WILD ASSES. 
201 
them. The Persians sometimes succeed in killing them, but not with¬ 
out great dexterity and knowledge of their haunts. To effect this, 
they place relays of horsemen and dogs upon the track which they are 
known to pursue, and then hunt them toward the relays, when the 
fresh dogs and horses are started upon the half-exhausted animal. The 
whole of this account agrees with Xenophon, who says that their horse¬ 
men had no other means of catching them than by dividing themselves 
into relays and succeeding one another in the chase.* 
This animal is common to the whole of Persia, although its proper 
soil is Arabia. It is mentioned by Xenophon T in several places, and 
numbered among the wild animals fit for the chase. The modern 
Persians eat its flesh, and say it is better than that of the antelope. The 
ancients did the same, and it must be supposed that when Herodotus 
classes the ass among the animals which the rich Persians roasted 
whole and eat when they indulged themselves in better fare than 
usual, he means the wild ass. X They appear to have been much more 
plentiful in the days of 01earius§, (A. D. 1637,) who says, that at 
an entertainment given by Shah Abbas to the Ambassadors, thirty-two 
wild asses were turned into an enclosure, to be shot at, and remarks 
that their flesh was esteemed so excellent as to be fit for the King’s 
food. 
The wild ass is of a light mouse colour, with a dark streak over its 
shoulders and down its back. The head is large, but it is much more 
light and lively than the common ass in its gait. It is of a most obsti¬ 
nate nature, and seems to be extremely refractory under any restraint. 
Buffon says that it does not differ from the domestic ass, except in its 
attributes of liberty and independence: he is decided in his opinion, 
that this is the animal called the onagre, and not the zebra, whose 
* Ka» ot fi,h ovo» k-are) rig Sjcojcoj, 7rgo5g«j(i.ov7ej xvsKrTtjxstrav’ (croAu 7« Xtztsa Karlov elge^ov) xct) 
'STuXiv ivrsi 'srXrja-nx^oi 6 foOTOj ravToc smiouv" »x jjv Kx^sTv si /xii Sietfstvlsg ol lOTOTsIf ^yjg^sv 
5t«8e;^o/xevoj toij iWotoi?, Anab. lib. i. c. 5. 
f Cyropsedia, lib. i. J Herodotus, Clio, 133. § Ole-arius’ Travels, p. 735. 
D D 
