subject to vermin, for he has no lice, probably owing 

 to the drjTiess and the hardness of his skin. Like the horse, he 

 is three or four years in coming to perfection ; he lives till 

 twenty or twenty-five ; sleeps much less than the horse ; and 

 never lies dowm for that purpose, unless very much tired. The 

 she-ass goes above eleven months with young, and never brings 

 forth more than one at a time. The mule may be engendered 

 either between a horse and a she-ass, or between a jack-ass and 

 u mare.* The latter breed is every way preferable, being larger, 



1 British Zoology, vol. i. p. II. 



• Mules have not unfrequently beeo kno^va to bring forth young, espe- 

 cially in hot countries; and instances have not been wanting, tlioui;h they 

 are rare, both in England and Scotland. But it would require a succession 

 of experiments to prove that mules will breed with each other, and produce 

 an oft:<pring equally capable of continuing the race. 



The common mule is very healthy, and will live above thirty years. It is 

 fi>und very serviceable in carrying burdens, particularly in mountainous and 

 Blouy places, where liorses are not so sure-footed. The size and strength o( 

 our breed have lately been much improved by the importation of Spaniih 

 male asses ; and it were much to lie wished, that the useful qualities of this 

 animal were more attended to ; for, by proper care in its breaUiog, its natural 

 obstinacy would, in a great measure, be corrected ; and it might be formed 

 with success for tlie saddle, the draught, or the burden. 



People of the first quality in Spain are drawn by mules, where fifty or sixty 

 i;oiueas is no uncommon price for one ol them : nor is it sururising wliefi 



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