GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 419 



dence of the horse ; but if this conjecture be correct, he 

 must have widely extended his geographical range, for he is 

 found in a wild state in Asia, as far north as the sixtieth 

 degree, and to the utmost southern extremes of that vast 

 continent, and also in many parts of Africa. 



On each side of the river Don horses are found in a wild 

 state ; but these are supposed to be the offspring of Russian 

 horses which were used at the siege of Azof, in the year 

 1697, as many were turned loose upon that occasion for 

 want of forage. In South America, on those immense plains 

 extending from the shores of La Plata to Patagonia, immense 

 troops of horses are found, sometimes to the extent of ten 

 thousand individuals. These are the offspring of emancipated 

 horses which were taken to that continent by the Spaniards ; 

 for it is quite certain that the horse was unknown in America 

 when that continent was first discovered. Indeed, the 

 natives considered the horseman and horse as one animal. 

 There great troops do not always feed in company, but are 

 dispersed into smaller herds, and only congregate when they 

 are alarmed. These animals are impelled by a natural 

 instinct, which looks remarkably like reason, for they are 

 invariably preceded by a leader in cases of alarm, and are 

 sensible that their safety consists in united force, and a 

 principle of subordination — the first things to be attended 

 to, even by man himself. 



In a domestic condition the horse is found in every 

 country, such being the pliability of his physical constitu- 

 tion, that he thrives in very opposite extremes of tempera- 

 ture, except within the limits of the arctic circle itself. But 

 in Great Britain he seems to have acquired the highest 

 degree of symmetrical proportions and powers of speed ; as 

 our race-horses are universally admitted to be the finest and 

 fastest gallopers in the world. 



