Eastern Asses
The Ass is mentioned upwards of fifty times in the Bible, and from its having been selected as the animal on which it pleased our Saviour to enter Jerusalem, it carries with it in some respects a higher degree of interest than any other. References to the ass may be grouped under five heads, according to the Hebrew names for the different sorts in the original. These are (1) CHAMOR, which is the ordinary name for the domestic ass, whether male or female, but more properly the male ; (2) ATON, also a domestic ass, but rendered always a she-ass ; (3) AYIR, a colt or young ass ; (4) PERE, wild ass, and (5) AROD, another term for wild ass. In Eastern countries, as Egypt and Syria, the ass is a far more valuable animal, well cared for and fed, and considerably larger in size than in this country. It is capable of a good day's journey at a moderate pace either an easy canter or a less agreeable trot—with a man on its back, and it has a spirited demeanour and wide-awake manner which render it a pleasant quadruped to deal with. The breed is carefully selected, and a well-bred Syrian ass will fetch forty pounds. Their average height is perhaps two to three hands above that in this country. The Palestine asses are the finest in the world. Their colour and markings are much the same everywhere, and no animal has changed so slightly under domestication as the ass.