THE TARPAN. 



649 



former district in 1866, and was sent to the Zoological 

 Gardens of Moscow, where it was alive in 1884. This 

 animal was broken to saddle and harness, but it continued 

 bad-tempered, although it had been castrated at the age of 

 three years. Formerly these steppes were deserts, but soon 

 after they began to be populated and cultivated, the 



Photo by] [M. H. H. 



Fig. 613. — Ground surface of fore foot of Prjeval- 



sky's horse. 



tarpans were exterminated, or driven away by the inhabi- 

 tants. Tarpans are small and sturdy ponies, whose shape 

 more or less closely resembles that of the Keergeez and 

 Kalmouk steppe horses. The head is coarse, the forehead 

 prominent (Fig. 292), the ears pointed, the eyes fierce and 

 full of fire, the withers high, the croup rather drooping, 

 and the legs strong and well shaped. They are inclined 

 to be ewe-necked like the majority of the steppe horses. 



