228 THE WILD PONIES OF EXMOOR. 



trot up and down of Tattersall's, a whisk of a cap was 

 sufficient to produce a tremendous caper. A very 

 pretty exhibition was made hy a little mare, with a late 

 foal about the size of a setter dog. * 



The sale over, a most amusing scene ensued : every 

 man who had bought a pony wanted to catch it. In 

 order to clear the way, each lot, as sold, as wild and 

 nearly as active as deer, had been turned into the field. 

 A joint-stock company of pony-catchers, headed by the 

 champion wrestler of the district a hawk-nosed, fresh- 

 complexioned, rustic Don Juan stood ready to be hired, 

 at the moderate rate of sixpence per pony caught and 

 delivered. One carried a bundle of new halters; the 

 others, warmed by a liberal distribution of beer, seemed 

 as much inspired by the fun as the sixpence. When 

 the word was given, the first step was to drive a herd 

 into the lowest corner of the field in as compact a mass 

 as possible. The bay, gray, or chestnut, from that hour 

 doomed to perpetual slavery and exile from his native 

 hills, was pointed out by the nervous anxious purchaser. 

 Three wiry fellows crept cat-like among the mob, shelter- 

 ing behind some tame cart-horses ; on a mutual signal 

 they rushed on the devoted animal ; two one bearing 

 a halter strove to fling each one arm round its neck, 

 and with one hand to grasp its nostrils while the in- 

 sidious third, clinging to the flowing tail, tried to throw 

 the poor quadruped off its balance. Often they were 

 baffled in the first effort, for with one wild spring the 

 pony would clear the whole lot, and flying with stream- 

 ing mane and tail across the brook up the field, leave 

 the whole work to be recommenced. Sometimes when 



* According to tradition, the Exmoor ponies are descended from 

 horses brought from the East by the Phoenicians, who traded there 

 with Cornwall for metals. 



