THE SYRIAN HORSES. 
317 
would stumble into a ditch, as if by accident, and come out 
rejoicing without saddle or rider. I often imagined when he 
brayed on occasions of this kind that he meant to say: “ Bis- 
millah ! you are in the mud now ! See how I throw dirt on 
you ! You needn’t think to impose upon me because I’m 
little. By the beard of the Prophet! a pretty fellow you are, 
truly ! Two hundred pounds’ weight nearly riding on a little 
chap like me ! But don’t think because you’re a bigger ass 
than I am that you can come it over me in this way much 
longer, I won’t stand it; if I do may I be turned into a 
two-legged animal, and walk on end all the days of my life!” 
Whereupon he would kick up his heels and dash off, laughing 
to himself in such wise that it was perfectly human. Then 
to catch him was a job that afforded us infinite diversion; to 
see him dodge under the mules, and run behind and before 
the horses, and upset the Arabs that were on foot; it was 
such innocent relaxation for a great mind. Being ridden 
upon he seeded to regard as one of the necessary evils of 
society, and bore it always as long as he could; the greatest 
ass in the world could not do more. Doubtless he saw how 
the big people around him rode on the little people, and how 
the principle extends from the highest to the lowest of the 
living kind—those with vertical as well as those with hori¬ 
zontal backs. If he made use of his senses, he could not 
help perceiving that the various governments of Europe rode 
on Turkey ; that Turkey rode on the Pashas of Syria; that 
the Pashas of Syria rode on Yusef Badra, the Destroyer of 
Robbers; that Yusef rode on Mustapha, and Muslapha on the 
back of his mule ; that life is a general system of riding and 
being ridden upon, and even the smallest of asses has a weight 
of despotism to bear upon his back. 
I have often thought that the auto-biography of a Syrian 
ass would be most interesting and instructive. What strange 
revelations he could give us of character, adventure, and 
book-making ! What valuable reflections on the antiquities 
of Palestine ! What rich and copious notes on affairs of Gov¬ 
ernment ! Pardon any thing thou may’st deem amiss in these 
remarks, 0 Tokina ! for I know and love thee well, and mean 
