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MAMMALIA. 
requires, so to speak, no care ; it is a most useful auxiliary to 
the poor man, more especially in rugged mountainous countries, 
where its sureness of foot enables it to go where horses could not 
fail to meet with accidents. It is, therefore, the Horse of those 
of small means ; the abstemious and devoted helper of the poor. 
It suffers with resignation under the tyranny of its oppressors. 
Who has not witnessed with feelings of compassion the coal-mer- 
chants of Burgundy, driving them along the roads, punishing 
Fig. 65.— Male and female Ass (common breed). 
them at every step, so as to cause their hacks to become denuded 
of hair, and covered with revolting ulcers. When used as a riding- 
animal by children, or to draw the mistress of the house to hear 
mass, its destiny is, possibly, less precarious, and less unbearable. 
In energy, in nervous power, and in temperament, the Ass 
even surpasses the Horse. It is also superior to the latter in 
docility, abstemiousness, and capacity to endure fatigue. How, 
then, does it come to pass that this animal — so useful and devoted, 
the servant of the weak, the Horse of the poor man — should have 
