DOMESTICATED MAMMALS AND THEIR USES 239 
on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way” 
(Judges v. 10). The undeserved obloquy from which the modern 
‘‘moke” suffers is, however, the survival of a very ancient pre- 
judice. Possibly the original source of derision is to be looked for 
in the shockingly inharmonious voice of this unfortunate creature. 
The views of the ancient Egyptians on the subject are thus sum- 
marized by Houghton (in Natural History of the Ancients) :— 
“The ass was sacred to Typho, ‘the Evil Being’. According 
to Plutarch, the Coptites had the custom of throwing an ass 
down a precipice; and the inhabitants of Busiris and Lycopolis 
carried their detestation of it so far as never to make use of 
trumpets, fancying that their sound is similar to the braying of an 
ass. Even the colour of the unfortunate ass—which, in Egypt, as 
in ancient Palestine, was of a redder tint than is usual with the 
domestic ass of England—was looked upon as indicative of the 
Evil Being, and any unhappy man who was of a ruddy com- 
plexion, or had decidedly red hair, was thought to be related 
to the Evil Being (Typho).” 
Several species of wild donkey are native to Asia and Africa. 
One of the latter, the Nubian Ass (Eguas Africanus or tentopus), 
is probably ancestral to the domesticated form. The original 
stock most likely resembled in colour and markings that from 
which horses have sprung. 
It may conveniently be noted here that the the striped Tiger- 
Horses or Zebras, of which Africa possesses three indigenous 
species, are not the wild and intractable creatures once supposed, 
but are susceptible to domestication. Nor do the zebras of the 
“fly” districts succumb to the bites of the tsetse-fly, an insect that 
makes considerable tracts in tropical Africa impossible for horses. 
Mutes anp Zrpra-Mutes.—It is a familiar fact that ordinary 
mules are crosses or hybrids between horse and ass. On account 
of their strength, endurance, and sure-footedness they are invalu- 
able beasts of burden in mountainous countries, and play a more 
important part both in peace and war than is commonly realized 
in England, where there is considerable prejudice against them. 
Probably Spain has made more use of them than any other 
nation, especially in the New World. The importance of the 
mule in war so far as the British Empire is concerned has been 
abundantly demonstrated in our African and Indian campaigns, 
and its value in peace is also considerable. 
