16 ASS. Class L 



pose so useful an animal was unknown in these 

 kingdoms before that period; for mention is 

 made of them so early as the time of King* 

 Ethelred, above four hundred years preceding ; 

 and again in the reign of t Henry III. so that 

 it must have been owing to some accident, that 

 the race was extinct during the days of Eliza- 

 beth. We are not certain of the time it was 

 again introduced ; probably in the succeeding 

 reign, when our intercourse with Spain was re- 

 newed, in which country this animal was great- 

 ly used, and where the species is in great per- 

 fection. 



The ass is originally a native of Arabia, and 

 other parts of the East: a warm climate pro- 

 duces the largest and the best, their size and spirit 

 declining in proportion as they advance into 

 colder regions. " With difficulty," says Mr. 

 Adanson, speaking of the asses of Senegal, 

 " did I know this animal, so different did it ap- 

 " pear from those of Europe: the hair was fine, 

 " and of a bright mouse color, and the black 

 " list that crosses the back and shoulders had a 

 " good effect. These were the asses brought 

 '' by the Moors from the interior parts of the 



* When the price of a mule or young ass was \2s. Chron. 

 ' preciosum, 51. 



t In 1217, when the Cawie?a?-JM* of St. J/tareV lost two asses, 

 kc. Chr. pr. 60. 



