VOYAGE TO SPITZBERGEN. 23 



trary extreme diminishes the vital principle, and 

 stunts the growth of the animal. The animals 

 common to Britain are, in the Shetland Isles, of a 

 greatly reduced size. Their horses, familiar to us 

 by the name of shelties, are very numerous, and 

 seldom more than nine or ten hands high. They 

 are covered with long hair, and are remarkably 

 strong, spirited, and not unhandsome. They are 

 chiefly used for carrying home peats, and never re- 

 ceive any food but what they gather from the scanty 

 herbage of the ground. Neither are they ever 

 put into a house, so that many of them die in the 

 winter. 



The steadiness with which these ponies travel 

 through the most rugged paths is surprising. In 

 both 1806 and 1S07, I made several expeditions 

 into the country mounted on them. An islander 

 preceded me to point out the way. At first I 

 thought my brains must have been dashed out, but 

 I soon recovered from this panic. In the most 

 wretched and precipitous paths, the animal never 

 made a single false step, and also travelled with 

 considerable agility. 



The Shetland cows are also very small, and, ow- 

 ing to the scarcity of fodder, give but little milk. 

 They are kept close in the house, summer and 

 winter ; and are littered with heath, and sometimes 

 with peat mould. 



