in zoology, a genus of quadrupeds belonging to the order of bellua. This genus comprehends the horse, the mule, the ass, the zebra, and the quagga: they have six erect and parallel fore-teeth in the upper jaw, and six somewhat prominent ones in the under jaw; the dog-teeth are solitary, and at a considerable distance from the rest; and the feet consist of an undivided hoof.
1. The caballus, or Horse, has a long flowing mane, and the tail covered on all parts with long hairs.
The horse, in a domestic state, is a bold and fiery animal; equally intrepid as his master, he faces danger and death with ardour and magnanimity. He delights in the noise and tumult of arms, and seems to feel the glory of victory: he exults in the chase; his eyes sparkle with emulation in the course. But though bold and intrepid, he is docile and tractable; he knows how to govern govern and check the natural vivacity and fire of his temper. He not only yields to the hand, but seems to consult the inclination of his rider. Constantly-obedient to the impressions he receives, his motions are entirely regulated by the will of his master. He in some measure reigns his very existence to the pleasure of man. He delivers up his whole powers; he reserves nothing; he will rather die than disobey. Who could endure to see a character so noble abused! who could be guilty of such gross barbarity!
This character, though natural to the animal, is in some measure the effect of education. His education commences with the loss of liberty, and is finished by constraint. The slavery of the horse is so ancient and so universal, that he is but rarely seen in a natural state. Several ancient writers talk of wild horses, and even mention the places where they were to be found. Herodotus takes notice of white savage horses in Scythia; Aristotle says they are to be found in Syria; Pliny, in the northern regions; and Strabo, in Spain and the Alps. Among the moderns, Cardan says, that wild horses are to be found in the Highlands of Scotland and the Orkney isles; Olaus, in Muscovy; Dapper, in the island of Cyprus; Leo and Marmol, in Arabia and Africa, &c. But as Europe is almost equally inhabited, wild horses are not to be met with in any part of it: and those of America were originally transported from Europe by the Spaniards; for this species of animals did not exist in the new world. The Spaniards carried over a great number of horses, left them in different islands, &c. with a view to propagate that useful animal in their colonies. These have multiplied incredibly in the vast deserts of those thinly peopled countries, where they roam at large without any restraint. M. de Salle relates, that he saw, in the year 1685, horses feeding in the meadows of North America, near the bay of St Louis, which were so ferocious that nobody durst come near them. Oexmelin says, that he has seen large troops of them in St Domingo running in the valleys: that when any person approached, they all stopped; and one of them would advance till within a certain distance, then snort with his nose, take to his heels, and the whole troop after him. Every author who takes notice of these horses of America, agree that they are smaller and less handsome than those of Europe. These relations sufficiently prove, that the horse, when at full liberty, though not a fierce or dangerous animal, has no inclination to associate with mankind; that all the softness and ductility of his temper proceeds entirely from the culture and polish he receives in his domestic education, which in some measure commences as soon as he is brought forth.
The motions of the horse are chiefly regulated by the bit and the spur; the bit informs him how to direct his course, and the spur quickens his pace. The mouth of the horse is endowed with an amazing flexibility: the slightest motion or pressure of the bit gives him warning, and instantly determines his course.
The horse has not only a grandeur in his general appearance, but there is the greatest symmetry and proportion in the different parts of his body. The regularity and proportion of the different parts of the head gives him an air of lightness, which is well supported by the strength and beauty of his chest. He erects his head, as if willing to exalt himself above the condition of other quadrupeds: his eyes are open and lively; his ears are handsome, and of a proper height; his mane adorns his neck, and gives him the appearance of strength and boldness.
At the age of two years, or two years and a half, the horse is in a condition to propagate; and the mare, like most other females, is ready to receive him still sooner. But the foals produced by such early embraces are generally ill-made and weakly. The horse should never be admitted to the mare till he is four or four and a half; this is only meant with regard to draught-horses. Fine horses should not be admitted to the mare before they be six years old; and Spanish stallions not till seven. The mares are generally in season from the beginning of April to the end of June; but their chief ardour for the horse lasts but about 15 or 20 days, and this critical season should always be embraced. The stallion ought to be found, well made, vigorous, and of a good breed. For fine saddle-horses, foreign stallions, as Arabians, Turks, Barbs, and Andalusians, are preferable to all others. Next to these, British stallions are the best; because they originally sprung from those above-mentioned, and are very little degenerated. The stallions of Italy, and especially the Neapolitans, are very good. The best stallions for draught or carriage horses, are those of Naples, Denmark, Holstein, and Friesland. The stallions for saddle-horses should be from 14 to 15 hands high, and for draught horses at least 15 hands. Neither ought the colour of stallions to be overlooked; as a fine black, grey, bay, sorrel, &c. Besides these external qualities, a stallion ought to have courage, tractability, spirit, agility, a sensible mouth, sure limbs, &c. These precautions in the choice of a stallion are the more necessary, because he has been found by experience to communicate to his offspring almost all his good or bad qualities, whether natural or acquired.
The mare contributes less to the beauty of her offspring than the stallion; but she contributes perhaps more to their constitution and stature: for these reasons, it is necessary that the mares for breed be perfectly found, and make good nurses. For elegant horses, the Spanish and Italian mares are best; but for draught-horses, those of Britain and Normandy are preferable. However, when the stallions are good, the mares of any country will produce fine horses, provided they be well made and of a good breed.
Mares go with young 11 months and some days. They bring forth standing; contrary to the course of most other quadrupeds, who lie during this operation. They continue to bring forth till the age of 16 or 18 years; and both horses and mares live between 25 and 30 years. Horses call their hair once a-year, generally in the spring, but sometimes in the autumn. At this time they are weak, and require to be better fed and taken care of than at any other season.
In Persia, Arabia, and most eastern countries, they never geld their horses, as is done in Europe and China. This operation greatly diminishes their strength, courage, and spirit; but it makes them good humoured, gentle, and tractable. With regard to the time of performing this operation, the practice of different countries is different: some geld their horses when a year old, and others at 18 months. But the best and most general practice is to delay the operation till they be two years old at least; because, when the gelding is delayed for two years or more, the animals retain more of the strength and other qualities which naturally belong to the male.
As the utility of horses surpasses that of all other domestic animals, it may be of use to subjoin some marks by which the age and other properties of horses may be distinguished.
In old horses, the eye-pits are generally deep; but this is only an equivocal mark, being also found in young horses begot by old stallions. The most certain knowledge of the age is to be obtained from the teeth. Of these a horse has 40; 24 grinders or double-teeth, four tusks, and 12 fore-teeth; mares have no tusks, or at least very short ones. It is not from the grinders that we know the age; it is discovered first by the fore teeth, and afterwards by the tusks. The 12 fore-teeth begin to shoot within 12 days after the colt is foaled. These first, or foal-teeth, are round, short, not very solid, and are cast at different times, to be replaced by others. At the age of two years and a half, the four middle fore-teeth are cast, two in the upper jaw, and two in the lower. In one year more, four others drop out, one on each side of the former, which are already replaced. When he is about four years and a half old, he sheds four others, and always next to those which have fallen out and been replaced. These four foal-teeth are replaced by four others, but are far from growing so fast as those which replaced the eight former, and are called the corner-teeth; they replace the four last foal-teeth, and by these the age of a horse is discovered. They are easily known, being the third both above and below, counting from the middle of the jaw. They are hollow, and have a black mark in their cavity. When the horse is four years and a half old, they are scarce visible above the gum, and the cavity is very sensible: at six and a half, they begin to fill; and the mark continually diminishes and contracts till seven or eight years, when the cavity is quite filled up, and the black spot effaced. After eight years, these teeth ceasing to afford any knowledge of the age, it is judged of by the tusks: which are four teeth adjoining to those last mentioned; and, like the grinders, are not preceded by any other teeth. The two in the lower jaw usually begin to shoot at three years and a half, and those of the upper jaw at four; continuing very sharp-pointed till fix. At 10, the upper seem blunted, worn out, and long, the gum contracting itself as its years increase; the barer therefore they are, the older is the horse. From 10 to 13 or 14 years, little can be seen to indicate the age; but at that time some hairs of the eye-brows begin to turn grey. This mark, however, is equivocal, like that drawn from the depth of the eye-pits; horses from old stallions or mares, having grey hairs in the eye-brows when they are not above nine or ten years old. In some horses the teeth are of such a hardness as not to wear; and in such the black mark always subsists, being never effaced by time: but the age of these horses, which are called begets by the French, is easily known; the hollow of the tooth being filled up, and at the same time the tusks very long. It has been farther observed, that this is more common in mares than in horses. The age of a horse may be also known, though less accurately, by the bars in his mouth, which wear away as he advances in years.
When the horse is without blemish, the legs and thighs are clean, the knees straight, the skin and flank thin, and the back-sinew strong and well-braced. The sinews and the bones should be so distinct, as to make the legs appear thin and lathy, not full and round. The pattern joints should never be large and round; nor must there be any swelling near the coronet. The hock should be lean and dry, not puffed up with wind. With regard to the hoof, the coronet should be equally thick, and the horn shining and greyish. A white horn is a sign of a bad foot, for it will wear out in a short time; and likewise when the horn is thin, it is liable to be spoiled in hoeing, and by travelling hard on stony grounds. This is best known when the shoe is taken off; for then the verge all round the sole will appear thin, and the horse will wince at the least touch of the pincers.
A strong foot has the fibres of the hoof very distinct running in a direct line from the coronet to the toe, like the grain of wood. In this case, care must be taken to keep the foot moist and pliable. The greatest inconvenience attending a hard strong foot, is its being subject to rifts and fissures, which cleave the hoof quite through sometimes from the coronet down to the bottom.
A narrow heel is likewise a defect; and when it is not above two fingers in breadth, the foot is bad. A high heel causes a horse to trip and stumble often; and the low one, with long yielding patterns, is very apt to be worn quite away on a journey. Too large a foot in proportion to the rest of the body, renders a horse weak and heavy.
The head of a horse should be small, and rather lean than flehy. The ears should be small, erect, thin, sprightly, and pointed. The forehead, or brow, should be neither too broad nor too flat, and should have a star or snip thereon. The nose should rise a little, and the nostrils should be wide that he may breathe more freely. The muzzle should be small, and the mouth neither too deep nor too shallow. The jaws should be thin, and not approach too near together at the throat, nor too high upwards towards the onset, that the horse may have sufficient room to carry his head in an easy graceful posture. The eyes should be of a middle size, bright, lively, and full of fire. The tongue should be small, that it may not be too much pressed by the bit; and it is a good sign when his mouth is full of white froth, for it shows that he will not soon be overheated.
The neck should be arched towards the middle, growing smaller by degrees from the breast and shoulders to the head. The hair of the main should be long, small, and fine; and if it be a little frizzled, so much the better. The shoulders should be pretty long; the withers thin, and enlarge gradually from thence downwards; but so as to render his breast neither too narrow nor too grofs. A thick-shouldered horse soon tires, and trips and stumbles every minute; especially if he has a thick large neck at the same time. When the breast is so narrow that the fore-thighs almost touch, they are never good for much. A horse of a middle size should have the distance of five or six inches between his fore-thighs, and there should be less distance between his feet than his thighs near the shoulders when he stands upright.
The body or carcase of a horse should be of a middling size in proportion to his bulk, and the back should sink a little below the withers; but the other parts should be straight, and no higher behind than before. He should also be bone-ribbed; but the short ribs should not approach too near the haunches, and then he will have room to fetch his breath. When a horse's back is short in proportion to his bulk, and yet otherwise well limbed, he will hold out a journey, tho' he will travel slow. When he is tall, at the same time with very long legs, he is but of little value.
The wind should never be overlooked in the choice of a horse: and it may easily be known by his flanks, if he is broken-winded, when he stands quiet in the stable; because he always pinches them in with a very slow motion, and drops them suddenly. A thick-winded horse fetches his breath often, and sometimes rattles and wheezes. This may be always discovered when he is put to brisk exercises.
The temper of a horse should always be observed; a vicious horse generally lays his ears close to his pole, shows the whites of his eyes, and looks full and dogged. An angry horse may be known by his frowning looks; and he generally seems to stand in a posture of defence. When he is very vicious, he pays no regard to the groom that feeds him: However, some horses that are ticklish will lay back their ears, and yet be of a good disposition. A fearful horse is apt to start, and never leaves it off till he is old and useless. A fretful horse is very unfit for a journey; and you may discover his temper as soon as he gets out of the stable. A dull, heavy, sluggish horse may be easily known, whatever tricks are used to rouse his spirits.
With regard to the colour of a horse, the bright bay, and indeed all kinds of bays in general, are accounted good colours. The chestnut horse is generally preferable to the forrel, unless the former happens to be bald, or partly-coloured, with white legs. Brown horses have generally black manes and tails, and their joints are of a rusty black. Those of this colour that are dappled, are much handsomer than the rest. Horses of a shining black, and well marked without too much white, are in high esteem for their beauty. A star, or blaze, or white muzzle, or one or more feet tipped with white, are thought to be rather better than those that are quite black.
Of greys, the dappled are accounted best; though the silver grey make a more beautiful appearance, and often prove good. The iron grey with white manes and tails are thought not to be so hardy. Greys of every kind will turn white sooner or later; but the nutmeg grey, when the dappled parts incline to bay or chestnut, are said to be good hardy horses. Roan horses have a diversity of colours mixed together; but the white is more predominant than the rest. They are all generally hardy, and fit for the road; and some are exceeding good. Those of a strawberry colour most resemble the forrel, and they are often marked with white on the face and legs. When the bay is blended with it, he seems to be tinctured with claret; and some of these prove to be very good. Dun, fallow, and cream-coloured horses have a hit down their backs; and their manes and tails are black. Dun horses are seldom chosen by gentlemen, and yet they may be very useful to the country farmer. The fallow and cream-coloured are more esteemed, both for beauty and use. Those horses that are finely spotted with gay colours like leopards are a great rarity, and for that reason are only in the hands of great men.
There is some difference in horses according to the different countries where they are bred. For instance, in France, those of Bretagne are pretty strong made, and have generally black hair, or brown-bay; and they have good legs and feet, with a hardy mouth, and a head short and fleasy; but in general they are pretty clumsy. The horses of Franche Comté are said to have the legs of tigers, and the belly of a hind; but they are short and thick, and of a middle size; being much more proper for drawing than riding. The horses of Gascony are not unlike those of Spain; but they are not so handsome nor so active, and therefore they are more proper to draw carriages. The Limois horses are very vicious, and are good for little till they are six years old. Their colour is generally bay, or a bay brown. The horses of Normandy are much like those of Bretagne; and those of Poitou have good bodies, legs, feet, and eyes; but they are far from being handsome.
The horses of Germany are much better and more handsome than those of the Low Countries. They are of great use for carriages; but much more for the army, and for drawing the artillery. They have a great deal of hair, especially about the legs. They are not large, but they are well fed; and yet they have tender feet. The Hungarian horses are excellent for the coach, as well as for riding; but they are large, though well proportioned; and they are of all colours, and in general very swift.
The Danish horses are low, short, and square; but they have a fine head, and short hair. The horses of the Low Countries are very fit for the coach, and they are best known by the name of Flanders-mares. The Polish horses are like the Danish; only they have not so fine a fore-hand: their colour is generally a bright bay, and that of the outward peel of an onion; and they are fiery and vicious. The horses of Switzerland are pretty much like those of Germany; which is no wonder, since the Germans purchase a great number of them. The horses of Piedmont are fiery, of a middle size, and of all sorts of colours; their legs are good and handsome, their eyes fine, their ears small, and their mouths good; but they do not carry their heads well.
The horses of Naples and Italy are generally ill-made and lean; and yet they are good and useful, for they are light and proper for racing, though not for a long course; they never do well in a colder climate. The Spanish horses are very well made and handsome, as well as very active and nimble; they have good eyes, handsome legs and heads, and are easily managed; they are also good for racing, if they are well kept; however, they are not so good in northern climates as in their own country. The Turkish horses are of different shapes; but they are generally swift, tho' their mouths are bad. Most of them are white; tho' there there are other colours; and they are large, hardy, strong, and fit for the road.
The horses of Barbary, commonly called barbs, have strong hoofs, and are more proper for racing than any others whatever: some have said they never grow old, because they preserve their vigour to the last. They are excellent stallions; and some of them are used as such in Britain: however, the Arabian horses are not quite so good as the Barbary, though some think they are both of the same kind; only those that are used to the deserts of Arabia are always in action. The horses of the Gold Coast of Guinea are very few in number, and in other parts of that coast there are none at all; for many of the negroes, when they have been first brought over to our American plantations, have expressed great admiration at the sight of a horse, and even been afraid to come near one.
The horses of the Cape of Good Hope were originally brought from Persia: and they are generally small, and of a chestnut colour; for those that are natives of that country are all wild, and could never yet be tamed. The horses of China are good, and more particularly those in the province of Yun Nan; for they are very vigorous, though a little low. The horses of the Eluth Tartars are good and full of fire; and their size is much the same as the Polish horses: they are afraid of nothing; not even of lions and tigers: but perhaps this may be owing to use. In the country of the Mogul they are very numerous, and of all colours: they are generally of the middle size, though there are some as large and as handsome as those in Europe. The wild horses of Tartary differ very little from the tame; but they are so swift, that they avoid the arrows of the most skilful hunters.
The breed of horses in Great Britain is as mixed as that of its inhabitants: the frequent introduction of foreign horses has given us a variety that no single country can boast of: most other countries produce only one kind; while ours, by a judicious mixture of the several species, by the happy difference of our soils, and by our superior skill in management, may triumph over the rest of Europe, in having brought each quality of this noble animal to the highest perfection.
In the annals of Newmarket may be found instances of horses that have literally outstripped the wind, as the celebrated M. Condamine has lately shown in his remarks on those of Great Britain. Childers is an amazing instance of rapidity; his speed having been more than once exerted equal to 82½ feet in a second, or near a mile in a minute.
The species used in hunting, is a happy combination of the former with others superior in strength, but inferior in point of speed and lineage: an union of both is necessary; for the fatigues of the chase must be supported by the spirit of the one, as well as by the vigour of the other.
No country can bring a parallel to the strength and size of our horses destined for the draught; or to the activity and strength united of those that form our cavalry. In London, there are instances of single horses that are able to draw on a plain, for a small space, the weight of three tons; but could with ease, and for a continuance, draw half that weight. The pack-horses of Yorkshire, employed in conveying the manufactures of that country to the most remote parts of the kingdom, usually carry a burden of 420 pounds; and that indifferently over the highest hills of the north, as well as the most level roads. But the most remarkable proof of the strength of our British horses, is to be drawn from that of our mill horses: some of these will carry at one load 13 measures, which at a moderate computation of 70 pounds each, will amount to 910; a weight superior to that which the lesser sort of camels will bear: this will appear less surprising, as these horses are by degrees accustomed to the weight; and the distance they travel no greater than to and from the adjacent hamlets.
Our cavalry, in the late campaigns (when they had opportunity), showed over those of our allies, as well as of the French, a great superiority both of strength and activity: the enemy was broken through by the impetuous charge of our squadrons; while the German horses, from their great weight and inactive make, were unable to second our efforts; though those troops were actuated by the noblest ardour.
The present cavalry of this island only supports its ancient glory. It was eminent in the earliest times: our scythed chariots, and the activity and good discipline of our horses, even struck terror into Caesar's legions: and the Britons, as soon as they became civilized enough to coin, took care to represent on their money the animal for which they were so celebrated. It is now impossible to trace out this species; for those which exist among the indigenae of Great Britain, such as the little horses of Wales and Cornwall, the hobbies of Ireland, and the shelties of Scotland, though admirably well adapted to the uses of those countries, could never have been equal to the work of war: but probably we had even then a larger and stronger breed in the more fertile and luxuriant parts of the island. Those we employ for that purpose, or for the draught, are an offspring of the German or Flemish breed, meliorated by our soil and a judicious culture.
The English were ever attentive to an exact culture of these animals; and in very early times set a high value on their breed. The esteem that our horses were held in by foreigners so long ago as the reign of Athelstan, may be collected from a law of that monarch, prohibiting their exportation, except they were designed as presents. These must have been the native kind, or the prohibition would have been needless; for our commerce was at that time too limited to receive improvement from any but the German kind, to which country their own breed could be of no value. But when our intercourse with the other parts of Europe was enlarged, we soon laid hold of the advantages this gave of improving our breed. Roger de Beleme, earl of Shrewsbury, is the first that is on record: he introduced the Spanish stallions into his estate in Powisland, from which that part of Wales was for many ages celebrated for a swift and generous race of horses. Giraldus Cambrensis, who lived in the reign of Hen. II., takes notice of it; and Michael Drayton, contemporary with Shakespeare, sings their excellence in the sixth part of his Polyolbion. This kind was probably destined to mount our gallant nobility, or courteous knights for feats of chivalry, in the generous contests of the tilt-yard. From these sprung, to speak the language of the times, the flower of cavaliers, whose elegant form added charm. charms to the rider, and whose activity and managed dexterity gained him the palm in that field of gallantry and romantic honour.
The increase of our inhabitants, and the extent of our manufactures, together with the former neglect of internal navigation to convey those manufactures, multiplied the number of our horses; an excess of wealth, before unknown in these islands, increased the luxury of carriages, and added to the necessity of an extraordinary culture of these animals: their high reputation abroad has also made them a branch of commerce, and proved another cause of their vast increase.
The all-wise Creator hath finely limited the several services of domestic animals towards the human race; and ordered that the parts of such, which in their lives have been the most useful, should after death contribute the least to our benefit. The chief use that the exuviae of the horse can be applied to, is for collars, traces, and other parts of the harness; and thus, even after death, he preserves some analogy with his former employ. The hair of the mane is of use in making wigs; of the tail, in making the bottoms of chairs, floor-cloths, and chords; and to the angler in making lines.
**Technical Description of the Parts of a Horse.**
*The Fore Part.* 1. The forehead. 2. The temples. 3. Cavity above the eye. 4. The jaw. 5. The lips. 6. The nostrils. 7. The tip of the nose. 8. The chin. 9. The beard. 10. The neck. 11. The mane. 12. The fore-top. 13. The throat. 14. The withers. 15. The shoulders. 16. The chest. 17. The elbow. 18. The arm. 19. The plate vein. 20. The chestnut. 21. The knee. 22. The shank. 23. The main tendons. 24. The fetlock joint. 25. The fetlock. 26. The pastern. 27. The coronet. 28. The hoof. 29. The quarters. 30. The toe. 31. The heel.—*The Body.* 32. The reins. 33. The fillets. 34. The ribs. 35. The belly. 36. The flanks.—*The Hind Part.* 37. The rump. 38. The tail. 39. The buttocks. 40. The haunches. 41. The stifles. 42. The thighs. 43. The hock. 44. The kerb. 45. The point of the hock.
For the breeding, rearing, &c. of horses, see the articles, Colt, Horse, and Stallion; for the method of training and managing them, see Horsemanship; and for their diseases and cure, see Farriery.
2. The Asinus, or Ass, has long flouncing ears, short mane, tail covered with long hairs at the end. The body is usually of an ash colour, with a black bar across the shoulders.
The Koulan, or ass in a wild state (the onager of the ancients), varies from the tame in several respects, and requires a more particular description. The forehead is very much arched; the ears are erect, even when the animal is out of order; sharp-pointed, and lined with whitish curling hairs; the ridges are of a livid brown; the lips thick; and the end of the nose flopping fleecily down to the upper lip; the nostrils are large and oval. It is much higher on its limbs than the tame ass, and its legs are much finer, but it again resembles it in the narrowness of its chest and body; it carries its head much higher; and its skull is of a surprising thinness. The mane is dusky, about three or four inches long, composed of soft woolly hair, and extends quite to the shoulders: the hairs at the end of the tail are coarse, and about a span long. The colour of the hair in general is a fivery white; the upper part of the face, the sides of the neck and body, are of a flaxen-colour; the hind part of the thighs are the same; the fore part divided from the flank by a white line, which extends round the rump to the tail: the belly and legs are also white: along the very top of the back, from the mane quite to the tail, runs a stripe of bushy waved hairs of a coffee-colour, broadest above the hind part, growing narrower again towards the tail; another of the same colour crosses it at the shoulders (of the males only), forming a mark, such as distinguishes the tame asses: the dorsal band and the mane are bounded on each side by a beautiful line of white, well described by Oppian, who gives an admirable account of the whole. Its winter coat is very fine, soft, and silky, much undulated, and like to the hair of the camel; greedy to the touch; and the flaxen colour, during that season, more exquisitely bright. Its summer coat is very smooth, silky, and even, with exception of certain shaded rays that mark the sides of the neck, pointing downwards.
These animals inhabit the dry and mountainous parts of the deserts of Great Tartary, but not higher than lat. 43. They are migratory, and arrive in vast troops to feed, during the summer, in the tracts east and north of lake Aral. About autumn they collect in herds of hundreds, and even thousands, and direct their course towards the north of India, to enjoy a warm retreat during winter. But Persia is their most usual place of retirement: where they are found in the mountains of Cashin, some even at all times of the year. If we can depend on Barboga, they penetrate even into the southern parts of India, to the mountains of Malabar and Golconda. According to Leo Africanus, wild asses of an ash-colour are found in the deserts of northern Africa. The Arabs take them in flocks for the sake of their flesh. If fresh killed, it is hot and unsavory: if kept two days after it is boiled, it becomes excellent meat. These people, the Tartars and Romans, agreed in their preference of this to any other food: the latter indeed chose them young, at a period of life in which it was called Latiifio; (vide Martial. xiii. 97.) The epicures of Rome preferred those of Africa to all others. The grown onagri were introduced among the spectacles of the theatre; and their combats were preferred even to those of the elephants.
The manners of the wild ass are very much the same with those of the wild horse and the dhikketei. They assemble in troops under the conduct of a leader; and are very shy. They will, however, stop in the midst of their course, and even suffer the approach of man at that instant, but will then dart away with the rapidity of an arrow dismissed from the bow. This Herodotus speaks to, in his account of those of Mesopotamia; and Leo Africanus, in that of the African.
They are extremely wild. Holy writ is full of allusions to their savage nature. "He forceth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver," (Job xxxix. 7.). Yet they are not untameable. The Persians catch and break them for the draught: they make pits, half-filled with plants to lessen the fall, and take them alive. They break, and hold them in great esteem, and sell them at a high price. The famous breed of asses in the east is produced from the koulan reclaimed from the savage state, which highly improves the breed. The Romans reckoned the breed of asses produced from the onager and tame ass to excel all others. The Tartars, who kill them only for the sake of the flesh and skins, lie in ambush and shoot them. They have been at all times celebrated for their amazing swiftness; for which reason the Hebrews called them Pere; as they styled them Arod from their braying. Their food is the saltiest plants of the deserts, such as the kalis, atriplex, chenopodium, &c.; and also the bitter milky tribe of herbs; they also prefer salt-water to fresh. This is exactly conformable to the history given of this animal in the book of Job; for the words "barren land," expressive of its dwelling, ought, according to the learned Bochart, to be rendered "salt places." The hunters lie in wait for them near the ponds of brackish water, to which they resort to drink; but they are not of a thirsty nature, and seldom have recourse to water. These animals were anciently found in the Holy Land, Syria, the land of Uz or Arabia Deferta, Mesopotamia, Phrygia, and Lycaonia. But at present they are entirely confined to the countries above mentioned.
Chagrin, a word derived from the Tarar foghre, is made of the skin of these animals, which grows about the rump, and also those of horses, which is equally good. There are great manufactures of it at Astracan and in all Persia. It is a mistake to suppose it to be naturally granulated, for its roughness is entirely the effect of art. The Persians use the bile of the wild ass as a remedy against the dimness of sight; and the same people, and the Nogayan Tartars, have been known to endeavour the most infamous bestialities with it, in order to free themselves from the disorders of the kidneys.
The tame or domestic ass, is a humble, patient, and tranquil animal. He submits with firmness to strokes and chastisement; he is temperate both as to the quantity and quality of his food; he contents himself with the rigid and disagreeable herbage which the horse and other animals leave to him and disdain to eat; he is more delicate with regard to his drink, never using water unless it be perfectly pure. As his master does not take the trouble of combing him, he often rolls himself on the turf among thistles, ferns, &c. Without regarding what he is carrying, he lies down to roll as often as he can, seeming to reproach his master for neglect and want of attention. When very young, the ass is a gay, sprightly, nimble, and gentle animal. But he soon loses these qualities, probably by the bad usage he meets with; and becomes lazy, untractable, and stubborn. When under the influence of love, he becomes perfectly furious. The affection of the female for her young is strong; Pliny assures us, that when an experiment was made to discover the strength of maternal affection in a she-ass, she ran through the flames in order to come at her colt. Although the ass be generally ill used, he discovers a great attachment to his master; he smells him at a distance, searches the places and roads he used to frequent, and easily distinguishes him from the rest of mankind. The ass has a very fine eye, an excellent scent, and a good ear. When overloaded, he hangs his head, and sinks his ears; when too much teased or tormented, he opens his mouth and retracts his lips in a disagreeable manner, which gives him an air of ridicule and derision. If you cover his eyes, he will not move another step; if you lay him on his side, and place his head so that one eye rests on the ground, and cover the other with a cloth, he will remain in this situation without making any attempt to get up. He walks, trots, and gallops in the same manner as the horse; but all his motions are slower. Whatever be the pace he is going at, if you push him, he instantly stops.
The cry of the horse is known by the name of neighing; that of the ass, by braying, which is a long, disagreeable noise, consisting of alternate discords from sharp to grave and from grave to sharp; he seldom cries but when pressed with hunger or love; the voice of the female is clearer and more piercing than that of the male.
The ass is less subject to vermin than other animals covered with hair; he is never troubled with lice, probably owing to the hardness and dryness of his skin; and it is probably for the same reason that he is less sensible to the whip and spur than the horse. The teeth of the ass fall out and grow at the same age and in the same manner as those of the horse; and he has nearly the same marks in his mouth.
Asses are capable of propagating when two years old. The females are in season during the months of May and June. The milk appears in the dugs ten months after impregnation; she brings forth in the twelfth month, and always one at a time. Seven days after the birth, the season of the female returns, and she is again in a condition to receive the male. The colt should be taken from her at the end of five or six months, that the growth and nourishment of the fetus may not be obstructed. The stallion or jack-ass should be the largest and strongest that can be found; he should be at least three years old, and never ought to exceed ten. The ass, like the horse, takes three or four years in growing, and lives till he be 25 or 30; he sleeps less than the horse, and never lies down to sleep but when excessively fatigued. He is more robust, and less subject to diseases, than the horse.
Travellers inform us that there are two sorts of asses in Persia; one of which is used for burdens, they being slow and heavy; the other is kept like horses for the saddle; for they have smooth hair, carry their head well, and are much quicker in their motion; but when they ride them, they fit nearer their buttocks than when on a horse; they are dressed like horses, and are taught to amble like them; but they generally cleave their nostrils to give them more room for breathing. Dr Ruffel likewise tells us they have two sorts in Syria; one of which is like ours; and the other very large, with remarkable long ears; but they are both put to the same use, which is, to carry burdens.
In America there were originally no asses at all, nor yet horses; but they were carried thither long ago, at first by the Spaniards, and afterwards by other nations, where they multiplied greatly; insomuch, that, in some places, there are whole droves of them that run wild, and are very hard to be caught. Asses in general carry the heaviest burdens in proportion to their bulk; and, as their keeping costs little or nothing, it is a great wonder that they are not put to more uses than they generally are among us. The flesh of the common ass is never eaten in these parts of the world; though some pretend their colts are tender, and not disagreeable.
3. The Hemionus of Pallas, or Wild Mule, is of the size and appearance of the common mule; with a large head, flat forehead growing narrow toward the nose, eyes of a middle size, the irises of an obscure ash-colour; 38 teeth in all, being two in number fewer than in a common horse; ears much longer than those of a horse, quite erect, lined with a thick whitish curling coat; neck slender, compressed; mane upright, short, soft, of a greyish-colour; in place of the foretop, a short tuft of downy hair about an inch and three quarters long. The body is rather long, and the back very little elevated; the breast protuberant and sharp. The limbs are long and elegant; the thighs thin, as in a mule's. Within the fore-legs there is an oval callus; in the hind legs none. The hoofs are oblong, smooth, and black; the tail is like that of a cow, slender, and for half of its length naked, the rest covered with long ash-coloured hairs. Its winter coat grey at the tips, of a brownish ash-colour beneath; about two inches long, in softness like the hair of a camel, and undulated on the back. Its summer coat is much shorter, of a most elegant smoothness, and in all parts marked most beautifully with small vortices. The end of the nose is white; from thence to the foretop inclining to tawny. The buttocks are white; as are the inside of the limbs and belly. From the mane a blackish teataceous line extends along the top of the back to the tail, broadest on the loins, and growing narrower towards the tail. The colour of the upper part of the body is a light yellowish grey, growing paler towards the sides. The length, from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail, is six feet seven inches; length of the trunk of the tail one foot four; of the hairs beyond the end, eight inches. The height of the animal is three feet nine. This species inhabits the deserts between the rivers Onon and Argun in the most southern part of Siberia, and extends over the vast plains and deserts of western Tartary, and the celebrated sandy desert of Gobi, which reaches even to India. In Siberia they are seen only in small numbers, as if detached from the numerous herds to the south of the Russian dominions. In Tartary they are particularly conversant about Taricnoor, a salt lake at times dried up. They shun wooded tracts and lofty snowy mountains. They live in separate herds, each consisting of a chief, a number of mares and colts, in all to the number of about 20; but seldom so many, for commonly each male has but five and sometimes fewer females. They copulate towards the middle or end of August; and bring for the most part but one at a time, which by the third year attains its full growth, form, and colour. The young males are then driven away from their paternal herds, and kept at a distance till they can find mates of their own age which have quitted their dams. These animals always carry their heads horizontally; but when they take to flight, hold them upright, and erect their tail. Their neighing is deeper and louder than that of a horse. They fight by biting and kicking, as usual with the horse; they are fierce and untameable; and even those which have been taken young, are so intractable as not to be broken by any art which the wandering Tartars could use. Yet was it possible to bring them into fit places, and to provide all the conveniences known in Europe, the task might be effected; but it is doubted whether the subdued animal would retain the swiftness it is so celebrated for in its state of nature. It exceeds that of the antelope; it is even proverbial; and the inhabitants of Thebet, from the fame of its rapid speed, mount on it Chamno their god of fire. The Mongolians despair of ever taking them by the chace; but lurk behind some tomb, or in some ditch, and shoot them when they come to drink or eat the salt of the desert. They are excessively fearful animals, and provident against danger. A male takes on him the care of the herd, and always is on the watch. If they see a hunter, who by creeping along the ground has got near them, the centinel takes a great circuit, and goes round and round him, as discovering somewhat to be apprehended. As soon as the animal is satisfied, it rejoins the herd, which sets off with great precipitation. Sometimes its curiosity costs it its life; for it approaches so near as to give the hunter an opportunity of shooting it. But it is observed, that in rainy or in stormy weather, these animals seem very dull, and less sensible of the approach of mankind. The Mongolians and Tunguli, according to Du Halden, kill them for the sake of the flesh, which they prefer to that of horses, and even to that of the wild boar, esteeming it equally nourishing and wholesome. The skin is also used for the making of boots. Their senses of hearing and smelling are most exquisite; so that they are approached with the utmost difficulty. The Mongolians call them djikketaei, which signifies "the earred;" the Chinese, yo to tse, or "mule." In ancient times the species extended far to the south. It was the hemionos or half ass of Aristotle, found in his days in Syria, and which he celebrates for its amazing swiftness and its fecundity, a breeding mule being thought a prodigy; and Pliny, from the report of Theophrastus, speaks of this species being found in Cappadocia, but adds they were a particular kind.
The domestic mules of present times (equus mulus of Gesner and Linnæus) are the offspring of the horse and the ass, or ass and mare; are very hardy, and have more the form and disposition of the ass than the horse. The finest are bred in Spain; very large ones in Savoy.
4. The Zebra. This animal has the figure and gracefulness of the horse, joined to the swiftness of the stag. He is about seven feet long, from the point of the muzzle to the origin of the tail, and about four feet high. The colour of his skin is beautiful and uniform, consisting of alternate parallel rings of black and white, disposed in the most regular manner, as represented in the plate. He is generally less than the horse and larger than the ass. The zebra is found nowhere but in the eastern and southern provinces of Africa, from Ethiopia to the Cape of Good Hope, and from the Cape of Good Hope to Congo. The Dutch have been at great pains to tame and use them for domestic purposes, but with little success. He is hard-mouthed, and kicks when any person attempts to touch or come near him. He is restless and obstinate as a mule; but perhaps the wild horse is naturally as untractable as the zebra; for it is probable, if he were early accustomed to obedience and a domestic life, he would become as docile as the horse.
5. The quagga, or quaggga, is striped like the former on the head and body, but with fewer lines. The flanks are spotted; the rump is plain; the ground colour of the head, neck, body, and rump, a bright bay: the belly, thighs, and legs are white, and free from all marks. This species till of late, has been supposed to be the female of the zebra; but recent observations prove that the male and female zebra are marked alike. This differs likewise in being thicker and stronger made, and in being more tractable; for instance, one had been so far broken as to draw in a cart. The Hottentots also distinguish them from the former, by the names of quaggga and opeegga.