CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



within a slu.rt stretch of the creature he pursued, and, to Sir Robert's surprise and vexation, lie saw it 



to bo an ass. 



" But," to use his own words, " on a moment's reflection, judging from its fleetness it must be a 

 wild one, a species little known in Europe, but which the Persians prize above all others as au object of 

 cliase, I determined to approach as near to it as the very swift Arab horse on which I was mounted 

 would carry me. But the single fact of checking my horse, to consider, had given our game such a 

 head of us, that, notwithstanding all our speed, we could not recover our ground on him. I, however, 

 happened to be considerably before my companions, when, at a certain distance, the animal, in its turn, 

 made a pause, and allowed me to approach within pistol-shot of him. He then darted off again with 

 the quickness of thought, capering, kicking, and sporting in his flight, as if he were not blown in the 

 least; and the chase was his pastime. 



" He appeared to me about ten or twelve hands high, the skin smooth like a deer's, and of a 

 reddish colour, the belly and hinder parts partaking of a silvery gray ; his neck was finer than that of 

 a common ass, being longer, and bending like a stag's, and his legs beautifully slender ; the head 

 and ears seemed large, in proportion to the gracefulness of these forms, and by them I first saw that 

 the object of my chase was of the ass tribe. The mane was short and black, as was also a tuft which 

 terminated his tail. No line whatever ran along his back, or crossed his shoulders, as is seen in the 

 tame species with us. When my followers of the country came up, they regretted that I had not shot 

 the creature when he was so much within my aim, telling me his flesh is one of the greatest delicacies in 

 Persia ; but it would not have been to eat him that I should have been glad to have had him in my 

 possession. The prodigious swiftness and peculiar manner with which he fled across the plain exactly 

 coincided with the description that Xenophon gives of the same animal in Arabia. 



" I was informed by the mehmandliar* who had been in the desert when making a visit to the 

 shrine of Ali, nephew to Mahomet, that the wild ass of Irak Arabi differs in nothing from the one 

 I had just seen. He had observed them often for a short time in the possession of the Arabs, who 

 told him that the creature was perfectly untameable." 



The Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstoue, in his account of his embassy to Cabul, states that this 

 animal is an inhabitant of the desert between India and Affghanistan, where it is sometimes met with 

 alone, but more frequently in herds. It resembles a mule rather than an ass, but is of the colour of 

 the latter. It is remarkable for its shyness, arid still more for its speed, as, at a kind of shuffling trot, 

 it leaves the swiftest horse behind. It may be supposed, from this account, that the animal noticed by 

 Mr. Elphinstone differs in colour from those seen by Sir R. K. Porter, and this would seem to be the 

 case in other respects with those found in Outch, judging by a statement on good authority that the 

 singular marshy tract in that province, termed the Eunn, is resorted to by them. The writer referred 

 to, a correspondent of the " Asiatic Journal," discovered several herds, and wishing to have a better 

 view, he galloped towards them, but was unable to get within twenty yards, though they did not 

 appear to be at full speed. He says distinctly that the ear and shoulder-stripe were like those of the 

 common kind, while the head appeared longer, and the limbs more strongly and roughly formed. 

 They breed on the banks and salt islands of the Runn, and live longer than the tame species. The 

 slight discrepancies which occur in various descriptions may very easily be accounted for, by supposing 

 that they relate to different varieties of the same species, or to the influence of local circumstances. 



Mr. Moorcroft states that in the eastern part of Ladakh there is a nondescript wild variety of 

 horse, which he calls equus kidng, perhaps more nearly allied to the ass than the horse, in some par- 

 ticulars, but differing from the gurkluir of Sinde, of which race he obtained a female of great beauty. 

 I Imt gentlfilQan set out on an expedition estimated to last two months, with the view of shooting some 

 I.Kijiijx, Ho had just reached the country in which they are to be found, after eighteen days' march, 

 during which his party suffered considerably from the severity of the weather, when he was recalled on 

 urgent business. He, however, directed a native to lie. in wait, and offered him a suitable remunera- 

 tion for the skin, head, and organs of voice, for dissection. The animal appeared to Mr. Moorcroft 

 to IK- about fourteen hands high, of a round, muscular torm, and with remarkably clean limbs. 



The wild ass is termed in Persia kur, or gur, and in Sinde and Cabul (/i/rk/ifii: The chase ot 

 this animal appears to have been at all times a favourite amusement with the people of the East, for 



* An officer specially appointed to attend strangers visiting Persia. 



