WONDERFUL HORSES. 



"So meekly docile thou art, indeed." 



A work like the present would scarcely be complete 

 were it to pass unnoticed some of the fabulous species of 

 the horse tribe. A few years ago there was exhibited in 

 Walsall a very curious animal one side of which resem- 

 bled a very finely developed horse, while the other 

 possessed all the characteristics of a cow, even to the 

 cloven hoof, and the rudimentary formation of a horn. 

 Now, as Dr. Gray observes, the horse family is distin- 

 guished from all others by its undivided hoof. That 

 this animal was a cross between the horse and a Gnu 

 which is a species of wild ass, and is called by the Dutch 

 settlers at the Cape the " Bastard Wild Beest" was 

 considered by some very probable. If so, that would 

 account for the cloven hoof and the horn, as the Gnu 

 has both ; but although the cloven hoof and the horn 

 might be accounted for upon that supposition, yet, that 

 could not account for the flank and shoulder, which re- 

 sembled those of a cow, as the Gnu, although possessed 

 of horns and cloven hoofs, has a body resembling that 

 of the horse. Some of the ancient writers describe a 

 species of horse with a mane extending the whole length 

 of the animal, from head to tail. Some authors have 

 depicted horses with a unicorn-like horn in their forehead* 

 and among the collection made by Aldrovandus, is a 

 horse with a human head and face (Centaur) ; and another 

 with hands instead of fore feet, which he tells us be" 

 longed to Julius Caesar, and would suffer no one else to 

 mount him. " Cams Julius Ccesar utebatur equo insigni 



