looked round with fiery eyes in
search of the places whence he had been assailed, and then dashed over
the rocks into the plain, where he tore about furiously, roaring awfully.
The hunters affirmed that he had been wounded, but that, intimidated by
the appearance of the caravan, he had not ventured to turn upon his
assailants.

Wild mules are also very numerous in Hither Tartary. After we had passed
the Mouroui-Oussou we saw some almost every day. This animal, which our
naturalists call _cheval hemione_, a horse half-ass, is of the size of an
ordinary mule; but its form is finer and its movements more graceful and
active; its hair, red on the back, grows lighter and lighter down to the
belly, where it is almost white. The head, large and ugly, is wholly at
variance with the elegance of its body; when in slow motion, it carries
its head erect, and its long ears extended; when it gallops, it turns its
head to the wind, and raises its tail, which exactly resembles that of
the ordinary mule; its neigh is ringing, clear, and sonorous, and its
speed so great that no Thibetian or Tartar horseman can overtake it. The
mode of taking it, is to post oneself in ambush near the places that lead
to the springs where they drink, and to shoot it with arrows or bullets:
the flesh is excellent, and the skins are converted into boots. The
hemiones are productive, and their young, from generation to generation,
are always of the same species. They have never been tamed to domestic
purposes. We heard of individuals having been taken quite young, and
brought up with other foals; but it has always been found impracticable
to mount them or to get them to carry any burden. With the first
opportunity, they run away, and resume their wild state. It did not,
however, appear to us that they were so extremely fierce as they were
represented: we have seen them frolicking about with the horses of our
caravan, when pasturing; and it was only on the approach of man, whom
they see and scent at a great distance, that they took to flight. The
lynx, the chamois, the reindeer, and the wild goat abound in Hither
Tartary.

[Picture: Wild mules of Tartary]

Some days after the passage of the Mouroui-Oussou, the caravan began to
break up; those who had camels, went on a-head, refusing to be any longer
delayed by the slow progress of the long-haired oxen. Besides, the
nature of the country no longer permitted so large a body to e