There is no reason to interpret, as some writers do, the expression “white asses,” to mean asses covered with white caparisons. The intention is to indicate the wealth and luxury of the riders; and as asses wholly white, or even nearly so, are rare and costly, the men who own them must be classed among the rich and influential. Morier says that in Persia the Mollahs, or men of the law, consider it a dignity suited to their character to ride on white asses.