CLOUDLAND 33 



ill-tempered and dangerous to handle by bad 

 horse-mastership. So the Dun has a terrible 

 reputation, and in his defence I am a sort of 

 Devil's advocate. He is the typical range 

 horse whose manners and customs will be the 

 theme of the next chapter. 



PART VI. CLOUDLAND. 



We have seen the close resemblance of warm 

 winds and seas between the North Atlantic 

 and the North Pacific ; but it was only in the 

 North Atlantic region that the great Ice Age, 

 in long pulsations, widened and shrank its 

 Icefields. Ten thousand years ago (Wright) in 

 the Niagara District, and seven thousand 

 years ago (de Geer) in Finland, the edges of the 

 Icefield were withdrawn for the last time, and 

 the climate began to get warm and comfortable. 



In America and in Europe, as the ice re- 

 treated, a belt of tundra crept closely in its 

 wake, and in the rear of that a belt of green 

 turfed grasses. 



In Eastern Canada, and North-western 

 Europe these green turfed pastures are varied 

 with woodlands of such trees as cast their leaves 

 in winter. Amid these changes the horse 

 had vanished from North America, but survived 

 in Asia, and slowly extended his range as 

 the ice retreated from Europe. In Europe 



