418 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



fNo.7 



gant jollity, on the narrow thread of beach that 

 the ocean seemed, every moment, threatening to 

 usurp. You can scarcely imagine, sir, the extrav- 

 agant enthusiasm with which this exciting sport 

 was anticipated and enjoyed. It was a frantic 

 carnival, without its debauchery. The young oi 

 both sexes, had their imaginations inflamed by the 

 poetical narratives of their mothers and maiden 

 aunts, who in their more juvenile days were won! 

 td grace those sylvan fetes, of the mad Hi 

 wild horses careering away along a narrow, i 

 level sand-beach at the top of their speed, with 

 manes and tails waving in the wind before a com- 

 pany of mounted men, upon t! 

 shouting and hallowing in the w rtes of tri- 



umph, and forcing the affrighted animals into the 

 angular pen of pine logs, prepared to enclose them: 

 and then the deafening peals of loud hurra 

 the thousand hall- frenzied spectators, crowding 

 into a solid mass around the enclosure, to behold 

 the beautiful wild horse, in all his native vigor 

 subdued by man, panting in the toils, and furious 

 with heat, rage and fright; or hear the clamorous tri- 

 umphs of the adventurous riders, each of whom had 

 performed more than one miracle ofequeslrian skill 

 on that day of glorious daring — and the less dis- 

 cordant neighing of colts that had lost their mo- 

 thers, and mothers that had lost their colts in the 

 melee of the sweeping drive, with the maddened 

 snorts and whinnying of the whole gang — all, all 

 together, formed a scene of unrivalled noise, uproar 

 and excitement, which few can imagine who had 

 not witnessedit, and none can adequately describe. 



But the play of spirits ended nol here. The 

 booths were soon d loads of sul 



provision were opened and fish and water f! ■ . 

 cured for the occasion ed and barbacued 



by hundreds, for a tted to marvellous 



keenness by early rising, a scan tj I Ida [^exer- 

 cise and sea air. The r inlets of wafer and the 

 jugs of more exhilerating liquor, were lightened of 

 their burden. Then softer joys succeeded: and 

 music and the dance, and love and courtship, held 

 their undisputed empire until deep, in the 

 when all sought shelter and repose on board of 

 their boats, moored by the shore, or among their 

 island friends, who gladly entertained them with 

 characteristic hospitality. Many a winter even- 

 ing's tale did the incidents of those merry-making 

 occasions supply, and many a peaceful young bo- 

 som of retired rural beauty was assailed with other 

 emotions than the rough sports of an Assateague 

 horse-penning inspired; and from one anniversary 

 of this half-savage festivity to another, all was 

 talk of the joys and transports of the past, and an- 

 ticipations of the future. 



In regard to the origin of the race of our insular 

 horses, there is no specific difference between them 

 and those of the main land: the smaller size and 

 superior hardihood of the former are entirely ac- 

 cidental, produced by penury of sustenance 

 through the winter, occasional scarcity of water, 

 continual exposure to the inclemency of the sea- 

 sons, and the careless practice of permitting pro- 

 miscuous copulation among them, without regard 

 to quality. With respect to the supposed resem- 

 blance, on which you remarked in your letter, these 

 horses are, in general, neither so sure-footed or 

 hardy, or small, or active', as the famous Shetland 

 pony; nor are their hoofs so well formed, although 

 there are to be found among them numerous ex- 



ceptions to this remark. All this may be readily 

 accounted for from the operation of physical agents, 

 the difference of climate, better water, long win- 

 ters, and the localities of the soil on which they 

 subsist. The interior of Shetland is mountainous 

 and boggy, and abounding with wholesome water; 

 and the more nutritive grass of the rugged moun- 

 tains, inviting the little animals to iced principally 

 upon those rough grounds, during their short sum- 

 mers, and occasionally in the latter part of spring 

 and beginning of autumn, impart greater 

 arid activity to their systems, and give them, 

 doubtless, better fret. Assateague and Chinco- 

 e islands are flat, sandy and soil, producing 

 abundance of excellent grass, upon which they 

 become very fat dining the summer anil autumn, 

 notwithstanding the annoyance of Mies, with which 

 those i; : [uently abound. But horses and 



cattle surfer for good water in dry summers and 

 hard winters. Having no springs of running wa- 

 ter, the animals which the islands support, depend 

 for their drink upon ponds and glades, or small 

 excavations made for the purpose, which are filled 

 by the rains. These soon become putrid in our 

 burning sun, are often dry in the summer, and 

 over in the winter, so as seriously to injure 

 the suffering creatures, that have no other resource 

 for this indispensable article. AH this might be easi- 

 ly remedied by a little care and trouble; but insular 

 ire at. enmity with systematic labor, or 

 provident industry. Fishing, ami shooting, and 

 frhich yield immediate profit or subsist- 

 er with their indolent, temporary 

 whilst the slower and more re- 

 of agriculture, or rear- 

 k, are considered as servile drudgery. 



The horses of Assateague island belonged 

 ally to a company, most of whom resided 

 upon the peninsula. No other care of them was 

 required, than to brand and castrate the colts, and 

 dispose of the marketable horses, all of which 

 was effected at the period of their annual pennings, 

 (June,) the whole, nearly, being joint stock. Their 

 winter subsistence was supplied abundantly by na- 

 ture. The tall, dense, and heavy grass of the 

 rich flat lands, affording them green food nearly 

 the whole winter, the fops of which alone were 

 killed by the frosts, mild, as usual, so near the ocean. 

 They never suffered for provender, except in very 

 deep snows, with a crust upon the top, or when 

 high tides were immediately succeeded by intense 

 cold, which covered the marsh pastures with ice, 

 both of which accidents were of rare occurrence, 

 and very transient in their duration. Once or 

 twice since my residence here (24 years,) the 

 loose and spongy ice, formed from salt water, either 

 lay so long as to injure the grass, or it was so en- 

 tangled with the ice, that upon being suddenly car- 

 ried off by a second north-easter before it had 

 melted, it swept away, in its broken fragments, 

 much of the food upon which the animals de- 

 pended for their support. But J never heard that 

 the scarcity thus produced, had any other effect 

 than to reduce their flesh: no deaths occurred from 

 that cause. 



The wild gang of Assateague horses were se- 

 cured by driving them into pens, made for the pur- 

 pose, of pine logs. The horses seized in the pens, 

 (by islanders accustomed to such adventures, who 

 pushed fearlessly into the midst of the crowded 

 herd,) were brought to the main land in scows, 



