THE 90NKET. 



turn, made a pause, and allowed me to approacli ■witMn pistol- 

 shot of him. He then darted off again with the quickness of 

 thought, capering, kicking, and sporting in his flight, as if he 

 were not blown in the least and the chase were his pastime. 

 When my Persian followers came up they regretted that I had 

 not shot the creature when he was within my aim, tetling me 

 that his flesh was regarded in Persia as a great delicacy. 

 The prodigious swiftness and peculiar manner in which he fled 

 across the plain above all reminded me of the striking portrait 

 drawn by the author of the Book of Job;" 



"There is a vulgar notion," writes the author of "Wild 

 Sports," "that no such thing as a wild ass ever existed;" and, 

 in my opinion, if vulgar disbelief ever deserved excuse, it does 

 in this instance. It is easy enough to imagine a wild horse, or 

 bull, or dog, or cat, or rabbit ; but take the ass, the humble 

 donkey, with which we are all familiar. Begard him as he 

 broods along moodily, slowly bungling over the cobble-stones, 

 oppressed by the weight of a pyramid of cabbages and several 

 sieves of potatoes, the property of the costermonger his master. 

 Watch his eye when the heavy old whip-stock is brought down 

 with the force of a Fijian war-club across his hollow flanks : 

 he does not even blink, — or if he does, it is not the sudden 

 wink of pain, but a deliberate and contemptuous closing of his 

 optics, expressive of his utter indifference to any amount of 

 whip-stock that may be applied. See him even at liberty out 

 on the common. Does he frisk abofit and gambol in the sun, 

 as does even the sand-carter's wom-oflt Flemish mare P No ; 

 he moves about as though the wheels were stiU at his heels, 

 and crops the grass laboriously ; or turns his tail to the wind, 

 and for an hour stands stoek-stiU, as though waiting for the 

 " Kim up," the magic words by which his life is regulated. 



Nothing can be more erroneous than to regard the donkey 

 as a stupid animal. Truly, at times it exhibits extreme obsti- 

 nacy ; but that is only when it is greatly iU-used — when for its 

 best services and its wiBing speed it gets no other reward than 

 stripes and bruises ; so far from taking his obstinacy, under 

 such circumstances, as a proof of his obtuseness of inteUeot, it 

 may, with at least as much justice, be attributed to an uncom- 

 mon amount of intelligence, equal to the task of weighing this 

 matter against that and deducting a sensible conclusion. " If 

 I do my best," the donkey might arguey " if I resolve in the 

 morning to go about my day's work cheerfully, and to show in 

 what capita] spirits I am, cut a brisk caper in the shafts of the 



