HORSES. 



5»3 



account of its milk ; and it is stated that in one district of Equatorial Africa large 

 droves of these animals are kept solely for the sake of their milk. A peculiarity 

 in the disposition of the ass, is its reluctance to cross even the smallest stream of 

 water ; this aversion being doubtless a direct inheritance from its desert-haunting 

 wild ancestors. 



DOMESTIC AS 



Mule. 



The term mule is strictly applicable only to the hybrid between 

 the male ass and the mare ; the product of the union of the opposite 

 sexes of these two species being known as the hinny. Mules, although they 

 frequently display the stubbornness and obstinacy of the ass in an intensified 

 degree, are for some purposes more valuable than either of their parents, being 

 very sure-footed and with great powers of endurance. Some of the finest mules are 

 bred in Spain, the United States, and North-Western India, where they frequently 

 attain the height of 16 hands. In Spain they are generally employed to carry 

 burdens, and march in long droves, following in single file a leader distinguished 



VOL. II. — xx 



