tuckians have raised these animals to fifteen and even six teen hands. That the diminutive size of the ass in cold countries is due as much to neglect as to rigour of climate seems proved by the fact, that in the north of India, where it is used by the lowest castes, the ass does not attain a height greater than that of a Newfoundland dog. It is, however, among the south-western nations of Asia and in Egypt that the ass has received that attention usually bestowed in this country on the horse, and it is there that it is to be seen in greatest perfection. The Arabs and Persians know the pedigrees of their asses, and by careful selection and interbreeding they have formed and perpe tuate many useful races. Thus in Syria, according to Darwin, there are four distinct breeds : " a light and graceful animal with agreeable gait used by ladies, an Arab breed reserved exclusively for the saddle, a stouter animal used for ploughing and various purposes, and the large
Damascus breed with peculiarly long body and ears."[1]The ass, there is little doubt, was first domesticated in Asia,—probably prior to the domestication of the horse,—whence it passed at a comparatively late period into Europe, for in the time of Aristotle it was not found in Thrace. In England there is evidence of its presence so early as the time of the Saxon Ethelred, but it does not appear to have been common till after the time of Queen Elizabeth. The koulan, or wild ass (Asinus Onager, Gray), differs from the domestic species in its shorter and more rounded ears, and in the greater length and finer form of its limbs. Its fur shows the dark streak along the back, but the streak across the shoulders does not appear to be a constant character. It is chiefly to be met with in the plains of Mesopotamia, in Persia, in Cutch, on the shores of the Indus, and in the Panjab, congregating in herds under a leader, and migrating southwards on the approach of winter. The adults are ex ceedingly shy, so that it is difficult to get within rifle range of them. According to Layard, who had ample opportunity for observing them during his researches around Nineveh, "they equal the gazelle in fleetness, and to match them is a feat which only one or two of the most celebrated mares have been known to accomplish." In the same region, over 2000 years ago, Xenophon, during the famous expedition of Cyrus, observed herds of wild asses so " fleet that the horsemen could only take them by dividing themselves into relays, and succeeding one another in the chase." The young are sometimes caught during spring by the Arabs, who feed them with milk in their tents. They are hunted chiefly by the Arabs and Persians, by whom their flesh is esteemed a delicacy. Their food, according to Dr Shaw, consists mainly of saline or bitter and lactescent plants ; they are also fond of salt or brackish water. The leather known as shagreen, from the Turkish term sagri, is made from the skin of the ass; the ingrained aspect which it bears is not, however, natural to it, but is produced by a chemical process described by Pallas. The milk of the ass, containing more sugar and less caseine than that of the cow, closely resembles woman s milk, and has long been valued as a nutritious diet where the digestive organs are weak.
ASSAM, a province of British India. Until the beginning of 1874 Assam formed the north-east division of the territories under the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal. In that year it was erected into a separate administration, pre sided over by a Chief Commissioner, who acts directly under the Governor-General of India in council. The district of Cachar was added to the old division of Assam, and now forms part of the Chief Commissioner s jurisdiction. It lies between 24 and 28 N. lat,, and between 90 and 98 E. long., and consists of the upper valleys of the Brahmaputra for a length of about 500 miles from where that river enters the north-eastern frontier of British India. These valleys vary in breadth, but generally occupy a space of about 60 miles between the Himalayas on the north, and the water shed which separates the Brahmaputra from the river system of Cachar. Assam, therefore, is bounded on the N. by the sub-Himalayan ranges of the BhutiA, Aka, Daphla, and Miri tribes; on the E. by the unsurveycd forests and mountains which separate British India from northern Bunnah ; on the S. by the hills inhabited by the Nagas, Jaintiyas, and Khasids, which separate Assam from Silhet; and on the W. by the Garo hills and Kuch Behar. Assam may be considered, however, either as a natural province or as an artificial political division. In its former aspect, in which it will be dealt with in this article, it has an area of 48,473 square miles, with a population in 1872 of 2,412,480 souls. It is the outlying province of India to the north-east, so that while the pressure of population in several of the inner divisions of Bengal varies from 500 to 573 persons per square mile, in Assam it is barely 50. Even deducting 12,058 miles of hill country in Lakhimpur and Cachar districts, the pressure of population is only 66 persons per square mile in the more cultivated parts of Assam. Taken as a political division, it is locally administered by a Chief Commissioner, with his headquarters at Gauhdtl. It is subdivided into the ten following districts, each under a deputy commissioner:—
Table showing the Area, Population, and Land Revenue of the Assam Province
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NAME OF DISTRICT. Area in square miles. Total population. Pressure of population per square mile. Hindus. Muliammadans. Christians. Others. Land Revenue. ] . Goal para 4,433 3,631 3,413 3,648 2,413 3,145 1,285 4,900 6,157 3,390 444,761[2] 561,681 236,009 256,390 296,589 121,267 205,027 68,918 141,838 80,000 100 155 69 70 123 39 160 14 23 23 311,419 515,024 221,389 245,615 282,969 115,633 128,2J9 Not classified Do. Do. 89,916 45,823 13,859 10,066 12,619 3,826 74,361 Not classified Do. Do. 141 204 256 179 283 316 409 Not classified Do. Do. 6,238 630 505 530 718 1,487 2,038 Not classified Do. Do. 13,045 83,200 36,665 8 36,146 8 46,829 14 14,383 6 15,334 12 47 6 307 16 2. Kamriip 3. Dorang or Darang 4. Naogaon . 5. Sibsagar . 6. Lakhimpur 7. Cachar 8. Naga Hills 9. Khasia and Jayantiva ) Hills .... 10. Garo Hills 36,415 2,412,480 66 1,820,273 250,470 1,788 12,146 245,959 10
The area given in this table is exclusive of 8343 square miles of hill country in Lakhimpur, and 3715 square miles of the Cachar hills, but it includes the two districts of Goalpara and the Gdro hills, which, although for political convenience placed under the commissioner of the Kucli Behar division of Bengal, belong physically and linguisti cally to Assam.
History.—Assam was the province of Bengal which remained
- ↑ Animals and Plants under Domestication, vol. i. p. 62.
- ↑ This includes the population of Eastern Duars, 37,047, not classified according to religion.
