THE DOMESTIC ASS. 589 



to keep a poor, wizened, starveling drayman, for the public would immediately lay the fault 

 on the beer, and transfer their custom elsewhere. 



The dray Horse is a very slow animal, and cannot be permanently quickened in Ms pace, 

 even if the load be comparatively light. Its breast is very broad, and its shoulders thick and 

 upright, the body large and round, the legs short, and the feet .extremely large. The ordi- 

 nary pace of the heavy Draught Horse is under three miles an hour, but by a judicious 

 admixture of the Flemish breed the pace is nearly doubled, the endurance increased, and the 

 dimensions very slightly diminished. The great size of the dray Horse is required, not for 

 the absolute amount of pulling which it performs, but for the need of a large and heavy 

 animal in the shafts to withstand the extreme jolting and battering that takes place as the 

 springless drays are dragged over the rough stones of the metropolis. And as a team of two 

 or three small leaders and one huge wheeler would look absurd, it is needful to have all the 

 Horses of uniform dimensions and appearance. 



The genuine dray Horse is a noble beast, and it is very pleasant to see the kindly feelings 

 which exist between them and their drivers. The long whip is carried upon the drayman's 

 shoulders more as a badge of office than as an instrument of torture, and if used at all, it is 

 gently laid upon the Horse 1 s back, accompanied with some endearing language, which is very 

 intelligible to the horse, but not to be comprehended by ordinary human intellects. 



One of the best Horses for ordinary heavy work is the Clydesdale Cart Horse, an 

 animal which has derived its name from the locality where it was first bred. It is larger than 

 the Suffolk Punch, and owes its origin to the Lanark Horse crossed with the large Flemish 

 breed. In temper it is docile, and it is possessed of enormous strength and great endurance. 

 The pure breed is large and heavy, and is notable for a very long stride. When judiciously 

 crossed with other breeds it produces offspring which are extensively employed in the carriage 

 and for the saddle. 



Several breeds of partially wild Horses are still found in the British islands, the best 

 known of which is the Shetland Pony. 



•This odd, quaint, spirited little animal is an inhabitant of the islands at the northern 

 extremity of Scotland, where it runs wild, and may be owned by any one who can catch and 

 hold it. Considering its diminutive proportions, which only average seven or eight hands in 

 height, the Sheltie is wonderfully strong, and can trot away quite easily with a tolerably 

 heavy man on its back. One of these little creatures carried a man of twelve stone weight for 

 a distance of forty miles in a single day. The head of this little animal is small, the neck 

 short and well arched, and covered with an abundance of heavy mane, that falls over the face 

 and irresistibly reminds the spectator of a Skye-terrier. It is an admirable draught Horse 

 when harnessed to a carriage of proportionate size ; and a pair of these spirited little creat- 

 ures, when attached to a lady's low carriage, have a remarkably piquant and pretty 

 appearance. 



Man has so long held the Domestic Ass under his control, that its original progenitors 

 have entirely disappeared from the face of the earth. 



There are, as it is well known, abundant examples of wild Asses found in various lands, 

 but it seems that these animals are either the descendants of domesticated Asses which have 

 escaped from captivity, or mules between the wild and domestic animals. In size and general 

 appearance the Ass varies greatly, according to the country which it inhabits, and the treat- 

 ment to which it is subjected. The Spanish kind, for example, is double the size of the ordi- 

 nary English Ass, and even the latter animal is extremely variable in stature and general 

 dimensions. As a rule, the Ass is large and sleek-haired in wanner countries, and small and 

 woolly-haired in the colder parts of the globe. 



Strong, sure-footed, hardy, and easily maintained, the Ass is of infinite use to the poorer 

 classes of the community, who need the services of a beast of burden, and cannot afford to 

 purchase or keep so expensive an animal as a horse. In the hands of unthinking and unedu- 



