THE DOMESTIC ASS. 
589 
to keep a poor, wizened, starveling drayman, for the public would immediately lay the fault 
on the beer, and transfer their custom elsewhere. 
The dray Horse is a very slow animal, and cannot be permanently quickened in his pace, 
even if the load be comparatively light. Its breast is very broad, and its shoulders thick and 
upright, the body large and round, the legs short, and the feet extremely large. The ordi- 
nary pace of the heavy Draught Horse is under three miles an hour, but by a judicious 
admixture of the Flemish breed the pace is nearly doubled, the endurance increased, and the 
dimensions very slightly diminished. The great size of the dray Horse is required, not for 
the absolute amount of pulling which it performs, but for the need of a large and heavy 
animal in the shafts to withstand the extreme jolting and battering that takes place as the 
springless drays are dragged over the rough stones of the metropolis. And as a team of two 
or three small leaders and one huge wheeler would look absurd, it is needful to have all the 
Horses of uniform dimensions and appearance. 
The genuine dray Horse is a noble beast, and it is very pleasant to see the kindly feelings 
which exist between them and their drivers. The long whip is carried upon the drayman’s 
shoulders more as a badge of office than as an instrument of torture, and if used at all, it is 
gently laid upon the Horse’s back, accompanied with some endearing language, which is very 
intelligible to the horse, but not to be comprehended by ordinary human intellects. 
One of the best Horses for ordinary heavy work is the Clydesdale Cart Horse, an 
animal which has derived its name from the locality where it was first bred. It is larger than 
the Suffolk Punch, and owes its origin to the Lanark Horse crossed with the large Flemish 
breed. In temper it is docile, and it is possessed of enormous strength and great endurance. 
The pure breed is large and heavy, and is notable for a very long stride. When judiciously 
crossed with other breeds it produces offspring which are extensively employed in the carriage 
and for the saddle. 
Several breeds of partially wild Horses are still found in the British islands, the best 
known of which is the Shetland Pony. 
This odd, quaint, spirited little animal is an inhabitant of the islands at the northern 
extremity of Scotland, where it runs wild, and may be owned by any one who can catch and 
hold it. Considering its diminutive proportions, which only average seven or eight hands in 
height, the Sheltie is wonderfully strong, and can trot away quite easily with a tolerably 
heavy man on its back. One of these little creatures carried a man of twelve stone weight for 
a distance of forty miles in a single day. The head of this little animal is small, the neck 
short and well arched, and covered with an abundance of heavy mane, that falls over the face 
and irresistibly reminds the spectator of a Skye-terrier. It is an admirable draught Horse 
when harnessed to a carriage of proportionate size ; and a pair of these spirited little creat- 
ures, when attached to a lady’s low carriage, have a remarkably piquant and pretty 
appearance. 
Man has so long held the Domestic Ass under his control, that its original progenitors 
have entirely disappeared from the face of the earth. 
There are, as it is well known, abundant examples of wild Asses found in various lands, 
but it seems that these animals are either the descendants of domesticated Asses which have 
escaped from captivity, or mules between the wild and domestic animals. In size and general 
appearance the Ass varies greatly, according to the country which it inhabits, and the treat 
ment to which it is subjected. The Spanish kind, for example, is double the size of the ordi- 
nary English Ass, and even the latter animal is extremely variable in stature and general 
dimensions. As a rule, the Ass is large and sleek-haired in warmer countries, and small and 
woolly-haired in the colder parts of the globe. 
Strong, sure-footed, hardy, and easily maintained, the Ass is of infinite use to the poorer 
classes of the community, who need the services of a beast of burden, and cannot afford to 
purchase or keep so expensive an animal as a horse. In the hands of unthinking and unedu- 
