174 THE HOESE OF AMEKICA. 



origin of the Narragansett horse. In time past, and extending 

 back to a period "whereof the memory of man runneth not to the 

 contrary/ 7 the horse world has been cursed with a class of men 

 who have always been ready to invent and put in circulation the 

 most marvelous and incredible stories about the origin of every 

 remarkable horse that has appeared. Some of these wiseacres 

 have maintained that the original Narragansett pacer was caught 

 wild in the woods by the first settlers on Narragansett Bay, while 

 others (and this seems to be of Canadian origin) have insisted 

 that when being brought to this country a storm struck the ship 

 and the horse was thrown overboard, and after nine days he was- 

 found off the coast of Newfoundland quietly eating rushes on a 

 sand bar, where he was rescued and brought into Narragansett 

 Bay. This story of the marine horse probably had its origin in 

 the experiences of Eip Van Dam, which will be narrated further 

 on. Another representation, coming this time from a very 

 reputable source, has been made as to the origin of the Narragan- 

 sett horse, and as many, no doubt, have accepted it as true, I 

 must give it such consideration as its prominence demands. Mr. 

 I. T. Hazard, a representative of the very old and prominent 

 Hazard family of Rhode Island, in a letter to the Rev. Mr. Up- 

 dike, makes the following statement: 



" My grandfather, Governor Robinson, introduced the famous saddle horse, 

 the Narragansett pacer, known in the last century over all the civilized parts 

 of North America and the West Indies, from whence they have lately been 

 introduced into England, as a ladies' saddle horse, under the name of th& 

 Spanish Jennet. Governor Robinson imported the original from Andalusia, in 

 Spain, and the raising of them for the West India market was one of the ob- 

 jects of the early planters of this country. My grandfather, Robert Hazard, 

 raised about a hundred of them annually, and often loaded two vessels a year 

 with them, and other products of his farm, which sailed direct from the South 

 Ferry to the West Indies, where they were in great demand." 



This theory of the origin of the Narragansett came down to 

 Mr. Hazard as a tradition, no doubt, but like a thousand other 

 traditions it has nothing to sustain it. Opposed to it there are 

 two clearly ascertained facts, either one of which is wholly fatal 

 to it. In the first place, there were no pacers in Andalusia or 

 any other part of Spain, and in the second place, these horses, 

 according to official data, were the leading item of export from 

 Rhode Island in 1680, and Governor Robinson was not born till 

 about 1693. As impossibilities admit of no argument, I will not 



