DOMESTIC HORSES. 247 



The Isabella variety is, we believe, always albino, 

 or with a roseate skin. 



The Andalusian owe their latest reputation chiefly 

 to the Xeres breed of the Chartreuse, somewhat 

 smaller, more delicate, with rather long pasterns, but 

 exceedingly graceful, and not fully prepared for the 

 saddle till six or seven years old. The other Anda- 

 lusian, Grenada, and Estremadura races, are larger, 

 more robust, sooner reared, and therefore more pro- 

 fitable and more abundant. There is also a breed of 

 Murcia, which, like those of the Pyrenees, is small, 

 and belongs to a different stock. 



Sardinia possesses three races of horses, of which 

 one is noble and now almost entirely composed of 

 descendants of Spanish blood, introduced by Don 

 Alvarez de Madrigal about 1565: the principal 

 breed belongs to the crown at Paulo-latino ; there is 

 a second the property of the house of Benevente, 

 and a third to that of Mauca. They are handsome, 

 fourteen hands and a half high, naturally disposed 

 to amble, sure-footed, and capable of going a hun- 

 dred and twenty Italian miles in thirty hours. 

 There are horse-races at Sassari ; the aim, however, 

 seems to be not speed, but secure flexibility, in 

 going fast through a winding course, and passing 

 into a narrow gate at an acute angle. 



The South American horses are marked with 

 most if not all the characters of their Andalusian 

 progenitors ; they have their grace and good temper, 

 and surpass them in speed, surety of foot, and bot- 

 tom. Individuals taken on the Pampas have been 



