THE COSTERS' DONKEY-SHOW.
WHEN Lord Shaftesbury and Mr. W. J. Orsman insti- tuted the " Costermonger and Street-Traders' Donkey and Pony Show," their motives were in the first instance
directed to .promote kindness to animals, which, if once secured towards the disconsidered donkey, might gradually spread upwards, and improve not only the lives of East-End animals, but also those• of their owners.. •Prom both points of view, the show• has been an unqualified-success. Its object is not so much to award prizes for specially fine animals, but to grant certificates and rewards to the owners of all those entered; which show evident -signs of kind treatment, good food, and good grooming ; and at the show on Monday last all the entries were held by Count Gleichen, and the other judges, to come up to the standard required. It was also noticed that the donkeys, instead of being dull and dejected, as was the use and wont of the coster's donkey, were on the best of terms with their owners and their families. The boys and girls especially were never tired of fondling ' Jack or Jenny,' and it was stated by one little girl that she grooms and harnesses her father's donkey without help. These junior members of the family stood by their donkeys all day, in order to exalt their qualities of speed, sense, and trustworthiness in the ears of visitors. Perhaps the lion of the show—without reference to lEsop's derogatory fable-. was the performing donkey Tommy,' which, when not on duty in a shell-fish cart, would " sing," shake hands, wrestle, and stand on a three-legged stool; but it was agreed that, as far as the donkeys then and there assembled were- concerned, their restoration to a social status never pre- viously enjoyed by their race in London, was an accomplished fact.
The incidental benefit to their owners, who have been, taught consideration and learnt to take pleasure in making their animals comfortable, is a further triumph for the- founders of the exhibition. We may go further and congratu- late them on the mental and physical improvement which their scheme is likely to produce in the donkeys themselves. Every visitor was astonished at the good temper, cleverness, and friendliness of the animals competing at the People's Palace. They showed none of the obstinacy, stupidity, and dullness credited to their race. The change was natural enough. Temper and sense in animals depend largely on their treatment and food, and when these have been for many generations the worst possible, the result is an animal stunted in body and mind. Every competent writer who has treated the subject agrees that the English donkey is a discredit to the nation that owns it. Donkeys have only been common in the island since the days of Queen Elizabeth, yet in that time we have brought the donkey to a condition only matched elsewhere by the ass of India, condemned to be the beast of burden of the low-caste potter, and identified—of all horrible attributes—with the god of small-pox. But in England superstition has no part in the neglect, and worse, which have been the lot of the donkey. We have worked at improving every other breed of domestic animal, not always the most attractive, with unfailing success. We have decorated prodigies of pig- life with gold medals, and have well-to-do societies for encouraging the breeding of rabbits and guinea-pigs ; but our donkeys have continued to dwindle in body and brains. The probable reason is, first, that the animal, as- generally seen, has all the vices of centuries of neglect ; and secondly, that in a flat country, with good roads, it will always be considered " second-rate " when compared with a pony. The last contention may easily be pushed too• far. For a good donkey is better than a bad horse, or than many of the wretched " Russian " ponies landed at Harwich or Tilbury. The first objection disappears in time with decent treatment, though an animal which has itself been starved and beaten often exhibits evil temper when it falls into better hands. There is one remote part of England in which donkeys are held in esteem,—that part of the Norfolk coast near Cromer. There nearly every countryman or country- woman seems to be the owner of a donkey. These are in general of good size, standing higher on the leg than London donkeys, and holding their heads better. They are fast trotters, and very intelligent. This is largely the result of the better management of the foals. Instead of being put to work when half-grown, the foals are treated much as those of horses er ponies are. Some men always own a young donkey in training, and " growing into money." One of these men would buy a foal, and let it trot beside him every day to and from his work at a farm some two miles from his home. As it grew older, he would sometimes ride
it part of the way ; but it was not trained to harness until two years old. These Norfolk donkeys, when used at a gentleman's house for station work or drawing the children's carriage, grow almost as tame as a dog, and have far more individuality than a pony. They are also more " tricky " when driven, but seldom give any serious trouble. One of these had a curious trick when excited of jumping the shadows of the tree-trunks across the road, as if they were real obstacles. This donkey was used to being driven on the sands in Norfolk ; but when wanted to trot out over a wet sand-spit, half-a-mile long, in the Isle of Wight, it refused, and would not stir, unless some one walked in front of it. When returning on its own tracks it made no objection.
Mr. W. J. Gordon, author of that admirable book, " The Horse-World of London," notes that the donkey of our streets is a better animal than he used to be,—bigger, healthier, and able to do more work ; and he ascribes part of the improvement to the triennial show at the People's Palace. He makes a most interesting contribution to the natural history of the modern donkey, as well as a tribute to his worth. "He is one of the healthiest of animals, and one of the cheapest to feed. He is so clean and careful, that he rarely troubles the vet. He will not drink greasy or dirty water ; he would rather go without, and die of thirst. His food must be fresh ; no leavings will suit him. Once a donkey has breathed over fodder in a nose-bag no other donkey will touch it, nor will he touch food that has been breathed over by any other animal. Like the knight, he must have an egg to himself, although, like the gallant .Schweppermann, he will not object to two in short he is a sanitarian, and almost proof against epidemics." The greater number of the English donkeys are brought -from Ireland, where two hundred thousand are said to be used by the peasants. But these are poor, undersized crea- tures, which cannot compare with the good Norfolk donkeys, or with the fine trotters shown at the People's Palace, which are " warranted to trot six miles in thirty-six minutes." The best are usually bred in Wales, some of which will fetch 230 in London.
It is amusing to learn that the " swell " donkey dealers 4‘ would think it infra dig. to drive a pony." But it will be some time before the hoped-for donkey stud-book is established or that English animals will be bred like those in the Riviera, large enough for heavy draught, though Lord Salisbury has a team of big Spanish donkeys of 13 hands apiece, which are used in the hay-carts at Hatfield. Syria and North-Western Africa are still the countries in which the donkey is most esteemed; and since Mahommed went to heaven to learn the will of God on the ass El Borak,' it has retained its place as the animal proper to the carriage of saints and pilgrims. Even in Bokhara, three hundred asses are yearly engaged in carrying pilgrims to the birthplace of Bahareddin, the saint most esteemed, after Mahommed, in Turkestan, and it is noted by the faithful that they always gallop towards his grave, and refuse to go at more than a foot pace on their return to Bokhara from the sacred spot. Another, and a less picturesque though more probable, reason for the superiority of the Syrian and North African donkeys is found in the place which they necessarily hold in those countries as beasts of burden. The horse is not, properly speaking, either a draught-animal or a "pack-horse" for ordinary purposes in the countries bordering on the desert. He is either the aristocratic luxury of some Bedouin sheik, or discarded in favour of the camel. The "horses from Egypt," which Solomon imported, are no longer found; and even in the Eastern Soudan and Somaliland, though very game and useful animals, they are no larger than ponies. But the ass there approximates in size and form to the wild species, and is valued accordingly. In Cairo, where they take the place of hansom-cabs, the donkey-boys have renamed all their animals since the English occupation, and the visitor is offered the choice of ' Lord Wolseley,' Lord Cromer," Mr. Gladstone,' Prince Bismarck,' or 'Lord Salisbury.' But the present paradise of donkeys has been transferred to the New World. Mule-breeding has become a profitable industry in the Western States, and there; among a mixed multitude of two and a half millions of donkeys and mules, the race is being developed to a point at which it surpasses its wild ancestors of Persia or the deserts of Western India.
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