THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



115 



improved the breeds sioce they progressed in science ; 

 but their progress in science was of a limited kind, for 

 it is very problematical if they had even attained to that 

 level which existed at the deluge, when Noah con- 

 structed such a building as the ark, or even his imme- 

 diate offspring, who erected the Tower of Babel. Royal 

 studs were doubtless carefully attended to, but in 

 ninety-nine cases out of every hundred only to become 

 the victims of man, and its consequences. The dis- 

 persion of mankind at the confusion of languages, their 

 division into hostile tribes, and the partinij; of cattle 

 among them, with the many consequences which fol- 

 lowed, could not fail, we say, to add to the calamities 

 of the horse hitherto sharing in common those of his 

 master. Every argument deduced from history, either 

 sacred or profane, thus points to the horse as a more 

 powerful animal originally than the East now exhibits, 

 and that during his early history he has unfortunately 

 had more than a fair share of the calamities of man. 



Nor has the wild horse of the desert, who separated 

 himself at an early period after the Flood from the pa- 

 rent domesticated herds, escaped the disasters which 

 have befallen his country; for it would be absurd to 

 suppose that he, taking the oriental for our example, is 

 a fair representation of the primitive pair, since causes 

 nearly as effective as those which have given birth to the 

 Highland pony have for upwards of three thousand 

 years been operating actively upon his constitution, 

 owing to the decline of the country. We may just as 

 well, if not more correctly, suppose that the wild horse 

 on the steppes of Russia, or pampas and prairies of 

 America, or our own Highland glens, has undergone no 

 change, and is therefore a perfect type of the original ; 

 while well-authenticated facts prove that very important 

 changes of a physical character have taken place, and that 

 they, the different herds, differ widely from each other, 

 and hence from the parent stock or single pair from 

 which they and all others have originally sprung. 



Wild herds have, no doubt, assumed a standard type 

 under the different circumstances to which they are sub- 

 ject, wherever those are of a uniform standard ; audit 

 would be an important acquisition to science to know 

 what those different types and circumstances are, and 



what they best qualify the horse in each case for — 

 whether for racing, cavalry, hunting, farming, or other 

 purposes. We believe that in each case speed has been 

 gained, and hence power lost, other things being equal, 

 and that the senses have become more acute and active. 

 These are the natural results of a more frequent exercise 

 of certain muscles and nerves, and the less frequent 

 exercise of others ; and they form important data in the 

 improvement of breeds, or of the blood horse himself, 

 as we subsequently shall see. 



It has, no doubt, been truly said that the wild 

 horses of Russia are stronger than the tame ones ; or, 

 without going so far from home for an example, the 

 same will be the case with Welsh and Highland ponies 

 —the wild being stronger than the tame, as some of our 

 readers have doubtless experienced, while they are 

 fleeter also ; so that the niechanieal proposition quoted 

 above, as to speed being opposed to power, falls to the 

 ground ; but the objection is based upon the erroneous 

 hypothesis that other things are equal, while the muscu- 

 lar condition of the two are widely different, and is there- 

 fore easily refuted. 



Following the distribution of the horse northward to 

 Britain, very serious inroads must have been made upon 

 his original type and constitution during the long reign of 

 Druidical superstition and barbarity, when he along with 

 other animals were exposed to all the rigours of our cli- 

 mate, and the subsequent importation of Saxon, Danish, 

 and Norman blood failed to restore them to their pris- 

 tine purity. Indeed, long before he had got this length, 

 the vicissitudes of the climate of the continent of Europe, 

 coupled with the consequences of that warlike age, must 

 have produced important changes, unequalled probably, 

 save in the highland districts of this country, which, to 

 this day, illustrate ina very forcible manner the influence 

 of the weather with an irregular supply of food, feasting 

 in summer and starving in winter, upon the physical 

 system of the horse. Indeed, every province of the king- 

 dom bears ample evidence to the fallen condition of tlie 

 horse, different breeds only presenting different degrees. 

 The cart-horses, roadsters, &c., exhibited at the Royal 

 Agricultural Society's meetings are obviously great 

 improvements upon old times. 



THE PRODUCTIVE RESOURCES OF THE CAPE COLONY. 



From people who quarrel and differ we often hear 

 many truths which might not otherwise come out. And 

 of this we have an exemplification in the state of affairs 

 just now at the Cape Colony. The important and 

 growing eastern section of that Cohmy considers it has 

 attained a position sufficient to entitle it to separation 

 or independence from the older western province, to 

 which it is now linked. The colonists who look upon 

 Graham's Town as their centre have for some time 

 past been putting foiward prominently their griev- 

 ances, and instituting comparisons between their own 

 advance and position as compared with those of the 

 western section, of which Cape Town is the capital and 

 head- quarters. With the political, financial, and local 

 grievances it is not our province to deal ; but in the 

 agricultural and industrial progress we at home have 

 an interest. 



The colonists urge many sources of complaint, aris- 

 ing from legislation at a distance of GOO to 800 miles, 

 want of due participation in the legislation atid the im- 

 position of taxes, &c., and hence demand local self-go- 

 vernment and independent separation of the two pro- 

 vinces, or a federative separation. They ground their ar- 

 guments upon the cases of the separation of Port Phillip 



and Moreton Bay from New South Wales, (o which 

 they were formerly attached. The political features 

 of the case we shall not touch, but there are valuable 

 statistical details brought forward in furtherance of 

 the argument, which deserve more than local circula- 

 tion, as evidence of the remarkable strides making iu 

 the pastoral progress and general wealth of the Cape 

 Colony. 



At a time when the merchants and others connected 

 with the Capo Colony here are honouring Sir George 

 Grey with a public dinner, it seems not to be inappro- 

 priate to pass in review the progress of South Africa, 

 to whicli his policy and fostering care have so largely 

 contributed of late years. Few governors have so 

 fully earned the general good-will of the colonists, 

 and it is satisfactory to think that he will probably re- 

 turn to resume the reins of government, which he has 

 administered so ably and satisfactorily already. If 

 Sir George does receive the renewed appointment, let 

 us hope that he may go back with full powers to deal 

 with this mooted question of separation or federation, 

 to which he has already given so much attention. 



We now proceed to give a summary of the statistical 

 details to which we have already alluded, which WQ 



