158 THE WILD HORSE 



But the ancients all agree in their statements 

 concerning wild horses of the north-east of Europe, 

 residing, according to their narratives, from Pontus 

 northward into regions unknown to their geogra- 

 phy; some we have seen are described as white, 

 and having the hair five or six inches long, charac- 

 ters we find verified at present in Asiatic Russia 

 and in the wild horses of the Pamere tahle land. 

 In the woods and plains of Poland and Prussia 

 there were wild horses to a late period. Beauplan 

 asserts their existence in the Ukraine, and Erasmus 

 Stella, in his work " De Origine Borussorum," 

 speaks of the wild horses of Prussia as unnoticed by 

 Greek and Latin authors. " They are," he writes, 

 " in form nearly like the domestic species, but with 

 soft backs, unfit to be ridden, shy and difficult to 

 capture, but very good venison." These horses are 

 evidently again referred to by Andr. Schneebergius,. 

 who states, that " there were wild horses in the 

 preserves of the prince of Prussia, resembling the 

 domestic, but mouse-coloured, with a dark streak 

 on the spine and the mane and tail dark ; they 

 were not greatly alarmed at the sight of human 

 beings, but inexpressibly violent if any person at- 

 tempted to mount them. They were reserved for 

 the table like other game." It may be that in both 

 the above extracts the hemionus or the onager is 

 presumed to be depicted, but the difference of mane 

 and tail is so obvious, that such an objection cannot 

 be entertained ; and should it be said that these 

 were merely feral horses, it might be asked ia 



