THE ASS. 363 



and Malta — the ass does receive consideratioiij and careful breeding. 



These European asses vary in colour considerably, for they are of 



every shade of grey to creamy white, but are undoubtedly splendid 



animals, and show what care and attention can effect in keeping 



the race up to its original high standard, or even in improving it. 



No less than 200Z., it is said, are sometimes paid in Spain for a 



stallion ass. In the state of Kentucky, where mules are in great 



request as beasts of burden, asses, imported from the south of 



Europe, are reared with scrupulous care, and with such success, 



that from an average height of fourteen hands, the Kentuckians 



have raised these animals to fifteen and even sixteen hands. 



That the diminutive size of the ass in cold countries is due 



as much to neglect as to rigour of climate seems proved by the 



fact, that in the north of India, where it is used by the lowest 



castes, the ass does not attain a height greater than that of a 



Newfoundland dog. It is however, as before stated, among the 



south-western nations of Asia and in Egypt that the ass has 



received that attention usually bestowed in this country on the 



horse, and it is there that it is to be seen in greatest perfection. 



The Arabs and Persians know the pedigrees of their asses, and 



by careful selection and interbreeding they have formed and 



perpetuated many useful races. Thus in Syria, according to 



Darwin, there are four distinct breeds: — "Alight and graceful 



animal with agreeable gait used by ladies, an Arab breed reserved 



exclusively for the saddle, a stouter animal used for ploughing and 



various purposes, and the large Damascus breed with peculiarly 



long body and ears."^ 



The ass was only at a very late period known to the 

 inhabitants of the shores of the Baltic,, and has not long been 

 naturalized in Sweden and Norway. In England it was known 

 during the Anglo-Saxon period, for it is mentioned as existing 

 here in the reign of Athelred, and after that in the time of 

 Henry III. They were used by the abbots as beasts of burden 

 and for riding purposes, for they formed part of the common stock 

 of the various monasteries. But their numbers could never have 

 been numerous, or if so must have dwindled to so few that in the days 

 2 " Encyclopedia Britannica," ninth edition. 



