ASS. 
MS 
with such amazing swiftness, that scarce even the 
coursers of the country can overtake them. When 
they see a man, they set up a horrid braying, and 
stop short all together, till he approaches near 
them ; they then, as if by common consent, fly off 
with great speed ; and it is upon such occasions 
that they generally fall into the traps which are pre- 
viously prepared to catch them. The natives take 
them chiefly upon the account of their flesh, which 
they esteem as delicious eating ; and for their skies, 
of which that kind of leather is raade which is 
called shagreen. 
Olearius relates, that the monarch of Persia 
invited him on a certain day, to be present at an 
entertainment of a very peculiar nature, which was 
exhibited in a small building near the palace, re- 
sembling a theatre. After a collation of fruits 
and sweetmeats, more than thirty of these wild 
asses were driven into the area, among which the 
monarch discharged several shot, and some arrows, 
and in which he was imitated by some of the rest 
of his attendants. The asses finding themselves 
wounded, and no way of escaping, instantly began 
to attack each other, biting with great fierceness, 
and braying terribly. In this manner they con- 
tinued their mutual animosity, while the arrows 
were poured in from above, until they were all 
killed ; upon which they were ordered to be taken 
and sent to the king's kitchen at Ispahan. The 
Persians esteem the flesh of this animal so highly, 
that its delicacy is even become a proverb among 
them. What may be the taste, of the wild ass’s 
flesh we are unable to say ; but certain it is, that 
the flesh of the tame ass is the worst that can be 
obtained, being drier, more tough, and more dis- 
agreeable than horse flesh. Galen even says, that 
it is very unwholesome. Yet we should not judge 
hastily upon the different tastes of different people* 
