100 COMMON HORSE. 



with his rider's will. Neither the length of a journey, 

 nor ditches, nor rivers the most rapid, can discourage 

 him : he springs through every obstacle, like a bird 

 whose career no impediment can check. At the same 

 time that we bestow this encomium on the Horse, in the 

 highest perfection of its species, the tribute of praise 

 should not be withholden from those of inferior breeds, 

 which, destined all their lives to bear the heavy burdens 

 we impose upon them, exhibit a degree of patience and 

 perseverance, which cannot be too much admired. 



It is chiefly to the great deserts of Tartary and Sibe- 

 ria, that we are to look for the wild stock from which our 

 invaluable domestic originally sprang. Here, ranging 

 together in large troops, they exhibit very surprising 

 traits of sagacity and vigilance. Whilst they feed, they 

 generally station one of their party at a little distance, 

 for the purpose of giving notice of the approach of 

 danger. It is almost impossible to entrap them ; and, 

 when pursued, their swiftness of foot is such, that it is 

 not without great difficulty they can be overtaken. It 

 is to Arabia that we have been principally indebted for 

 the excellence of our breed of Horses. In this wild 

 and thinly-populated country, the very existence of the 

 owner sometimes depends upon the powers of his Horse, 

 and, consequently, the most minute and indefatigable 

 attention is paid to the perfecting of the breed. And it 

 is, chiefly, in consequence of this, that the race is able 

 to sustain infinitely greater fatigue and abstinence, than 

 the Horses of any other country. A Horse, in that coun- 

 try, which cannot support itself for three days, under 

 continued bodily exertion, is accounted of little value. 

 If Horses be well treated, and have proper care taken 

 of them, it is said they will sometimes live to the great 

 age of fifty years; but, during part of this time, they 



