138 NATURAL HISTORY. 



of these wild horses feeding in the pastures, which 

 were so fierce that nobody durst approach them. The 

 Author of the History of the Adventures of the Buc- 

 csneers, says, that in the island of St Domingo, hors- 

 es may sometimes he seen in troops of upwards of 

 five hundred running together, and that as soon as 

 they see a man, they will stop.. He adds, that one 

 of them will approach to a certain distance, snort, 

 take flight, and then all the rest will follow him. 

 To catch them, they make use of nooses made of ropes, 

 which they spread and hang in places which they 

 know they frequent. If they are caught by the neck 

 they strangle themselves, unless (.he huntsman hastes 

 their assistance, who instantly secures them by the 

 to body and the legs, and fastens them to trees, 

 where they are left ior two days without either food 

 or drink. This experiment is sufficient to begin to 

 make them tractable and in time they become a 

 much so as if they had never been wild ; and even, 

 if by chance they ever regain their liberty, they kno'.Y 

 their masters, and suffer them to catch them again 

 without trouble. 



The manners of these animals almost wholly de- 

 pend on their education. From time immemorial it 

 has been the custom to separate the colts from their 

 mothers after they have suckled them five, six, or 

 seven months ; for experience has taught, that those 

 colts which are suckled ten or eleven months, are not 

 of equal value with those which are weaned sooner, 

 though they are generally fuller of flesh. After six 

 or seven months sucking, they are weaned, that they 

 may take more solid nourishment than milk. Bran 

 is then given them twice a-day, and a little hay, of 

 which the quantity is increased in proportion a* they 



