1834.] WEAKENED HORSES. 195 



The Gauchos whom I asked, though asserting this to be the 

 case, were unable to account for it, except from the strong 

 attachment which horses have to any locaHty to which they 

 are accustomed. Considering 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 inevitable ; but 

 why has the increase of the horse been checked sooner than 

 that of the cattle ? Captain Sulivan has taken much pains 

 for me in this inquiry. The Gauchos employed here attribute 

 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 Captain 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. Captain Sulivan can 

 so far corroborate this curious account, 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 pre- 

 dominant colours are roan and iron-gray. 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 lazo ; 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. Captain 

 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 colour they differ much ; and it is a 

 remarkable circumstance, that in different parts of this one 

 small island, different colours predominate. Round Mount 

 Usborne, at a height of from 1000 to 1500 feet above the sea, 

 about half of some of the herds are mouse or lead-coloured, 



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



