THE WILD-ASS. 437 



According to Buffon, the domesticated breed of asses 

 used in Europe came originally from Arabia. The uni- 

 form aspect of this animal, when compared with the great 

 variety of colour exhibited by the domestic races of the 

 horse, has induced some to suppose that the former has 

 not been so long nor so generally under the dominion of 

 man. In the time of Aristotle the ass was not found in 

 Thrace, nor even in Gaul; but, on the other hand, we know 

 from the Sacred Writings, that it was used as a beast of 

 burden in the remotest ages of Jewish history, and was 

 therefore, in all probability, reduced to servitude by the 

 Eastern nations fully more early than any other animal 

 not immediately necessary to the existence of a pastoral 

 people.* Its comparatively recent reduction, then, can- 

 not, as Buffon has alleged, be assigned as the cause of 

 its greater uniformity of colour. This must be sought 

 for in the different natures of the two animals when act- 

 ed upon by the influence of climate, leading the one to 

 vary only in form and stature, and the other in colour 

 as well as form. The domestic ass of our northern climes 

 being never improved by crosses from a purer race, the 

 inferiority of the animal is scarcely to be wondered 

 at. But under the warm and serene climates of Asia, 

 where the breed is not only carefully tended, but fre- 

 quently improved by intercourse with the fleet and fiery 

 onager, it is an animal of great strength and considerable 

 beauty. 



The onager or wild-ass, called koulan by many of the 

 tribes of Asia, is distinguished from the domestic kind by 

 the greater length and finer form of its limbs, its straight 

 chest, and somewhat compressed body. Its head is better 

 put on and more erectly carried than in the common ass, 

 and the ears, which are shorter by one-third, are slender 

 and sharp pointed. -The true source of our domestic race, 

 though well known to the ancients, appears to have been 

 lost sight of during the middle ages, and was indeed but 

 obscurely known for some centuries after the revival of 

 learning. We owe the best modern elucidation of its 

 history, as we do that of several other species, to the re- 

 searches of Pallas. The Romans were familiar with the 



* The first mention of mules is in the time of David, previous to 

 which time asses seem to have been used for riding 1 . The word 

 rendered mules in Genesis, xxxvi. 24, signifies springs of water. 



