SCENT AND SIGHT 193 



full gallop despite my frantic protests at their 

 apparent madness. Considering that we were 

 lost in sand-rock desert, all three of us owed 

 our lives to that small distant smell. 



The more vivid perfume of cattle I have 

 caught up easily at four-and-a-half miles on 

 the wind, but by their conduct I think my 

 horses had that savour some miles before it 

 reached my duller senses. I think the scenting 

 powers of a horse are about ten times as strong 

 as mine. 



Sight. Although short-sighted, I have, 

 with the aid of eyeglasses, bringing my vision 

 up to normal, seen Vv^aggon dust at sixteen 

 miles, a colliery smoke at twentj^-three miles, 

 and detail of a mountain scarp at seventy 

 miles in the clear prairie air. So far as I could 

 get any direct evidence, I never knew a horse 

 to see anything at much more than a couple 

 of hundred yards. It seems to be only in 

 civilization where the smells and sounds are 

 bewildering, that the horse becomes long- 

 sighted up to perhaps a mile. 



Hearing. The value of a horse's sense of 

 hearing as compared with that of a man is very 

 difficult to judge. On a still night I have heard 

 men's calls from behind double windows at 

 one and a half miles ; and am not at all sure 



