370 WILD ANIMALS. 



above all other venison, yet Persians told him that it should only 

 be eaten under absolute necessity, being equally disagreeable to 

 the conscience of a good Mussulman and to the palate of a 

 gourmand. 



The Jews are certainly forbidden to eat it, but it is well known 

 that the Mohammedans of Persia, who may perhaps not acknow- 

 ledge the fact, are stiU very partial to it, and exhibit no con- 

 scientious scruples on the subject when they can procure this 

 dainty game. The ancient Persians were also fond of the meat 

 of the wild ass, and many of their writers have borne testimony to 

 its excellence. 



The young of the domesticated ass used also to be eaten, and 

 was considered a luxury by the Roman epicures. Pliny states that 

 Maecenas was the first person who had the animal served up at 

 his table, and in those times it was preferred to the flesh of the 

 onager or wild ass, but when he wrote the taste had gone out of 

 fashion. One of Martial's epigrams also refers to the young 

 ass being used as an article of food. When Malta, then in the 

 possession of the French, was blockaded by the English and 

 Neapolitan squadron, the inhabitants were reduced to eat horses, 

 asses, dogs, cats and rats, and the asses' flesh was held to be 

 so excellent that it was preferred to the best beef or veal. 

 The famous Bologna sausages are said to owe their reputation to 

 the fact that their chief ingredient is meat of this descriptiod. 



The wild ass is called " gour " in Persia, and this name was 

 given to one of their most celebrated rulers, Baharam the Fifth. 

 (a.d. 420 to 438), on account of his devotion to the chase of the 

 animal. It was in the pursuit of one of them that he lost his life, 

 for coming suddenly upon the brink of a deep pool, his horse 

 plunged in, and neither the animal nor the rider were ever seen 

 again. 



Sir John Malcolm in his "History of Persia" states that 

 "this accident happened in a fine valley between Shiraz and 

 Isfahan, which is to this day called the vale of heroes ; having 

 been, on account of its fine pastures and abundant game, the 

 favourite resort of the earliest ages, of the kings and nobles of 

 Persia. The whole valley abounds in springs; some are very 



