RELATIONS OF THE AMERICAN PACER TO THE TROTTER. 181 



The only attempt at a description of this breed that I have 

 met with is that given by Cooper, the novelist, in a footnote to 

 "The Last of the Mohicans." This note may be accepted as 

 history, so far as it goes, and pretends to be history; but I am 

 not prepared to admit that all the breed were sorrels. This 

 color, no doubt, prevailed in those specimens that Mr. Cooper 

 had seen or heard of, but I think all colors prevailed, as in 

 other breeds. He says: 



" In the State of Rhode Island there is a bay called Narragansett, so named 

 for a strong tribe of Indians that formerly dwelt on its banks. Accident, or 

 one of those unaccountable freaks which nature sometimes plays in the animal 

 world, gave rise to a breed of horses which were once well known in America 

 by the name of Narragansetts. They were small, commonly of the color 

 called sorrel in America, and distinguished by their habit of pacing. Horses 

 of this race were, and still are, in much request as saddle-horses, on account 

 of their hardiness, and the ease of their movements. As they were also sure 

 of foot, the Xarragansetts were much sought for by females who were obliged 

 to travel over the roots and holes in the new countries." 



Without having a minute description of so much as a single in- 

 dividual of the race, I can only infer, from general descriptions, 

 as to what their family peculiarities of form and shape may have 

 been. It is fully established that they were very compact and 

 hardy horses, and that they were not large; perhaps averaging 

 about fourteen and a quarter hands in height. I have met with 

 no intimation that they were stylish or handsome, and we think 

 it is safe to conclude that they were plain in their form, and low 

 in their carriage. From my conceptions of the horse I think 

 one of the better-shaped Canadian pacers, of fifteen hands or 

 thereabouts, might be accepted as a fair representative of the 

 Xarragansett of a hundred and fifty years ago. He was fleet, 

 hardy, docile, and sure-footed, but not beautiful, and it is reason- 

 able to suppose that the lack of style and beauty was one of the 

 leading causes of his becoming extinct in the land of his nativity. 



In considering the causes which resulted in what we may call 

 the dispersal of the Narragansett pacers, and their extinction in 

 the seat of their early fame, we must be governed by what is 

 reasonable and philosophical in the industrial interests of the 

 people, rather than look for some great overwhelming disaster, 

 like an earthquake, that ingulfed them in a night. In speaking 

 of this dispersal, and the causes which led to it, Mr. Hazard says: 



