372 WILD ANIMALS. 



The king instantly went. On tis repeating his admifatibn of 

 what he had seen, she bade him not lavish praises where they 

 were not due. ' Practice makes perfect,' said she in her natural 

 voice, and at the same time lifted up her veil. Baharam recog- 

 nized and embraced his favourite. . Pleased with the lesson she 

 had given him, and delighted with the love which had led her to 

 pass four years in an endeavour to regain his esteem, he ordered a 

 palace to be built on the spot, as a hunting-seat and a memorial 

 of this event." 



The Kiang (Asinus Eemionus) is the wild ass of Tibet, where it 

 is to be found inhabiting the high table-lands of the country 

 where the temperature is said to be below the freezing-point 

 in the middle of the summer, and steadily below zero in the 

 winter. Notwithstanding the atmosphere being so frigid during 

 the summer, these animals shed their winter coats, which are 

 thick and woolly, and assume short-haired, bright bay ones, the 

 same as the species which inhabit much warmer climates. 

 They are described as herding together in troops of eight or 

 ten, and not in the large numbers noticeable in the onager. 

 These troops are in charge of a solitary male. When alarmed 

 they take flight immediately, and although they are so fleet of 

 foot, yet their curiosity, or lack of wind, causes them to stop 

 and look round every now and again, then, resuming their flight 

 continue the same performance, which gives the hunter, if wel^ 

 mounted, some chance of overtaking them before they reach the 

 precipices or mountain places, which are generally the goals they 

 make for, for there further pursuit becomes impossible. 



The wild ass of Cutch (Asinus Indicus) is another variety of the 

 family, but it differs in but few points from the two species 

 already described. Transverse stripes, somewhat resembling 

 those of the zebra, are occasionally visible on the shoulders of 

 the adult animal, but are more frequently to be seen on the foals. 

 Unlike the kiang, it is not to be found in such cold nor mountainous 

 regions, but generally inhabits the sultry plains near the mouth 

 of the Indus. 



It differs from the kiang in the sound it utters, for the kiang 

 neighs, in this respect resembling the horse, but the wild ass of 



