46 THE MULE. 



to the hospital, then under the charge of Dr. L. H. 

 Braley. Some were so badly injured that they died in 

 fits ; others were cured. Even when the mule gets his 

 neck sore, he will endure it like the ox, and instead 

 of pulling back, as the horse will, he will come right up 

 for the purpose of easing it. They do not, as some 

 suppose, do this because of their sore, but because they 

 are not sensitive like the horse. 



Packing Mules. — In looking over a copy of Mason's 

 Farrier, or Stud Book, by Mr. Skinner, I find it stated 

 that a mule is capable of packing six or eight hundred 

 pounds. Mr. Skinner has evidently never packed 

 mules, or he would not have made so erroneous a state- 

 ment. I have been in all our Northern and "Western 

 Territories, in Old and E'ew Mexico, where nearly all 

 the business is done by pack animals, mules, and asses ; 

 and I have also been among the tribes of Indians bor- 

 dering on the Mexican States, where they have to a great 

 extent adopted the Spanish method of packing, and yet 

 I never saw an instance when a mule could be packed 

 six or eight hundred pounds. Indeed, the people in 

 these countries would ridicule such an assertion. And 

 here I pui^ose to give the result of my own experience 

 in packing, together with that of several others who 

 have long followed the business. 



I also purpose to say something on what I consider 

 the best mode of packing, the weight suitable for each 

 animal, and the relative gain or loss that might result 

 from this method of transportation, as compared with 

 transportation by wagon. In the first place, packing 

 ought never to be resorted to, because it cannot be done 



