No. 2 is the leader of the team, and for light work on the prairies, packing, or any similar work, is a model mule.  Indeed, she cannot be surpassed.  Her bone and muscle is full, and she is not inclined to run to flesh.

No. 3 is the off-leader of the same team.  She is a good eater, tough, hardy, and a good worker,—­in every way a first-class mule.  I would advise persons purchasing mules to notice her form.  She is a little sprung in the knees; but this has in no way interfered with her working.  This was occasioned by allowing the heels on her fore-feet to grow out too much.  During, and for some time after, the second battle of Bull Run, the train to which she belonged was kept at very hard work.  The shoes that were on her at that time, to use the driver’s own language, were “put on to stay.”  Indeed, he informed me that they were on so long, that he concluded they had grown to the feet.  And in this case, as in many others, for want of a little knowledge of the peculiarities of a mule’s feet, and the injury that results from over-growth, the animal had to suffer, and was permanently injured.

No. 4 is the off-swing, or middle-leader mule.  She is perfectly sound, of good height, a good eater, and a great worker.  She is also well adapted for packing, and a tolerably good rider.  Her ears and eyes are of the very finest kind, and her whole head indicates intelligence.  Her front parts are perfection itself.  She is also remarkably kind.

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No. 5 is the near swing mule, or middle leader.  She is what is called a mouse-color, and is the fattest mule in the team.  She underwent the entire campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, and is to-day without a blemish, and capable of doing as much work as any mule in the pack.  Her powers of endurance, as well as her ability to withstand starvation and abuse, are beyond description.  I have had mules of her build with me in trains, in the Western Territories, that endured hardship and starvation to an extent almost incredible; and yet they were remarkably kind when well treated, and would follow me like dogs, and, indeed, try to show me how much they could endure without flinching.

No. 6 is an off-wheel mule, of ordinary quality.  I had to take the spotted mules from the wheels of this team, as they were not equal to the work required of them, and got very sore in front.