The mule II. The end.

For travelling over wild and mountanious tracts of country, the mule is said to be preferable to the horse, being much more surefooted. Their manner of going down the Alps, Andes, &c. us very extraordinary. In these pasages, on one side are steep eminences, and on the other; frightful abysess; and as they generally follow the direction of the mountain, the road, instead of lying in a level, forms, at every litle distance, steep declivities of several hundred yards downward. These can only be descended by mules, and the animls themselves seem sensible of the danger, and the caution to be used in such descents. When they come to the edge of one of the precipices, they stop without being checked by the rider, and if he inadvertently attemps to spur them on, they continue inmoveable. They seem all this time ruminating on the peril that lies before them, and preparing themselves for the encounter. They not only attentively view the road, but tremble and snort and the danger. Having prepared for the descent, they place their fore feet in a posture as if they were stopping themselves; they then also put their hind feet together, but a little forward, as if they were going to lie dowmn. In this attitude, having, as it wore, taken a survey of the road, they slide down with the swiftness of a meteor.

At this time, all the rider has to do is to keep himself fast on the saddle, without checking the reins, fot the least motion is sufficient to check the equilibrium of the mule, in which case both he and his rider would perish. The address of these animals in this rapid descent is truly wonderful, for in their swiftest motion when they seem to have los all government of themselves, they follow exactly the different windings od the road, as if they had previously settled in their minds the route they were to follow, and had taken every precaution for their safety. Some mules, after having been long used in such their journies, acquire a sort of reputation of their safety and skill, and their value rises in proportion to their celebrety.

In Spain and USA that they are countries with donkeys, both Presidents prefer in opposition to the criteria that I have just exhibited, the use of mares driven mad (Hillary Clinton, Aído, Jiménez, De la Vega, Chacón et alii) to cross the tremendous mountain chains of this world crisis.
Really what we need is a good mule.