8 THE HORSE. 



Tlicse animals possess much of tlie form of the Spanish horse, frtjwH 

 wliich they sprung ; tliey are tamed, as has been seen, with far less difficulty 

 than could be thought possible; and, although theirs is the obedience of 

 fear, and enforced at first by the whip and spur, there are no horses who so 

 soon and so perfectly exert their sagacity and their power in the service of 

 man. Tiiey are possessed of no extraordinary speed, but they are capable 

 of enduring immense fatigue. They are frequently ridden 60 or 70 miles 

 without drawing bit, and have been urged on by the cruel spur of the 

 Gaucho, more than a hundred miles, and at the rate of twelve miles 

 in the hour. 



Like the Arab horses, they know no intermediate pace between the walk 

 and tile gallop. Although at the end of a day so hard, their sides are 

 horribly mangled, and they completely exhausted, there is this consalotion 

 for them, — they are immediately turned loose on the plains, and it will be 

 their own fault if they are speedily caught again. The mare is occa- 

 sionally killed for food, and especially on occasions of unusual festivity. 

 General San Martin, during the war for independence, gave a feast to the 

 Indian allies attached to his army ; and mares' flesh, and the blood mixed 

 with gin, formed the whole of the entertainment. 



On such dry and sultry plains the supply of water is often scanty 

 and then a species of madness seizes on the horses, and their genei'ous 

 and docile qualities are no longer recognized. They rush violently into 

 every pond and lake, savagely mangling and trampling upon one another ; 

 and the carcases of many thousands of them, destroyed by their fellows 

 have occasionally been seen in and around a considerable pool. This is 

 one of the means by which the too rapid increase of this quadruped is, by 

 the ordinance of Nature, there prevented. 



The wild horses of Tartary, although easily domesticated, materially 

 differ m character from those on the plains of South America. They will 

 not suffer a stranger to join them. If a domesticated horse comes in their 

 way, unprotected by his master, they attack him with their teeth and their 

 heels, and speedily destroy him. They readily submit, however, to the do- 

 minion of man, and become perfectly docile and faithful. 



Among the Tartars, the flesh of the horse is a frequent article of food ; 

 and although they do not, like the Indians of the Pampas, eat it raw, theii 

 mode of cookery would not be very inviting to the European epicure. 

 They cut the muscular parts into slices, and place them under their saddles, 

 and after they have galloped thirty or forty miles, the meat becomes tender 

 ^,nd sodden, and fit for their table ; and, at all their feasts, the first and 

 fast and most favourite dish, is a horses head. 



When water was not at hand, the Scythians used to draw blood from 

 their horses, and drink it ; and the dukes of Muscovy, for nearly two hundred 

 and sixty years, presented Tartar embassadors with the milk of mares. If 

 any of this milk fell upon the mane of the horse, the duke, by custom, was 

 bound to lick it off. 



Troops of wild horses are occasionally met with in the central parts of 

 Africa, in the island of St. Domingo, on the deserts of Arabia, and in 

 a few other parts of the world ; but no where do they equal the domesti- 

 cated horse in form, strength, or even speed. 



(vol. ii. p. 113,) says, that " stirrups are not in g-eneral use. The men leap on ttiei* 

 horse on the riL(ht side. In the right hand they grasp the bridle, and in the left a very 

 long- spear, leaning on which, they jump with the impulse of both feet, and then fall right 

 upon the horse's back." 



