212 THE WILD PONIES OF SABLE ISLAND 



was landed from some Spanish wreck early in the sixteenth century, 

 although there are some who suppose the herds to be descendants of 

 animals imported from France in the two quixotic attempts to 

 colonize the island : first when Baron de Lery in 1518 stocked the 

 island, and again in 1597, when the Marquis de la Roche landed 

 his ill-fated band of convicts out of the French prisons on what was 

 called, on the lucus a non lucendo principle, the ' French Gardens ' 

 of America. It would be interesting to compare the Sable Island 

 pony with the ' Galloway ', known to have come from one of the 

 ships of the Armada, sent by the ambitious Philip in the fond 

 hope of carrying his admiral in triumph over British soil. The 

 Galloway is perhaps a far handsomer pony, with cleaner limbs and 

 more symmetrical head. 



How many lives have been saved by the herds it is impossible 

 to tell. The frequent entries in the journals of the superintendents 

 such as ' we got another fat horse for to eat ', shows that the staff 

 preferred a steak from a tender young mare to their regulation 

 diet of salt beef and pork. 



In 1828 there were said to be 300 horses on the island : in 1864, 

 400 divided into six ' gangs ' or herds : about twenty-five years 

 ago there were from 500 to 600 roaming about. Two succes- 

 sive winters (1881 and 1882) of phenomenal storms ruined 

 so much of the wild hay that large numbers perished. At the 

 present time there are less than 200 divided into five troops, 

 each named after the locality to which it has become attached, 1 

 known respectively as the Greenhead, Smoky Hut, York, Eliza, 

 and Milo ' gangs '. Not more than two-thirds of these are from 

 the original stock, the remaining one-third being the offspring 

 of mares crossed with introduced stallions. The career of one 

 of these poor ' Jack of Trumps ', well known on the Halifax racing 

 grounds, was brief. Jack was turned loose on a fine bright morning 

 of early spring, after much careful feeding and grooming. Gaily 

 he pranced forth in his pride to where, at the distance of a mile, 

 a troop was espied grazing. The leader, distinguished by the 

 prodigious length of his mane, at once left his family, and advancing 

 towards the intruder, assumed a defiant attitude and quickly 

 showed that he was prepared to fight if any interference with his 

 mares was attempted. He was repeatedly seen to drive in the 

 outlying mares and young colts strayed outside the ranks into 

 the general herd, for this purpose frequently passing backward 



1 When in the annual ' round up ' the herds become mixed, it will be 

 found that during the succeeding night each troop will have returned to 

 its favourite feeding ground, having travelled perhaps ten or twelve miles 

 for the purpose. 



