But the key moment, in the history of the mule, came a few years later, when there was a strike of cotton workers.
Four or five mules long, a string is fashioned, each mule's halter tied to the rear of the next mule's aparejo.
Then, in an instant, the port-side packer throws the hooked end of the rope over the mule's starboard side, his partner catches it, turns it round, and a 16-step dance begins.
Working in a two-man team, on opposite sides of the animal, packers sling a pair of manty-wrapped loads to the sides of a mule's aparejo and lay a 12-15-metre (40-50ft) lash rope gently across his creature's back.
Until recently, the stony interior could only be explored on the back of a mule.
Like, perhaps, getting an MFA in Puppetry instead of having to stare at the south facing end of a north moving mule all day.
In 1779, Samuel Crompton, a retiring genius from Lancashire, invented the spinning mule, which made possible the mechanization of cotton manufacture.
It has been in development since 2005 and is the the size of a large dog "or a small mule, " says the company.
As Spanish steel beat Incan arrows, so the mule overpowered the llama of the Andes.
Before long, the number of spindles on a typical mule jumped from four hundred to a thousand.
The trail leads past a line of old-timers on a bench and climbs out of the yayla into wilder countryside, following mule tracks along rocky, mottled ridges.
Ballots will be collected at the end of today's vote and transported to the capital by helicopter or by mule over Haiti's mountain roads.
Would you mind if I take a mule back depending on the status of my legs on Wednesday?
The wild and rugged park, 120km west of San Salvador near the Guatemalan border, is named after a mountain pass that has claimed the life of many a coffee-farmer and mule.
And on top of all that there are the equestrian events: horseracing, mule-cart racing, chariot-racing.
"Like a mule to an airplane, " says the elder Effiinger of the H2's superiority.
The Punta Union pass is only reachable by foot or mule along the spectacular 50km Santa Cruz trail, part of which is an ancient Inca road.
The advantages of testing cars virtually, rather than building a prototype or a mule car, are numerous.
The mule is given a minute to catch his breath, while the rest of the team is rounded up, loaded and lashed.
We've been known to mule-about vast quantities of gear for hours at a time in order to bring you the latest and greatest in gadgets at a real-time pace.
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The ranch also prides itself on being the only place where you can find a high-diving aqua mule act in which the animals dive off a 24ft-high platform into six feet of water.
One problem with test-driving prototypes and mule cars is that rival manufacturers, and the motoring press, can more easily get wind of new models.
We're going to be doing the Southside mule, where we're going to be taking some American whiskey and a little bit of fresh lemon and simple syrup to make it nice and sweet.
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