THE HIMALAYA PONY 447 



withal to feed it. These Mongols are essentially foot- 

 men;' the coolies are the sumpter-animals ; they have nei- 

 ther bullock nor horse nor ass for lafoor ; man does all the 

 work ; the horse is a mere luxury/ The population of the 

 plains is so dense that there is food only for man. But in 

 the high lands the little Himalaya pony may be found ; 

 he has wandered along the water shed and spurs of the 

 " backbone of the earth " to Siam and beyond, and has 

 lost none of his sterling qualities. 



He is indeed a wonderful little creature, this Himalaya 

 pony. I do not know how otherwise to name him; but 

 whether he be called the Burmah, or the Pegu, or the 

 Annam pony, he is in race as markedly the same as the 

 Barb of the Libyan is the cousin of the Arabian of the 

 Syrian desert. He varies in size. In Burmah he is often 

 nearly fourteen hands ; in Cochin China he is barely twelve. 

 He is amiable and intelligent, has the same solid qualities 

 which all pony races seem to inherit, and, for his inches, 

 will carry or drag a wonderful weight. A man of over 

 two hundred pounds will ride a little eleven -hands pony 

 all day; a rat of less size will draw a cab with four passen- 

 gers inside and two men on the shafts. There is no S. P. 

 C. A. in the Far East. . 



As it decreases in size all horse-flesh gains immensely in 

 proportionate ability to labor. The same rule applies, in 

 fact, to all creatures. The flea can jump a hundred times 

 his own height or length; imagine an elephant lightly 

 hopping from the Champ de Mars to the top of the Tour 

 Eiffel and back again ! The same ratio does not hold in 

 mammals ; but the pony can certainly do twice the work 

 of the cart-horse in proportion to his avoirdupois, and this 

 is the case with every race of ponies. Some hybrid ani- 

 mals (such as the Spanish jennet) lack this peculiar quali- 

 ty ; but the rule is sound. 



