1859.] On the different Animals known as wild Asses. 241 



of a Journey to Kalat, (published in 1843), remarks that " the 

 Ghur-Mor, or ' wild Ass,' was formerly to be found on the Dasht 

 Giiran, and in Ghurgh'ina, but has disappeared of late years. It 

 is still occasionally seen about Kharan. It also ranges the plain of 

 Dalbanding, on the road from Nushke to Jalk. South-easterly of 

 Kalat, it is said to be found on the Pat of Shikarptir, between Tam- 

 bu and Rojan." 



To the west of the range of the Ghor-Jchur lies that of Asinus 

 hemippus, or true Hemionus of ancient writers, — the particular 

 species apostrophized in the book of Job, and again that noticed by 

 Xenophon. There is a recent account of it by Dr. A. H. Layard, 

 in ' Nineveh and its Remains' (324). Returning from the Sinjar, 

 he was riding through the desert to Tel Afer, and there he mistook 

 a troop of them for a body of Horse, with the Bedouin riders con- 

 cealed ! " The reader will remember," he adds, " that Xenophon men- 

 tions these beautiful animals, which he must have seen during his 

 march over these very plains. He faithfully describes the country, 

 and the quadrupeds and birds that inhabit it, as they are to this 

 day, except that the Ostrich is not now to be found so far north.* 

 ' The country,' says he, ' was a plain throughout as even as the sea, 

 and full of wormwood ; if any other kind of shrubs or reeds grew 

 there, they had all an aromatic smell ; but no trees appeared. Of 

 wild creatures, the most numerous were wild Asses, and not a few 

 Ostriches, besides Bustards, and Red Deer (Gazelles), which our 

 horsemen sometimes chased. The Asses, when they were pursued, 



* According to Chesney, Ostriches are still tC found in the great Syrian desert, 

 especially in the plain extending from the Haouran towards Jebel Shammar and 

 Nedja : some of them are found in the Haouran itself ; and a few are taken al- 

 most every year, even within two days' journey of Damascus," &c. (Journal of 

 Euphrates Expedition, I, 558.) It is well known that Ostriches commonly ac- 

 company, at the present day, the troops of Quaggas and of Dauws in S. Africa. 



The remnant of the Ostrich race in Syria requires close examination. From 

 some eggs in Major Tytler's possession, I am strongly inclined to suspect a second 

 species of Ostrich. These eggs are smaller than the ordinary Ostrich egg, and 

 have a much smoother and more polished surface, with the pores scarcely per- 

 ceptihle. In the ordinary Ostrich egg, the pores are particularly conspicuous. 



Ostrich feathers, whithersoever obtained, are numerous among the Kurds, who 

 adorn their spears with them. 



2 i 



