Sketches of the campaign in northern Mexico : in eighteen hundred forty-six and seven / by an officer of the First Regiment of Ohio volunteers.

258 THE LOAN OF A DONKEY.
ry most grand and picturesque. The river, which we were
often compelled to wade in the course of the clay, meanders
through the narrow valley and embraces in its graceful arms
some spots of rich verdure. The shades of evening closed
around us at Santa Catalina; and as many of the men were
lagging from fatigue, we determined to halt in the hamlet.
An hour afterward, the rear-guard with the stragglers, came
up in high glee, driving before them what, from its great size
and singular motion, appeared to be a camel or bunch-backed
dromedary. On approaching the camp-fires, it was discovered
to be a moving mass of knapsacks: but it was not until they
were unbuckled and removed one by one, that the motive
power was disclosed to the amused spectators, in a diminutive donkey, much jaded and looking quite woe-begone.
Had it been one of Ericson's caloric engines, I could scarcely
have been more surprised; so utterly disproportionate were
the weight and bulk of the burden, to that of the animal.
General Taylor had published an order prohibiting the
men from owning riding animals; but the soldiers often
1orrowed them on emergencies like the present. They were
always cheerfully restored to the Mexican claimants after a
a few hours' use. It may be needless to add that the doublejointed and iron-ribbed donkey that brought such a mountain
of baggage into Santa Catalina was-a forced loan. The
ass, —one of the things specially mentioned in the commandment against covetousness,-is almost the commonest species
of property among the Mexicans, as among the Israelites.
So common and cheap indeed, that no divine or human
injunction concerning it was ever much regarded. It was