408 



THE ODD-TOED ANIMALS. 



est noise, even when it is unperceived by their rid- 

 ers. Their sight is rather deficient, like that of all 

 Horses; but their free life gives them wide expe- 

 rience in distinguishing objects at a great distance. 

 Their sense of smell helps them to a closer and 

 more thorough knowledge of their surroundings, for 

 they carefully sniff everything that is strange to 

 them. Through this organ of scent they learn to 

 know their riders, their harness, the barn in which 

 they are saddled, etc.; by it they recognize bottom- 

 less quagmires in marshy regions, and readily find 

 their way in the darkness of night, or in a dense fog, 

 to their domicile or their pasturage. Good Horses 

 sniff at their riders at the moment of mounting, and 

 I have seen some that would not let a person mount 

 at all, or resisted his guidance, if he did not carry a 

 poncho or cloak, such as the natives wear who break 

 in the Horses. Their power of smell does not ex- 

 tend to a great distance, however. I rarely saw a 

 Horse which could scent a Jaguar at the distance of 



THE TRAKEHNEN HORSE- A famous German breed of line II 

 from the noted stables in which its excellent faculties and fine running qual: 

 to the English Thoroughbred it is the best runner among European varieties 



fifty paces. Therefore they are the most frequent 

 victims of this beast of prey in the populated dis- 

 tricts of Paraguay. 



Wild Horses A. von Humboldt has given us in a 

 Described by Von few words a masterly description of 

 Humboldt. t h e mann er of life of the wild 

 Horses in the llanos lying more to the north: 

 "When the grass of those immense plains becomes 

 charred and resolves into dust in summer, under the 

 perpendicular rays of the never-clouded sun, the 

 soil gradually cracks, as if it were torn by powerful 

 earthquakes. Enveloped in dense clouds of dust 

 and pressed by hunger and a burning thirst, the 

 Horses and Cattle roam about, the former with their 

 heads lifted high up, against the wind, snorting and 

 inflating their nostrils, trying to discover by the 

 dampness of the air-current the location of some 

 pool that has not yet all evaporated. The Mules 

 try to quench their thirst in another way more delib- 

 erate and showing a higher order of intelligence. A 

 spherical and spinous-coated plant, the melon cac- 

 tus, encloses a watery pulp in its prickly exterior. 

 The Mule beats these thorns aside with its fore-feet 

 in order to drink the cool juice. But the drawing 

 of water from this living, vegetable source is not 



devoid of danger; for one often sees animals which 

 are severely wounded in the hoofs and lamed by 

 these cactus-thorns. When the coolness of night at 

 last succeeds the glaring heat of day, the Horses and 

 Cattle are still deprived of their rest. The Vampires 

 disturb them in their sleep and fasten on their backs 

 to suck their blood." 



Many Wild Horses When finally the protracted drought 

 Perish Duiing the is followed by the beneficent rainy 

 Rainy Season. se ason, the scene changes. Now 

 the surface of the soil is barely permeated by water 

 and the prairie becomes covered with the most mag- 

 nificent verdure. Horses and Cattle graze in the full 

 enjoyment of life. The Jaguar hides in the high 

 grass and destroys many a Horse and colt. Soon 

 the rivers swell, and those same animals which lan- 

 guished with thirst during part of the year, now have 

 to live like amphibious creatures. The mares, to- 

 gether with their colts, retreat to the knolls and ele- 

 vations of the plains, which emerge above the watery 

 surface like islands. But the dry 

 space becomes more contracted 

 every day. For lack of food the 

 half famished animals swim about 

 for hours and miserably subsist 

 on the leaves of the water-rushes 

 which float and wave on the sur- 

 face of the brown, muddy, seeth- 

 ing water. Many of the colts 

 are drowned, while others are 

 caught by Crocodiles, crushed by 

 blows from the tails of these Sau- 

 rians, and then devoured. Not 

 infrequently one sees Horses 

 which bear marked traces of en- 

 counters with Crocodiles. Among 

 the fish they also have a danger- 

 ous enemy. The sloughs or pools 

 left by the receding waters are 

 filled with innumerable Electric 

 Eels. These remarkable fish can 

 kill the largest animals by means 

 of their powerful discharges if 

 their efforts are concentrated 

 upon certain portions of the body. 

 The road near the Uri Tucu had 

 to be abandoned, because these Eels increased and 

 congregated to such an extent in a little river cross- 

 ing the route that every year many Horses were 

 drowned while stunned from shocks administered to 

 them as they attempted to ford the stream. 

 ' Panic-Stricken Another element, yet more dangerous 

 Herds Destroy to the herds, is found in the frantic 

 Themselves, terror which sometimes takes posses- 

 sion of them. When struck by a panic, hundreds 

 and thousands of them rush on in a frenzy of fright; 

 stopped by no obstacle, running against rocks and 

 dashing themselves to pieces by falling over preci- 

 pices. They suddenly appear in the camps of travel- 

 ers spending the night in the open country; rush on 

 between the fires, over tents and vehicles, inspire 

 with their own fears the beasts of burden, which 

 tear themselves loose and are borne along in the 

 irresistible current to certain destruction or irre- 

 trievable loss. Farther north the Indians swell the 

 number of foes which embitter the life of the wild 

 creatures. They catch them to use in hunting, and 

 in breaking them torment them so badly that the 

 boldest and most refractory Horse must succumb in 

 a short time. As with the Bedouins of the Sahara, 

 the Horse is often the cause of the bloodiest com- 



receh ing this name 



developed. Next 



of the domestic Horse. 



