618 
VERTEBRATA. 
QtTEEN ISABELLA OP SPAIN MOUNTED ON A MULE. 
dollars. They will travel for- montlis together, carrying from seven to eight hundred weight on 
their backs. Mules are much used in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and the East, and also in South 
America and Mexico ; many also are employed in the Southern States on the plantations, and 
some of them have lately been applied to the omnibus-cars in the city of New York. 
The mule is in fact an exceedingly hardy, strong, and useful animal. In all mountain coun- 
tries, from its sureness of foot, its. instinctive caution in cho,osing the path, and its skillful 
management in descending- a perilous and steep track, it is eminently serviceable. Among 
the Andes, in South America, it has nearly superseded the lama. In Spain, which is a mount- 
ainous country, with few good roads, it is extensively used for carriages, and also for the 
transportation of merchandise. His rider, the muleteer^ has become the general medium of traffic 
through the interior, and has long been recognized as forming a curious and peculiar type of na- 
tional manners. "He lives frugally and hardily ; his alforjas of coarse cloth hold his scanty stock 
of provisions ; a leathern bottle, hanging at his saddle-bow, contains wine or water for a supply 
across barren mountains and thirsty plains. A mule-cloth spread upon the ground is his bed at 
night, and his pack-saddle is his pillow. His low but clean-limbed and sinewy form betokens 
strength ; his complexion is dark and sunburnt ; his eye resolute but quiet in its expression, ex- 
cept when kindled by sudden emotion ; his demeanor is frank, manly, and courteous, and he never 
passes you without a grave salutation — '■Dios guarde a usted ! Va usted con Dios, cahalleroP 
'God guard you! God be with you, cavalier!'" Very elegant breeds of the mule have been 
used for the saddle in Spain for centuries; some of these animals are so docile and grace- 
ful that fair dames, including even royalty itself, have preferred them to the gentle palfry and the 
sprightly genet. 
