WILD HOUSE.] 



MODERN VETERINARY PRACTICE. 



[wild iionsK. 



projected with immense force to the distance of 

 five hundred feet. Tlie launching of tliis weapon 

 amidst a tribe of wild horses, is thus described 

 by Robertson, in his History of Faraguay : — 

 " The herd consisted of about two thousand 

 horses, neighing and snorting, with ears erect 

 and flowing tails, their manes outspread to the 

 wind — aflTriglited the moment they were con- 

 scious of pursuit. The Gauchos set up their 

 usual cry ; the dogs were left in the distance ; 

 and it was not till we had followed the flock 

 at full speed, and without a check, for five 

 miles, that the two headmost peons launched 

 their bolas at the horse which each had 

 respectively singled out of the herd. Down 

 to the ground, with frij^htful somersaults, came 

 two gallant colts. The herd continued its 

 headlong flight, leav7jg behind their two pros- 

 trate companions. Upon these the whole 

 band of Gauchos now ran in ; lassos were 

 applied to tie their legs ; one man held down 

 the head of each horse, and another the hind 

 quarters ; while with singular dexterity, two 

 other Gauchos put the saddles and bridles on 

 their fallen, trembling, and nearly frantic 

 victims. This done, the two men who had 

 brought down the colts, bestrode them as they 

 still lay on the ground. In a moment the 

 lassos which bound their legs were loosened, 

 and, at the same time, a shout from the field 

 so frightened the colts, that up they started 

 on all fours, but, to their astonishment, each 

 with a rider on his back, riveted, as it were, 

 to the saddle, and controlling them by means 

 of a never-before-dreamed-of bit in his mouth. 

 The animals made a simultaneous and most 

 surprising vault; they reared, plunged, and 

 kicked ; now they started off" at full gallop, 

 and anon stopped short in their career, with 

 their heads between their legs, endeavouring 

 to throw their riders. Immovable sat the two 

 Indians ; they smiled at the unavailing efforts 

 of the turbulent and outrageous animals to 

 unseat tliem ; and, in less than an hour from 

 the time of their mounting, it was very evident 

 who were to be the masters. The horses did 

 their very most ; the Indians never lost either 

 the security or the grace of their seats ; till, 

 after two hours of the most violent efil>rts to 

 rid themselves of their burden, the horses 

 were so exhausted, that, drenched in sweat, 

 with gored and palpitating sides, and banging 



down their heads, they stood for five minutes 

 together, panting and confounded; but they 

 made not a single eff'ort to move. Then came 

 the Gaucho's turn to exercise his more posi- 

 tive authority. Hitherto he had been entirely 

 upon the defensive. His object was simply to 

 keep his seat, and tire out his horse. He now 

 wanted to move it in a given direction : way. 

 ward, zigzag, often interrupted was his course 

 at first ; still the Gauchos made for a given 

 l)oiiit, and they advanced towards it ; till, at 

 the end of about tliree hours, the now mastered 

 animals moved in nearly a direct line." 



In 1537, horses were first landed at Buenos 

 Ayres, in South America ; and betweeu forty 

 and fifty years afterwards, they were found 

 wild at the Straits of Magellan. From that 

 time to this, they have continued to multiply 

 and extend the range of their existence. 

 North, south; east, and west, the horse 

 abounds in the American hemisphere. At 

 Terra-del-Fuega, almost every man, woman, 

 and child, have their horses ; even the Indians 

 have them : and, it is not a little remarkable, 

 that the countless troops that now skirr the 

 Llanos of the South, and the prairies of tlie 

 North, should all have sprung from the 

 Iberian stock first taken into Mexico by 

 Cortes, and into Peru by Pizarro. 



We have already alluded to the fact of the 

 horse having been, at some remote period, a deni- 

 zen of the American continent. Professor Owen 

 thinks that they existed there even before the 

 creation of man. In his work on Britinh Fus.sil 

 Mammals, he says — "The species of equiis 

 which existed during the Miocine periods of 

 geology, iu both North and South America, 

 appears to have been blotted out of the Fauna 

 of those continents before the existence of 

 man. The aborigines, whom the S[)anish con- 

 quistadores found in possession of Peru and 

 Mexico, had no tradition or hieroglyphic indi- 

 cative of such a quadrni)ed ; atid the horses, 

 the invaders imported from Europe, were 

 viewed with astonisliment and alarm. The 

 researches of Mr. Darwin and Mr. Lund, have 

 indisputably proved that the genus equus was 

 represented during the Pliocine period, by a 

 species (equus curvkleus) which is shown to be 

 distinct from the European fossils, and also 

 from the existing species. Fossil remains of 

 the horse have been found also in North 



47 



