The _flesh_ of the wild ass is so much esteemed in Persia that it is admitted even to the imperial table. The Persians have an adage expressive of their high opinion of it. Notwithstanding this, the flesh of the domestic ass is so bad as food, that it is said few persons would be able to eat of it. From their hardness and elasticity, the _skins_ of these animals are capable of being used for various purposes. They are manufactured into shoes, heads for drums, and, when varnished over in a peculiar manner, are cut into leaves for pocket-books. The inhabitants of some of the Eastern countries make of asses' skin the substance called _sagri_ or _shagreen_. At Astracan, and throughout Persia, there are great manufactories of this article. It is not naturally granulated; this roughness being altogether effected by art. Of the bones of the ass the ancients are said to have made their best sounding flutes. 114. The MULE, or mixed produce betwixt the ass and the mare, is a very hardy and useful animal. Its size is larger, its head and ears smaller, and its coat smoother than those of the ass. In countries where the breed of asses is sufficiently large for obtaining mules of considerable size, these are preferred to nearly all animals for cheapness, durability, and general convenience, as beasts of burthen. In England they have never been propagated to any extent; and the few that have been reared in this country have, in general, been the produce of such diminutive parents, as to exhibit only a puny race, by no means calculated for the services of which a well-managed breed would be capable. Yet even these, where they have been used, have been found to possess many very estimable qualities. In the brewhouse of Messrs. Truman, Harford, and Co. of Limehouse, mules were for a little while used in place of the dray-horses which are employed by other brewers. Each dray was drawn by three mules, and carried three butts of beer, a weight precisely the same which the London drays carry with three large horses. 115. _The HIPPOPOTAMUS, or RIVER-HORSE_ (Hippopotamus amphibius), _is an African quadruped of immense bulk, with large head, extremely wide mouth, strong teeth, and thick and short legs, each terminated by four hoofs._ _The body is of brownish colour, and covered with short and thinly set hair. One of these animals, which M. le Vaillant killed in the South of Africa, measured nearly eleven feet in length, and about nine in circumference._