THE MULE.
This useful and hardy animal is the offspring of the horse and the ass, and partakes of the good qualities of both. The common Mule is very healthy, and will live above thirty years. The size and strength of our breed have been much improved by the importation of Spanish male asses; and it is much to be wished that the useful qualities of this animal were more attended to; for, by proper care in its breaking, its natural obstinacy would in a great measure be corrected; and it might be formed with success for the saddle, the draught, or the burden. People of the first quality are drawn by Mules in Spain, where fifty and sixty guineas is no uncommon price for them; nor is it surprising, when we consider how far they excel the horse in travelling in a mountainous country, the Mule being able to tread securely where the former can hardly stand. It is much less dainty in its food than the horse, and not so liable to disease; and has been known to go a distance of eighty or a hundred miles in one day, with a heavy weight on its back, without much fatigue.