THE WILD IIOKSE OF SOUTH AMERICA. 41 



docile qualities are no longer recognised. They rush violently into eveiy 

 pond and lake, savagely manghng and trampling upon one another ; and 

 the carcases of many thousands of them, destroyed by their fellows, have 

 occasionally been seen in and around a considerable pool. That is one 

 of the means by which the too rapid increase of this quadruped is, by the 

 ordinance of nature, there prevented. Humboldt says that during the 

 periodical swellings of the large rivers, immense numbers of wild horses 

 are drowned, particularly when the river Apure is swollen, and these 

 animals are attempting to reach the rising grounds of the Llanos. The 

 mares may be seen, during the season of high water, swimming about 

 followed by their colts, and feeding on the tall grass, of which the tops 

 alone wave above the waters. In this state they are pursued by croco- 

 diles, and their thighs frequently bear the' prints of the teeth of these 

 carnivorous reptiles. They lead for a time an amphibious life, surrounded 

 by crocodiles, water-serpents, and marsetees. When the rivers return 

 again into their beds, they roam in the savannah, which is then spread 

 over ^^^th a fine odoriferous grass, and seem to enjoy the renewed vegeta- 

 tion of spring. 



Numerous herds of wild horses abound in the west of Louisiana, and of 

 all colours. They are like those on the Pampas, the remains of the 

 Spanish horses, and are hunted, caught, and sometimes destroyed for food 

 by the savage inhabitants of the back settlements. 



Mr. Low, in his beautiful delineations of the British quadrupeds, givea 

 the follo^v^ng account of the horses of North America : — 



' North America seems as well adapted to the temperament of the horse 

 as any similar countries in the old continent. The Mexican horses are 

 derived from, but somewhat deteriorated by, a less careful management. 

 Mexican horses have like\Aase escaped into the woods and savannahs, and 

 although they have not multiplied, as in the plains of the Plata, thence 

 they have descended northward to the Rocky Mountains, and the sources 

 of the Columbia. The Indians of the cotmtry have learned to pursue and 

 capture them, employing them in hunting and transporting their families 

 from place to place — the first great change that has taken place for ages 

 in the condition of the Red Man of the North American woods. The 

 highest ambition of the young Indian of these northern tribes, is to 

 possess a good horse for the chase of the buffalo. The Osages form large 

 hunting-parties for the chase of horses in the country of the Red Canadian 

 River, using relays of fresh horses, until they have run down the wild 

 herds. To steal the horse of an adverse tribe is considered as an exploit 

 almost as heroic as the killing of an enemy, and the distances that they 

 will travel and the privations they will undergo in these predatory excur- 

 sions are scarcely to be believed.' 



The Anglo-Americans, the Canadians, and the colonists of the West 

 India Islands, have all acquired the domesticated horse. The Canadian 

 is found principally in Canada and the Northern States. He is supposed 

 to be of French descent, and many of the celebrated ti'otters are of this 

 breed. Mention will be made of some of these when the paces of the 

 horse are described. 



These horses are much used for winter travelling in Canada and in the 

 Northern States. One of them has dra^vn a light cabriolet over the ice 

 ninety miles in twelve hours. Their shoes are roughened by the insertion 

 of two or three steel screws, instead of the common European method. 

 The curry-comb is never used upon them in the winter, for a thick fur 

 has grown over them to protect them from the inclemency of the season. 

 They are animals never refusing the collar, yet they are accustomed to 

 bad usage. Those of the United States are of every variet}^, but crossed 



