BOOK VIII.] History of Nature. 81 



that in Cappadocia ordinarily they produce Foals ; but there 

 they are a distinct kind of Animal. Mules are broken of their 

 Kicking if they are often made to drink wine. It is found 

 written in what remains of many Greeks, that there has 

 been produced between an he-Mule and a Mare, a Creature 

 which the Latins call Hinnus, that is, a little Mule. Between 

 Mares and wild Asses that have been made tame are pro- 

 duced a kind of Mules, very swift in running and exceed- 

 ingly hard-hoofed, slender of body, of unconquered but 

 generous spirit. But the Mule that cometh of a wild Ass 

 and a female tame Ass exceeds all the rest. Wild Asses 

 (Onagri) are the best in Phrygia and Lycaonia. Africa 

 boasts of the Flesh of their Foals, which is excellent Meat ; x 

 and such they call Lalisiones. It appeareth in the Chronicles 

 of Athens, that a Mule lived eighty Years; and that when 

 they built the Temple in the Citadel at that Place, this old 

 Mule being set aside for Age, would yet accompany the 

 other labouring Beasts, and if any of them were ready to fall 

 under their Load, would relieve and encourage them accord- 

 ing to his power: by which the people were so much pleased, 

 that they made a Decree that the Corn-Merchants should 

 take good Care that this Mule should not be driven away 

 from their Cleansing-Sieves. 



CHAPTER XLV. 



Of Oxen* 

 IT is said that the Oxen of India are as high as Camels, 



o * 



and four Feet broad between the Horns. In our Part of the 



1 ^Elian, Hunting, book iii. The Persians and Tartars hold the flesh 

 of the wild ass in high esteem, and hunt it in preference to all other 

 descriptions of game. Olearius assures us that he saw no fewer than 

 thirty-two wild asses slain in one day by the Schah of Persia and his 

 court, and their bodies were sent to the royal kitchens at Ispahan. We 

 know from Martial that the epicures of Rome held the flesh of the 

 Onager in the same estimation as we do venison : 



"Cum tener est Onager, solaque lalisio matre 

 Pascitur : hoc infans, sed breve nomen habet." 



Lib. xiii. 97. Wcrn. Club. 



2 Bos Taurus. LINN. The Ox. Wern. Club. 

 VOL. III. G 



