Subjects of natural history.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 4, Issue 82, 12 February 1852, Page 3

Subjects of natural history.

THE ASS. The Ass is a well-known and most useful domestic quadruped, whose qualities are too generally undervalued by us in consequence of possessing a more noble and poncrful animal in the horse j but, as Bnffon remarks, if the horse were unknown, and the cure and attention which we lavish on him were transferred to his humble and despised rival, both his physical and mornl qualities would be developed to an extent, which thn«e prisons ;,lone can fully estimate who have traveled through Kietern countries, where both animals are equhlly valued. In his domesticated state, as we usually find this animal in most Eastern countries, we observe no superior marks of sagacity; but he has the merit of being patient, enduring, and inoffensive; temperate in his food, andby no means delicate in the choice of it; eating thistles and a vaiietv of coarse herbage which the horse refuses. In bis choice of water, however, be is temarknbly nice, and will drink -only of that which is clear. Hi< general appearance, certainly, is very uncouth ; and his well-known voice, it must be confessed, is a most discordant succession of flats and sharps—a bray so hideous as to offend even the most unmusiralear. The Ai-s is believed to be a descendant of the wild Ass, inhabiting th<? mountainous deserts of TarUry, and celebrated in sacred and profane history, for the fiery activity «>f its disposition, and the fleetncss of its course. But, in the state of degradation to which for so many ages successivegenerations have been • doomed, the Ass has long since become pro- " vcrbial for stolid indifference to suffering and for unconquerable obstinacy and stupidity. From the general rtsemb'ance between the Ass and the Horse, it might naturally enough be supposrd that they were very closely allied, and lhal one had degenr rated: they arc, however, perfectly distinct; there is that inseparable line drawn, that barrier between them, which nature provides for the perfection ami preservation qf her productions —tlirir mutual offspring, the mule, being incaptble of reproducing its kind. The best breed of A«ses is that originally derived from the hot and dry reg'f n« of A*ia j at present, perhaps, the best breed in Europe is the Spanish j ami very valuable As'es ate 'still to be had in the southern portions of the American continent, where during the existence of the Spanish dominion, the breed was very carefully attended to. In tiulh wherever proper attention has heen paid to improve the breed by crossing the finest specimens, he h rendered nearly if not quite equal to the horse for most purposes of lahotir; while on hilly and precipitous roads he is decidedly better adapted from his general habhs and forniatioti. The most genetal colour of the Ass is a motir.e-coloured grey, with a black or blackish stripe, extending along the spine to the tail, and crossed by a s : milar stripe over the shoulders. The female goes with young eleven months, and seldom produces more than one foal at a time; the teeth follow the same oder ofap-pr-armics and renewal as those of the horse. Acses milk has long been celebrated for its tanative qualities ; invalids suffering from debility of the digestive' and assimilative functions make use of it with gr.'at advantage; and to these who are consumptive it is very gf.'-yrally recommended. f ■ ,'e wild Ass stands much higher on its limbs than the common Ass; its legs arc more slender, the forehead is more arched, and it is nl' <gi titer more symmetrical. The mane is composed of a soft, woolly, dusky hair, about thro* or four inches long; the clour of the body is a fine siheiy grey; the upper part of the lace, the sides ol the nrck and body, being of a flaxen hue ; and a broad brown stripe running down the bncl, ftom the mane to the tail, and crossing the shoul Jers as in the coinmnn Ass. The wild Ass inhabits part of central Asia, migrates from north to south, according te season. Its flesh is held in esteem die Tartars and Persians, vho hunt it in

preference to nil kinds of game. We have alluded t> the frequent mention of tliU animal by both sacredand profane writers of antiquity. The Almighty is represented as answering Job out of the whirlwind thus—see the book 39th —fitli—Bih—" Wlm halfi sent out the wild ass free i or who hath loosed the bands of the wild nsaf Whose house I have made the wild.?rnes.», and the barren l.iml his dwelling?, lie scoructh the multitude of the city, neither ri'gar'leth he the crying of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture, ar.d he searcheth alter every green thin:;." Wo conclude with the following interesting anecdote, taken from lirown'd sketches of the Horse:—

In March 1816, an A»s belonging to C.ipt. Dundns of the Royal Navy, then at Malta, was shipped on bo.ird the "Ister" frigate, Cap'ain Forrest, bound Irom Gibraltar In that island. The ship struck on a sand bank oil' the Point de Giit ; and the Ass was unfortunately thrown overboard, in the hope lint it mi;;lit poasibly be able to swim to land ; of which, however, there seemed but little chance, for llih sea. was running so high, that a boat which left the frigate was lost. A fuw days after, when the gates of Gibraltar were opened in the morningr, the guard was surprised by Valiant (as the Ass was called) presenting himself for admittance. On entering he proceeded immediately to the stable of Air. Weeks, a merchant, which he had formerly occupied. The poor animal bad not only swam safely to the shore, but, without guide, compass, or travelling map, hail found his way from I'oint de Gat to Gibraltar, a distance of more than two h'judrcd mi'es, through a mountainous and intricate conr.try, inter»ected by streams, which he had never traversed before, and in so short a period, that he could not have made one false turn.