Afinus, Raii fyn. quad. 63. Gefn. quad. 5. Klein. quad. 6. De Buffon iv. 377. Equus auriculis longis flaccidis, juba brevi. Brion quad. 70. Brit. Afyn, fæm. Afen Equus afinus. Lin. Syft. 100. Br. Zool. 5. Syn. quad. No. 3. Germ. Efel Dut. Eezel HIS animal, tho' now fo common in all parts of these islands, was entirely loft among us during the reign of queen Elizabeth; Hollingfhed + informing us that in his time, "our lande did yeelde no affes." But we are not to fuppofe fo useful an animal was unknown in these kingdoms before that period; for mention is made of them fo early as the time of king † Ethelred, above four hundred years preceding; and again in the reign of || Henry III. so that it must have been owing to fome accident, that the race was extinct during the days of Elizabeth. We are not certain of the time it was again introduced, probably in the fucceeding reign, when our intercourfe with Spain was renewed; in which country *Habitat in magnatum prædiis rarius. Faun. Suec. 35. edit. 1746. We imagine that fince that time the fpecies is there extinct, for Linnæus has quite omitted it in the last edition of the Fauna Suecica. + 109. When the price of a mule or young afs was 12s. Chron. preciofum, 51. In 1217, when the Camerarius of St. Alban's loft two affes, &c. Chr. pr. 60. 2. Ass. this animal was greatly ufed, and where the fpecies is in great perfection. The afs is originally a native of Arabia, and other parts of the Eaft: a warm climate produces the largest and the best, their size and fpirit declining in proportion as they advance into colder regions. "With difficulty," fays Mr. Adanson, speaking of the affes of Senegal," did I know this animal, fo different did it appear from "those of Europe: the hair was fine, and of a bright mouse color, "and the black lift that croffes the back and shoulders had a good "effect. These were the affes brought by the Moors from the inte"rior parts of the country *." The migration of these beasts has been very flow; we fee how recent their return is in Great Britain: in Sweden they are even at prefent a fort of rarity, nor does it appear by the last history of Norway †, that they had yet reached that country. They are at prefent naturalized in this kingdom; our climate and foil feems to agree with them; the breed is spread thro and their utility is more and more experienced. all parts; They are now introduced into many fervices that were before allotted to horfes; which will prove of the utmost use in saving those noble animals for worthier purposes. Many of our richest mines are in fituations almoft inacceffible to horfes; but where these furefooted creatures may be employed to advantage, in conveying our mineral treasures to their refpective marts; we may add too, that fince our horfes are become a confiderable article of commerce, and bring annually great fums into thefe kingdoms, the cultivation of Voy. Senegal. 212. + Pontoppidan's Nat. Hiftory of Norway. an an animal that will in many cafes fupply the place of the former, and enable us to enlarge our exports, certainly merits our attention. The qualities of this animal are fo well known, that we need not expatiate on them; its patience and perfeverance under labor, and its indifference in refpect to food, need not be mentioned; any weed or thistle contents it: if it gives the preference to any vegetable, it is to the Plantane; for which we have often feen it neglect every other herb in the pafture. The narrow-leaved Plantane is greedily eat by horses and cows: of late years it has been greatly cultivated and fowed with clover in North Wales, particularly in Anglefea, where the feed is harvested, and thence difperfed thro' other parts of the principality. * HIS useful and hardy animal is the off-fpring of the horse and THIS afs, or afs and mare; thofe produced between the two last are esteemed the best, as the mule is observed to partake less of the • Plantago maritima. Fl. Angl. 52. male MULE. male than the female parent; not but they almost always inherit in fome degree the obftinacy of the parent afs, tho' it must be confeffed that this vice is heightened by their being injudiciously broke : inftead of mild ufage, which gently corrects the worst qualities, the mule is treated with cruelty from the firft; and is fo habituated to blows, that it is never mounted or loaded without expectation of ill treatment; fo that the unhappy animal either prepares to retaliate, or in the terror of bad usage, becomes invincibly retrograde. Could we prevale on our countrymen to confider this animal in the light its useful qualities merit, and pay due attention to its breaking, they might with fuccefs form it for the faddle, the draught, or the burden. The fize and strength of our breed is at present so improved by the importation of the Spanish male affes, that we shall foon have numbers that may be adapted to each of those uses. Perfons of the firft quality in Spain are drawn by them; for one of which (as Mr. Clarke informs us *) fifty or fixty guineas is no uncommon price; nor is it furprizing, if we confider how far they excel the horfe in draught, in a mountanous country; the mule being able to tread fecurely where the former can hardly ftand. This brief account may be clofed with the general obfervation, that neither mules nor the fpurious offfpring of any other animal generate any farther all these productions may be looked on as monsters; therefore nature, to preserve the original species of animals entire and pure, wifely stops, in inftance of deviation, the powers of propagation. *Letters on the Spanish nation. |