270 JVeuJ Publications. [April, 



vent them from roaming, and that part of the island is not more 

 tempting than the rest. The Gauchos whom I asked, were un- 

 able to account for it, except from the strong attachment which 

 horses have to any locality to which they are accustomed. Con- 

 sidering that the island does not appear fully stocked, and that 

 there are no beasts of prey, I was particularly curious to know 

 what has checked their originally rapid increase. That in a 

 limited island some check would sooner or later supervene, is in- 

 evitable; but why has the increase of the horse been checked 

 sooner than that of the cattle? Capt. Sulivan has taken much 

 pains for me in this inquiry. The Gauchos employed here attri- 

 bute it chiefly to the stallions constantly roaming from place to 

 place, and compelling the mares to accompany them, whether or 

 not the young foals are able to follow. One Gaucho told Capt. 

 Sulivan that he had watched a stallion for a whole hour, violently 

 kicking and biting a mare till he forced her to leave her foal to 

 its fate. Capt. Sulivan can so far corroborate this curious ac- 

 count, that he has several times found young foals dead, whereas 

 he has never found a dead calf. Moreover, the dead bodies of 

 full-grown horses are more frequently found, as if more subject to 

 disease or accidents than those of the cattle. From the softness 

 of the ground their hoofs often grow irregularly to a great length, 

 and this causes lameness. The predominant colors are roan and 

 iron-grey. All the horses bred here, both tame and wild, are 

 rather small-sized, though generally in good condition ; and they 

 have lost so much strength that they are unfit to be used in taking 

 wild cattle with the lasso: in consequence, it is necessary to go to 

 the great expense of importing fresh horses from the Plata. At 

 some future period the southern hemisphere probably will have 

 its breed of Falkland ponies, as the northern has its Shetland 

 breed. 



The cattle, instead of having degenerated like the horses, seem, 

 as before remarked, to have increased in size; and they are much 

 more numerous than the horses. Capt. Sulivan informs me that 

 they vary much less in the general form of their bodies and in 

 the shape of their horns than English cattle. In color they dif- 

 fer much; and it is a remarkable circumstance, that in different 

 parts of this one small island different colors predominate. Round 

 Mount Osborne, at a height of from 1000 to 1500 feet above the 

 sea, about half of some of the herds are mouse or lead-colored, a 

 tint which is not common in other parts of the island. Near Port 

 Pleasant dark brown prevails, whereas south of Choiseul Sound 

 (which almost divides the island into two parts) white beasts with 

 black heads and feet are the most common: in all parts black and 

 some spotted animals may be observed. Capt. Sulivan remarks, 

 that the difference in prevailing colors was so obvious, that, in 



