An ass, belonging to a captain in the Royal Navy, then at Malta, was shipped on board a frigate, bound from Gibraltar for that island. The vessel struck on some sands off the Point de Gat, and the ass was thrown overboard, in the hope that it might possibly be able to swim to the land. Of this, however, there did not seem to be much chance, for the sea was running so high, that a boat which left the ship was lost. A few days later, when the gates of Gibraltar were opened one morning the guard were surprised by Valiant, as the ass was called, presenting himself there for admittance. On entering, he went at once to the stable of a merchant, where he had formerly lived. The poor animal had not only swum safely to shore, but without guide, compass, or travelling map, had found his way from Point de Gat to Gibraltar, a distance of more than two hundred miles, through a mountainous and intricate country, crossed by streams, which he had never travelled over before, and in so short a period, that he could not have made one false turn.