THE ASS. 101

modes of treatment, may be improved by eulture, so that
the domesticated shall, in the qualities which are desired,
be much better than the wild; but those which, like the
ass, are not so plastic, cannot be improved or even kept up
to their natural state if domesticated. For this reason the
domestic ass is, in all countries, inferior to the wild one;
and though the differences between those of warm and cold
climates be very considerable, they are only indications of
different degrees of deterioration*.”

The first mention of this animal in the Bible occurs in
Genesis xii. 16: “And Pharaoh entreated Abram well for
her sake; and he had sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and
men-servants, and maid-servants, and ske-asses, and camels,”
The difficulty that has been started by some commentators
on this passage is so well explained in the ‘ Pictorial Bible’
that I shall copy it for the benefit of my readers. “When
we find original terms so unlike each other as chamor and
athon, ‘he-ass’ and ‘she-ass,’ we are apt to think that a
different animal must have been meant by athon, such as
the zebra, for example. A species of Zguue so strong, so
fleet and beautiful, in a state of domestication, would always
have merited a distinct allusion, as we see it was customary

* British Cyclopedia.