ASS, 
849 
warm climate is known to produce the largest and 
the best ; their size and spirit decline in prop or- 
tion as they advance into colder regions. 
Though now so common in all parts of England, 
the ass was entirely lost amongst us during the reign 
of queen Elizabeth. Holingshed informs us that 
our land did yield no asses. However, there are 
accounts of their being common in England before 
that time. In Sweden, they are at present a sort 
of rarity ; nor does it appear by the last history of 
Norway, that they have yet reached that country. 
It is in the hotter climates alone that we are to 
look for the original of this serviceable creature. 
In Guinea, they are larger and more beautiful than 
even the horses of the same country. In Persia 
they have two kinds ; one of which is used for 
burdens, being slow and heavy ; the other, which 
is kept for the saddle, being smooth, stately, and 
nimble. They are managed as horses, only that 
the rider sits nearer the crupper, and they are 
taught to amble like them. They generally cleave 
their nostrils to give them more room for breath- 
ing, and many of these are sold for forty or fifty 
pounds. 
The ass is a much more hardy animal than the 
horse, and liable to fewer diseases. Of all animals 
covered with hair, he is the least subject to vermin, 
for he has no lice, probably owing to the dryness and 
hardness of his skin. Like the horse, he is three 
or four years in coming to perfection ; he lives till 
twenty or twenty-five ; sleeps much less than the 
fiorse ; and never lies down for that purpose, un- 
less very much tired. The she-ass goes above 
eleven months with young, and never brings forth 
more than one at a time. The mule may be en- 
gendered either between a horse and a she-ass, or 
between a jack-ass and a mare. The latter breed 
If every way preferable, being larger, stronger. 
