IRISH DONKE YS FOR SOUTH AFRICA 61 



farmer would have a ' second string ' available, most 

 valuable whenever a war or pestilence caused a demand 

 for other than the ordinary transport animals. 



The needs of South Africa which have sent buyers to 

 Ireland are exceptional, and unlikely to recur on such a 

 scale. The rinderpest has destroyed the ox transports, 

 and scarcity of grain has starved the horses. But there 

 are two factors which may always be relied on to make 

 a good donkey worth a good price in Rhodesia. These 

 are ' horse sickness ' and the tsetse-fly. The astonishing 

 constitution of the donkey makes him less liable to the 

 first, and usually proof against the last of these pests of 

 the new country. As a beast for army transport the 

 donkey is not a mere * emergency ' animal. * The estab- 

 lishment of breeding-studs, and the greater employment 

 of the donkey as a transport animal, is well worthy of 

 the attention of the military authorities,' writes Major 

 Leonard, after sixteen years' experience as a transport 

 officer. He finds that, used as a pack animal, the 

 smallest donkey will carry an average weight of a 

 hundred and thirty pounds, and the larger ones a hundred 

 and fifty pounds. It can be taken through deserts for 

 journeys of from fifty to sixty hours without water, and 

 pick up food on the way. It has no nerves, and there- 

 fore is a first-class animal to take ammunition-boxes to 

 the fighting line. It is small, and less likely to be hit 

 by bullets than a horse, and gets over more difficult 



