642 WILD HORSES. 



when they are trying to avoid a danger. The onagers and 

 kiangs, on the contrary, always crowd together and run 

 away in disorder, when they are frightened. In conse- 

 quence of the habit which horses have of foUowing each 

 other in a hne, deep well-trodden paths are to be found 

 all over the district of Gashun ; but we found no such 

 paths in places frequented by onagers and kiangs, with the 

 exception of the valley on the upper part of the river 

 Galtchjooskoy (Chy-Cho) in Tyan-Shanee. 



" In the afore-mentioned districts, the most reliable 

 sign of the presence of the wild horses is the immense 

 heaps of dung on the paths. Immediately on our arrival 

 at Gashun, our attention was called to this fact by a 

 mullah (Muhammadan priest), who asserted, on the testi- 

 mony of this sign, that, on the previous day, the wild 

 horses had gone to their watering place. If the stallion 

 of the kossiak (herd) scents danger when no foals are in it, 

 he often runs out on the side and gives the alarm by his 

 movements ; but the onager is more of an egotist, and 

 troubles himself very little about the danger which 

 threatens his harem and his rising generation. 



' ' The Mongolians have made many attempts to tame 

 these wild horses, but have been always unsuccessful. 

 These animals refuse to obey man, whom they fear, and 

 consequently they cannot be domesticated. The Mon- 

 golians capture them in a very simple manner. At foaling 

 time, each of the Kalmouks go with two horses to the 

 desert, and having found the herd, they follow it up, until 

 some of the weak foals fall down on the ground from 

 fatigue, and are then secured and put with the Kalmouks' 

 horses " (G. E. and M. E. Groom-Grjeemailo). 



The close resemblance between the habits of Prjevalsky's 

 horse and those of the domestic horse when he is kept at 

 liberty in the open, is a strong proof of the near relationship 

 of these two animals. All hunting men and hard-riding 

 Colonials know that when horses are ridden, as for instance, 

 on the grassy sides of Midland roads and on bridle-paths. 



