WILD HOUSES. 267 



taken place in the plains of La Plata and other parts of the South 

 American Continent. Darwin shows us that whereas tho first horso 

 was landed in America at Buenos Ay res in 1537, in 1580 (less than 

 fifty years) the Patagonians had horses. This spread is, of course, 

 not to be compared with the wonderful increase in numbers of horses 

 in general in Australia which has recently been witnessed, but it 

 may be remarkod as an illustration of how wild horses spread, 

 that in New South Wales, in 1875, 7,000 wild horses are recorded as 

 having been shot without extermination, and the horse pest has 

 attained such importance as, I believe, to have received legislative 

 notice in some parts of Australia. Our members ought to be able to 

 give us some interesting information in this matter. There is evi- 

 dence that even in South America the numbers of horses have been 

 materially lessened by the requirements of man recently. 



Some curious eccentrici'ies of wild horses deserve a passing notice. 

 Darwin remarks on the extraordinary fact that without any apparent 

 reason, and though there is no appreciable difference in climate and 

 soil between the western and eastern parts of the Falkland Islands 

 on which he saw horses, they had never left the eastern part. 

 Another peculiar point is noticed by Azara, the preference of wild 

 horses for the dropping of excrement in or near roads. This, carried 

 out on a largo scale, in South America, has an important influence 

 on the procuration of fodder along the maiu tracks. 



Darwin comments on the extreme difficulty of driving large bodies 

 of horses over the South American plains. One remount officer who 

 left Buenos Ay res with 5 DO had under 20 on arrival at his destina- 

 tion. The animals are excitable, and the approach of a puma, or even 

 a fox, during the night will cause the horses to disperse in every 

 direction, and even a storm will have the same effect (" Voyatje of the 

 Beagle"). This teudency to wild heedless bolting of large numbers 

 of horses is a phenomenon not unknown to our cavalry officers and 

 those of other nations. I know of one stampede of horses of a 

 cavalry regiment mounted on Walers in this country, and two serious 

 stampedes occurred araougthe Guards' horses and those of the Queen's 

 Bays at Aldershot at the first autumn manoeuvres. Paez in Bolivia 

 turned this tendency to valuable account in the War of Independence, 

 for he used to stampede bands of wild horses against the enemy at 

 night. Finally, we may observe that, »s the equine animals in South. 

 Africa have been noticed to have a curious tendency to "chum" with 

 the Gnu and other ruminants, the wild horse also has been observed 



