HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 19 



The qualities of this animal are fo well known, as to 

 need no defcription : His gentlenefs, patience, and per- 

 feverance, are without example: He is temperate with 

 regard to food, and eats contentedly the coarfeft and 

 mod neglected herbage : If he give the preference to any- 

 vegetable, it is to the plantain, for which he will neglect 

 every other herb in the pafture. In his water he is Angu- 

 larly nice, drinking only from the clearefl brooks. He is 

 fo much afraid of wetting his feet, that, even when load- 

 en, he will turn afide to avoid the dirty parts of the road. 



He is ftronger, in proportion to his fize, than the 

 Horfe ; but more fluggifh, ftubborn, and untraceable. — 

 He is healthier than the Horfe; and, of all other quadru- 

 peds, is leaft infefted with lice or other vermin ; proba- 

 bly owing to the extreme hardnefs and drynefs of his 

 fkin. For the fame reafon, perhaps, he is lefs fenlitive 

 of the goads of the whip, or the Hinging of flies. 



He is three or four years in coming to perfection ; and 

 lives to the age of twenty, or fometimes twenty-five 

 years. He lleeps much lefs than the Horfe, and never 

 lies down for that purpofe but when he is much fa- 

 tigued. The She-Afs goes eleven months with young, 

 and feldom produces more than one at a time. 



The fervices of this ufeful creature are to often re- 

 paid by hard fare and cruel ufage ; and being generally 

 the property of the poor, it partakes of their wants and 

 their diftrefles : Whereas, by due cultivation and care in 

 its education, the Afs might be ufefully and profitably 

 employed in a variety of domefhic purpofes, and in many 

 cafes fupply the place of the Horfe, to which only it is 

 fecond, though generally degraded into the moft ufelefs 

 and neglected of domeftic quadrupeds. 



B 2 



