THE WILD HORSE OF SOUTH AMERICA. 37 



* But, alas ! our Christian grooms' horses go on at another rate. They 

 never think them rightly curried till they thunder at them with their voices, 

 and let their clubs or horse- whips, as it were, dwell on their sides. This makes 

 some horses even tremble when their keepers come into their stable ; so that 

 they hate and fear them too. But the Turks love to have their horses so 

 gentle, that at the word of command they may fall on their knees, and in this 

 position receive their riders. 



'' They will take up a staff or club upon the road with their teeth, which their 

 rider has let fall, and hold it up to him again ; and when they are perfect in this 

 lesson, then, as a reward, they have rings of silver hung on their nostrils as a 

 badge of honour and good discipline. I saw some horses when their master 

 was fallen from the saddle stand stock still without wagging a foot till he got up 

 again. Another time I saw a groom standing at a distance in the midst of a 

 whole ring of horses, and at the word of command, they would either go round 

 or stand still. Once I saw some horses when their master was at dinner with 

 me in an upper room prick up their ears to hear his voice, and when they did so 

 they neighed for joy." 



THE AMERICAN HORSES. 



Before we can advance eastward into Europe, it will be convenient to dispose 

 of the horses of the American continents. In South America, although con- 

 stant warfare is carried on against them, there are innumerable herds of wild 

 horses; and in the back settlements of the south-western states of North 

 America, there is a horse resembling the wild horse of the Pampas ; but both 

 are evidently the descendants of those who have escaped from the slavery of man. 



THE WILD HORSE OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



All travellers who have crossed the plains extending from the shores of La 

 Plata to Patagonia have spoken of numerous droves of wild horses. Some 

 affirm that they have seen ten thousand in one troop. They appear to be under 

 the command of a leader, the strongest and boldest of the herd, and whom they 

 implicitly obey. A secret instinct teaches them that their safety consists in 

 their union, and in a principle of subordination. The lion, the tiger, and the 

 leopard * are their principal enemies. At some signal, intelligible to them all, 

 they either close into a dense mass and trample their enemy to death, or, placing 

 the mares and foals in the centre, they form themselves into a circle and wel- 

 come him with their heels. In the attack, their leader is the first to face the 

 danger, and when prudence demands a retreat, they follow his rapid flight. 



In the thinly-inhabited parts of South America it is dangerous to fall in with 

 any of these troops. The wild horses approach as near as they dare : they call 

 to the loaded horse with the greatest eagerness, and if the rider is not- on the 

 alert, and has not considerable strength of arm and sharpness of spur, his beast 

 will divest himself of his burden, take to his heels, and be gone for ever. Byron 

 beautifully describes this in his Mazeppa : 



" A trampling troop : I see them come 

 la one vast squadron they advance ! 

 I strove to cry my lips were dumb. 

 The steeds rush on in plunging pride, 

 But where are they the reins who guide ? 

 A thousand horse and none to ride ! 

 With flowing tail and flying mane, 

 Wide nostrils never stretch'd by pain- 

 Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein, 

 And feet tnat iron never shod, 

 And flanks unscarr'd by spur or rod 



* These animals are of a different race from those whhh go under the same names in 

 the Old World, and are very inferior in strength. 



