32 BRITISH QUADRUPEDS. 



of a greater amount of labour than is generally ex- 

 pected from that animal. One person worked a team 

 of four asses at plough, yoked two abreast, driven in 

 hand with reins by the ploughman, and proved that 

 their work was equal to that of two common farmers' 

 horses of a slight kind. The late Earl of Egremont also 

 formed a team, consisting of six asses, and for nine 

 months he found them of great service. They took a 

 chaldron and a quarter of coals twice a day, in a wagon, 

 from the canal to his lordship's house at Petworth, 

 which showed an unlooked-for degree of strength ; and 

 at the same time they were gentle and docile. 



The following journey of one of these animals is not 

 a little remarkable. In March, 1816, an ass, the pro- 

 perty of Captain Dundas, R.N., then at Malta, was 

 shipped on board the Ister frigate, Captain Forest, 

 bound from Gibraltar for that island. The vessel 

 having struck in some sands off the Point de Gat, at 

 some distance from the shore, the ass was thrown over- 

 board, to give it a chance of swimming to land a poor 

 one, indeed, for the sea was running so high, that a 

 boat which left the ship was lost. 



A few days afterwards, however, when the gates of 

 Gibraltar were opened in the morning, the ass presented 

 himself for admission, and proceeded to the stable of 



