98 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

loosed the bands of the wild ass?” It inhabits the moun-
tainous deserts of Central Asia, and is still found there in
considerable numbers; it is of a silver-grey colour, with
dark mane and tail, and a broad brown stripe down the
back ; the ears are rather shorter than those of the domestic
race, the legs more slender, and the general appearance
much more symmetrical. The pasture of the wild ass being
on the margin of the sandy deserts, where the temperature
is warm and dry, it is easy to understand the reason the
animal is much superior in Syria, Egypt, Barbary, and the
south of Europe, to the degenerate specimens in England.
Climate has probably had great influence in deteriorating
the species, and this deterioration has induced neglect,
which tends still more to lower this patient, useful animal
in the scale of creation. That the ass must have been a
spirited animal in Syria may be inferred from various pas-
sages of Scripture, and also from Xenophon, who, in de-
scribing the march of the younger Cyrus through Syria,
says, “They then proceeded through Arabia (or, rather,
Mesopotamia), still keeping the Euphrates on their right
hand. This country appeared to the eye a complete flat,
and as smooth as the sea. Of wild creatures the most
numerous were wild asses, which, being swifter of foot than