AMERICAN HORSES. 437 



thej are to be seen in troops of many thousands. Azara 

 affirms, that thej sometimes congregate in squadrons of not 

 less than ten thousand individuals. They are invariably 

 preceded by a leader, by whose movements they are 

 governed ; and all they do seems to be conducted in a sys- 

 tematic style. 



These immense troops do not always feed together, but 

 are dispersed into smaller herds ; though when disturbed they 

 congregate, and continue so until the cause of alarm has 

 passed away. In form they bear a strong resemblance to tlie 

 horses of Barbary and Turkey. Their colours are chestnut, 

 bay, sorrel, or black ; the latter, however, is not very com- 

 mon, chestnut being the prevailing colour, from which some 

 authors suppose that this must have been the original colour 

 of the horse ; but we do not find it to be the prevailing 

 colour of the Asiatic wild breeds, bay and dun being the 

 most common amongst these. 



When the Spaniards first entered Mexico, their horses 

 were objects of the greatest astonishment to all the people 

 of JS^ew Spain. At first they imagined the horse and his 

 rider, like the centaur of the ancients, to be some mon- 

 strous animal of a terrible form ; and supposing that their 

 food was the same as that of man, brought flesh and bread 

 to nourish them. 



In South America mares are never ridden. An English- 

 man, who once attempted to ride a mare, was so hooted and 

 pelted by the natives, that he had a narrow escape, and 

 thought himself fortunate to get off without serious injury. 



Wild horses are captured in South America by the native 

 inhabitants of the plains, who are called Gauchos. They 

 are taken by these men with much dexterity, with a halter 

 called a lasso ; which is thus described by Miers, in his 

 Travels in Chili : — " The lasso is a missile weapon used by 



