IV] THE ORIGIN OF THE LIBYAN HORSE 431 



Australian ethnologist 1 : " Wild horses have been running in 

 the mountainous country of East Gippsland, in which are the 

 sources of the Buchan River, and through which the Snowy 

 River and its tributary the Deddik River flow. To this I must 

 add the dividing range from Omeo to Mount Kosciusko. These 

 wild horses probably date back in places to a time antecedent 

 to the discovery of Gippsland in 1842. On the Manero table- 

 land which lies on the New South Wales side of the border, and 

 extends up to Kosciusko and Kiandra, and Sunit, as also from 

 the country to the heel of the dividing range, I have no doubt 

 that horses escaped and became wild. Of course these have 

 been of all kinds. On the high mountain plateau which lies 

 between the upper Tambo River and the sources of the Buchan 

 River I have seen horses which can be best described as dwarfed 

 cart-horses, and probably were the descendants of light draught 

 stock used by prospectors and miners in the early times of gold 

 discovery after 1850. The country they lived in is very high 

 and cold, being covered in winter with snow, and altogether ill 

 adapted to feral horses. In the warmer but very hilly country 

 which lies to the east of the Snowy River in Victoria, for 

 instance at Gatemurra, Deddik, and Tubbut, the horses were 

 of a much better stamp, in many cases showing good breeding, 

 partly due to the excellent stamp of the New South Wales 

 horses of about 50 years ago, but also to the fact that a Persian 

 horse, imported by Benjamin Boyd, of Twoford Bay, escaped 

 and lived for many years after in the Deddik, Gatemurra, and 

 Tubbut country. The grey horses which occurred there may 

 be attributed to his influence. 



" The horses of this district were in many cases very good, 

 being especially sure-footed, but frequently were broken down 

 by galloping when driven over the mountainous and exceed- 

 ingly rough country which they inhabited. I have often seen 

 one of these ' mobs,' as they are called, coming down the 

 mountain side when disturbed at a gallop. I remember one 

 instance on the western side of the Snowy River, where a 

 number were killed by running against trees, or by being 

 crushed against them by others of the horses in their flight. 



1 Dr Howitt's letter is dated September 14 (1904). 



