THE HOUSE. 59 " 



the most essential services, and contributes to our 

 most healthful amusements. Horses are now bred in 

 almost all countries ; but there are few in which this 

 noble animal is seen in possession of his native free- 

 dom, unsubdued by man : it is only in the vast and 

 uncultivated plains of Africa and Arabia, and in some 

 parts of South America, that he is to be found in a 

 state of native independency. In those wild and ex- 

 tensive tracts, wild horses may be seen in droves of 

 five or six hundred, feeding together, while one of 

 the number is always observed to be posted at the 

 outside, and acting the part of a sentinel, in order to 

 give notice of any approaching danger. When any 

 such seems to threaten, he gives the alarm by a loud 

 snort, and the whole herd fly off with amazing rapi- 

 dity. The wild horses of Arabia are esteemed the 

 most beautiful of the whole species. They are generally 

 of a brown colour, with a black mane and tail of short 

 tufted hair. In size and bone they are, for the most 

 part, inferior to the tame breed, but exceedingly ac- 

 tive and swift. The common method of taking them 

 is by snare and pitfals, formed in the ground. The 

 wild horses, now so numerous in some parts of Ame- 

 rica, especially in Paraguay, Patagonia, and La 

 Plata, were originally of the Spanish breed, and were 

 carried thither, and turned into woods, by the first Spa- 

 nish settlers. The astonishment which the Mexicans, 

 the most polished and intelligent of all the Ameri- 

 cans, manifested at the sight of horses, convinced the 

 .Spaniards that this animal was totally unknown on 

 that continent, and induced them to carry numbers 

 thither, not only for their immediate use, but also to- 

 propagatc a breed. Since that time, they have mul- 

 tiplied so much as to range in numerous herds through: 

 those extensive countries. They are diilicultto take, 

 kmt if oiv.:e taken are easily tamed, and soon learn to 

 know their master ; and if they be by any mea.as 

 set at liberty, they are easily caught again, not shew- 

 ing any inclination to return to their former state of 

 \vildiiess, a circumstance which evinces a remark- 

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