Note 9 — Chapter I
Reading edition
“The ass is an excellent and sober little beast, far too much despised by us. He is not only the most enduring, but one of the quickest walkers among cattle, being usually promoted to the leadership of a caravan. He is nearly equal to the camel in enduring thirst, and thrives on the poorest pasture, suffers from few diseases, and is unscathed by African distemper. The long desert roads and pilgrim tracts of North Africa are largely travelled over by means of asses.”—The Art of Travel, by Francis Galton, F.R.G.S., p. 195.