I hardly need tell you what the mule is like, for all of you have often seen this ugly and at times very obstinate, but hard-working brute. The mule is much like the horse in size and shape, but it has the long ears, the tufted tail, the thin, wiry legs, and the narrow hoofs of the ass. And while its coat is like that of the horse, its voice comes near that of the ass.
The mule is like the ass also in being strong, hardy and not given to disease. Even when thirty years old it often shows no sign of age. Thus it is useful for more years than the horse, eats less, and is fit for work not suited to the horse.
The mule is of great use in carrying loads over mountain paths. It has a firm, sure foot and can carry loads of five hundred pounds for weeks at a time over pathless hills. The planters of the South could not do without it in their cotton and sugar fields and it takes the place of the horse for much of the street work of cities.
This is not all. Mules are often used for riding and are very good for this. They are also used in carriages. They are raised in large numbers in Spain, where fine ones bring high prices, selling from $150 to $350.
We should hardly look to the donkey and the mule for signs of powers of thought, but it is likely that they are equal to the horse in intellect. The story of a gate-opening mule, given above, goes beyond anything we have found said about the horse, and it is very likely that all those members of the horse tribe, which are much alike in habits, are also much alike in thought powers.
III
CLOVEN-HOOFED DRAUGHT ANIMALS
Now we come to the two-toed animals, those called the cloven-hoofed. Looking at our own arms and legs we find five toes on each foot and five fingers on each hand and might fancy that this is the natural number. We find it to be so with the monkeys and with many other animals but we soon find some with fewer toes. Thus the dog, while it has five toes on its fore feet, has only four on its hind feet.