TILE DONKEY. The domestic ass is undoubt edly, in its origin, the tamed African species. Its prevailing, color is gray, varying to pure white or full black, and with the shoulder stripes and leg-bars more or less preserved. It was known in Egypt long before the horse, and probably was first domesticated in that region, where it is still a favorite animal, not only for riding, but for its milk; nevertheless, it is said to have been hated and abused by the ancient Egyptians in their flourishing period, and the prejudice against it was carried among the Ro mans. From Judges iv. 10 we learn that at a very early period the great were accustomed to ride upon white asses, and a preference is given to white asses in the East to this day. Fine large breeds exist in Syria and Turkey now. In Europe, choice breeds are to be found in Italy, _Malta, and especially in Spain. The animal seems not to have come into general use in Great Britain until after the time of Elizabeth, and now is chiefly employed there by pedlars and the poor, or for children's carriages. Its price is scarcely one-twentieth that of a good horse, and it call be kept at one-fourth of the expense, delighting in the coarse herbage which other animals reject, and satisfied with comparatively scanty fare. The obstinacy ascribed to the ass seems to be very generally the result of ill treatment; and proverbial as it has become for stupidity, it is probably quite equal in intelli gence to the horse. It was early brought to
America, and the finest donkeys in the world are now said to be those in the United States, where sonic 60,000 are owned upon farms, chiefly in the Southern Central States, and used for the propagation of mules and hinnies (see MuLE), the useful hybrids between the ass and the horse. Consult: V. Helm, Wanderings of Plants and .Inimals, English translation by Stallybrass (London, 1891).
The milk of the ass contains more sugar of milk and less eascine than that of the cow, and is therefore recommended as a nutritious diet in eases of weak digestion. Its usefulness in cases of consumption has long been known, and it was often prescribed as a kind of specific when that disease was treated on principles very different from those which regulate its treatment now. In some parts of the Sudan, large herds of she - asses are kept for milking alone.
The leather called shagreen (q.v.) is made by a peculiar process from the skin of the ass, which also affords excellent leather for shoes and the best material for drums. The bones of the ass, which are very solid, were used by the ancients for making flutes. See colored plate of HORSES, and Plate of EQUID-E.