HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



21 



able. He is hardier than the Horse; and of all 

 other quadrupeds, is least infested with lice or 

 other vermin ; probably owing to the extreme hard- 

 ness and dryness of his skin. For the same reason, 

 perhaps, he is less sensitive of the lashes of the 

 whip, or the stinging of flies. 



Fie is three or four years in coming to perfection ; 

 and lives to the age of twenty, or sometimes 

 twenty-five years. He sleeps much less than the 

 Horse, and seldom lies down for that purpose but 

 when he is much fatigued. The She-Ass goes 

 eleven months Avith young, and seldom produces 

 more than one at a time. 



The services of this useful creature are too often 

 repaid by hard fare and cruel usage; and being 

 generally the property of the poor, it partakes of 

 their wants and their distresses: whereas, by due 

 cultivation and care in its education, the Ass might 

 be usefully and profitably employed in a variety of 

 domestic purposes, and in many cases supply the 

 place of the Horse, to which only it is second, 

 though generally degraded into the most useless 

 and neglected of domestic quadrupeds. 



