106 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



[HORSKS. 



her stately step receivyd additional difmity from 

 that aristocratic set on, and carriage of the tail, 

 which is the infallible indication of good family. 

 Having inquired her price, I offered the sum, 

 whereon the dragoon asked one-third more. Alter 

 much abating and debating, I accciled, and he im- 

 mediately stepped back in the same proportion as 

 before. This is invariably the practice with the 

 Arabs. I therefore discontinued my attempts to 

 deal. The Arab said he loved his mare better 

 than his own life ; that money was of no use to 

 him, and that when mounted upon her he felt rich 

 as a pasha. Shoes and stockings he had none, and 

 the net value of his dress and accoutrements might 

 be calculated at something under seventeen-pence 

 sterling."' 



The fondness for their horses which the Arabs 

 manifest partakes of the extravagance of Oriental 

 feelings : they rear them up in their tents, among 

 their children and family : they caress them, and ap- 

 ply to them the most endearing epithets : witness the 

 lamentations of an Arab, Ibrahim Abou Vouaases, 

 over a favourite mare of noble race, which he had 

 parted with; but which he frequently went to 

 Kama to see : " He would embrace lier,"' savs D'Ar- 

 vieux, "and wipe her eyes with his handkerchief, 

 and rub her with his shirt-sleeves, and would give 

 her a thousand blessings during whole hours that 

 he would be talking to her. ' My eyes, my heart, 

 my soul,' would he exclaim ; ' must I be so unfortu- 

 nate as to have thee sold to many masters, and not 

 be able to keep thee myself?! am poor, my gazelle. 

 You know well enough, niv sweet,' that I have 

 brought thee up like a child ; I never beat thee, 

 never chid thee, but did cherish thee as the apple 

 of mine eye : God preserve thee, my dearest ; thou 

 art beautiful, thou art sweet, thou art lovely : God 

 defend thee from the evil eye :' and so he would 

 go on saying a thousand things like these ; he then 

 embraced her, kissed her eyes, and went backwards 

 bidding her the most tender adieus." 



The Arabs prefer mares for riding, the Turks 

 prefer horses, and this difference of taste acts very 

 well. The price of an Arab horse in 1810-1816 

 was, according to Burckhardt, from 10/. to 120/. , 

 but the price of a mare varies from 60/. to 200/, 

 Some have sold for 500/., and Burckhardt mentions 

 a sheikh who purchased a celebrated mare for 4001., 

 with an agreement to give to the seller the first 

 female colt she produced, or to keep the colt and 

 return the mare. 



The Arab horses seldom exceed fourteen hands 

 in height, but have all certain characteristic beau- 

 ties which distinguish their breed from any other. 

 Five noble breeds are counted, each, as is said, 

 deduced from one of the five favourite mares of 

 Mohammed. But these five races diverge into 

 infinite ramifications ; and any mare of superlative 

 excellence may give origin to a new breed, the 

 descendants of which are called after her. "On 

 the birth of a colt of noble breed, it is usual to 

 assemble witnesses to write an account of its dis- 

 tinctive marks, with the name of its sire and dam. 

 These genealogical tables never ascend to the 

 grand-dam, because it is presumed that every Arab 

 of his tribe knows by tradition the purity of the 

 whole breed. Nor is it always necessary to have 

 surh certificates ; for many horses and mares are 

 of such illustrious descent that thousands might 

 attest the purity of their blood. The pedigree is 

 often put into a small piece of leather, covered with 

 a waxed cloth, and hung by a leather thong round 

 the horee's neck." (Palestine.) 



Figs. 456, 457, 458, 459, are spirited illustrations 

 of the Turk and Arab horse, and embody our ideas 

 of its docility, and the fire and energy of its tem- 

 perament. Fig. 456 represents the mode of playing 

 the ball with a goff-stick on horseback, as pmctised 

 in Turkey and Syria, and proves how admirably the 

 spirited animals are trained, obeying the least touch 

 of the bridle, wheeling, galloping at full speed, and 

 stopping suddenly at the will of the rider. In Syria 

 and elsewhere in western Asia the horse is fed upon 

 chopped straw and barley, and of this provender a 

 certain quantity is given morning and evening, none 

 being supplied in the interim. In the spring season 

 the horses are fed from 40 to 50 days on green bar- 

 ley cut as soon as the corn begins to ear. This is 

 termed tying down to grass, during which time the 

 animals remain constantly exposed in the open air, 

 and for the first eight or ten days are neither cur- 

 ried, mounted, nor led about. After this they are 

 dressed as usual and rode out gently, but are never 

 much worked during the grass season. Some feed 

 the horses with cut barley in the stable-yards, but 

 the general practice is to confine them to a certain 

 circuit by means of a long tether in the barley-field. 

 This grazing is considered of great service to the 

 health of the horses, and gives a beautiful gloss to 

 their skin. 



Some Arab tribes, however, do not thus give their 

 horses green barley, but allow them to feed on the 

 kerbs of the desert, and give them a paste made of 



dates and water, and camel's milk to drink. " Even 

 flesh, raw as well as boiled, is given to the horses in 

 some quarters, together with the fragments of their 

 owner's meals." An inhabitant of Hamah assured 

 Burckhardt that he had often given his horses roasted 

 meat before the commencement of a fatiguing jour- 

 ney, that they might be better able to endure it ; and 

 the same person, fearing lest the governor should 

 take from him his favourite horse, fed him for a fort- 

 night exclusively upon roasted pork, which so excited 

 its spirit and mettle, that it became unmanageable, 

 and no longer an object of desire to the governor. 

 That the horse should under any circumstances be 

 brought to eat animal food is very startling, but 

 Burckhardt's authority induces us to believe it. It 

 serves to show how domestication may modify ani- 

 mal instincts, nor is it perhaps more strange than 

 that the carnivorous dog and cat should be brought 

 to eat bread and boiled greens, to which latter we 

 have known cats apparently partial, feeding upon 

 them when even meat was at hand. Horses will 

 drink ale with great relish ; and the taste in this 

 instance is certainly an acquired one. 



With respect to the wild horses in the countries 

 bordering the Volga and the Oural, little is accu- 

 rately established. They are said to associate in 

 troops headed by a leader, but from all accounts to 

 be depended upon they are by no means remarkable 

 for beaury, though they appear to be fleet and 

 hardy. In the Museum at Paris is the specimen 

 of a wild horse from the country of the Bashkirs : it 

 has a heavy, clumsy head, and short limbs ; and the 

 hair, of a dirty greyish white, is long and shaggy, 

 and hangs in a beard-like manner under the lower 

 jaw. Pallas describes a young mare caught in the 

 country between the Jaik and the Volga, which be- 

 came very docile : its limbs were strong, the head 

 large, the ears long and lying back upon the occi- 

 put; the hoofs small and somewhat pointed, the 

 colour light bay, with a black mane and tail. In 

 South America the rich plains extending from La 

 Plata to Paraguay are tenanted by herds of horses, 

 in a wild condition, the descendants of those origi- 

 nally introduced by the Spaniards. These horses 

 are caught and broke in, and the singular mode in 

 which their subjugation is effected is thus described 

 by Captain Head:— "A man, mounted on a strong 

 steady horse, threw his lasso over the neck of a 

 young horse, and dragged him to the gate. For 

 some time he was very unwilling to leave his com- 

 rades, but the moment he was forced from them, his 

 first idea was to gallop away ; however, the jerk of 

 the lasso checked him in the most eft'ectual man- 

 ner. The Peons now ran after him on foot and 

 threw the lasso over his four legs just above the fet- 

 locks, and, twitching it, they pulled his legs from 

 under him so suddenly that 1 really thought the 

 fall he got had killed him. In an instant a Gaucho 

 was seated on his head, and with his long knife in 

 a few seconds cut off the whole of the horse's mane, 

 while another cut the hair from the end of the tail. 

 This they told me is a mark that the animal has 

 been once mounted. They then put a piece of hide 

 into his mouth to serve as a bit, and a strong hide- 

 halter on his head. The Gaucho who was to mount 

 arranged his spurs, which were unusually long and 

 sharp ; and while two men held the animal by his 

 ears he put on the saddle, which he girthed ex- 

 tremely tight ; he then caught hold of the horse's 

 ears, and in an instant vaulted into the saddle ; upon 

 which the man who was holding the horse by the 

 halter threw the end of it to the rider, and from 

 that moment no one seemed to take any further no- 

 tice of him. The horse instantly began to jump in 

 a manner which made it very difiicult for the rider 

 to keep his seat, and quite different from the kick 

 or plunge of an English horse ; however the Gau- 

 cho's spurs soon set him going, and off he galloped, 

 doing everything in his power to throw his rider. 

 Another horse was immediately seized ; and so 

 quick was the operation that twelve Gauchos were 

 mounted in a space which I think hardly exceeded 

 an hqur." 



The neigh of the horse, contradistinguished from 

 the bray of the ass— its general form and propor- 

 tions — and our mode of defending its hoofs, a mode 

 unpractised in antiquity, are known to all. 



Fig. 461 represents the English Cart-horse ; Fig. 

 462, the old Roadster ; Fig. 463, the Anglo-Arab ; 

 Fig. 464, the Racer, mare and foal ; Fig. 466, the 

 Welsh Pony ; Fig. 467, the old English War-horse ; 

 Fig. 468, the English Hunter. Fig. 469 is the Head 

 of a Horse in Greek statuary. 



The following original anecdotes, proving the saga- 

 city of the horse, were sent to the ' Penny Magazine ' 

 from a correspondent. They refer to horses bred 

 and reared in North America : — 



■' A short distance below Fort Erie, and about a 

 mile from where the river Niagara escapes over a 

 barrier of rock from the depths of Lake Erie, a ferry 

 has long been established across that broad and 

 there exceedingly rapid river, the distance from 

 shore to shore being a little over one-third of a mile. 



On the Canada side of the river is the small village 

 of Waterloo, and opposite thereto, on the United 

 States side, is the large village of Blackrock — dis- 

 tant from the young and flourishing city of Buffalo 

 two miles. In completing the Erie Canal, a pier 

 or dam was erected — up and down the river, and 

 opposite to Blackrock, at no great distance from 

 the shore, for the purpose of raising the waters of 

 the Niagara to such a height that they might be 

 made to supply an adjoining section of the Erie 

 canal. This pier was (and is) a great obstruction 

 to the ferry-boats ; for previous to its erection pas- 

 sengers embarked from terra /irma on one side of 

 the river, and were landed without any difficulty on 

 the other : but after this dam was constructed it 

 became necessary to employ two sets of boats — one 

 to navigate the river and the other the basin ; so 

 that all passengers, as well as goods or luggage, had 

 to be landed upon this narrow wall, and re-shipped. 

 Shortly after the erection of the pier-dam, a boat 

 propelled by horses was establi-shed between this 

 pier and the Canada shore. The horses moved 

 upon a circular platfoi-m, which consequently was 

 put in motion, to which other machinery was con- 

 nected, that acted upon paddle-wheels attached to 

 the sides of the boat. "The boat belonged to per- 

 sons connected with the ferry on the American side 

 of the river ; but owing to the barrier formed by 

 the pier, the horses employed on the boat were 

 stabled at night in the village of Waterloo. I well 

 recollect the first day this boat began to ply, — for 

 the introduction of a boat of that description, in 

 those days, and in such a situation, was considered 

 an event of some magnitude. The two horses (for 

 that boat had but two) worked admirably, consi- 

 dering the very few lessons they had had pre- 

 vious to their introduction upon the main river. 

 One of the horses employed on the new ferry- 

 boat had once been a dapple-grey, but at the period 

 I am speaking of he had become white. He was 

 still hale and hearty, for he had a kind and indul- 

 gent master. The first evening after the horses had 

 been a short time in the stable, to which they were 

 strangers, they were brought out for the purpose of 

 being watered at the river, the common custom at 

 this place. The attendant was mounted upon the 

 bay horse — the white one was known to be so gentle 

 and docile that he was allowed to drink where 

 he pleased. I happened to be standing close by, 



in company with my friend W n, the ferry 



contractor on the Canada side, and thus had an 

 opportunity of witnessing the whole proceedings of 

 old Grizzle, the name that the white horse still went 

 by. The moment he got round the corner of the 

 building, so as to have a view of his home on the 

 opposite side, he stopped, and gazed intently. He 

 then advanced to the brink of the river, — when 

 he again stopped and looked earnestly across for a 

 short time ; — then waded into the water until it had 

 reached his chest, — drank a little, liftedhishead ; and, 

 with his lips closed and his eyes fixed upon some 

 object upon the further shore, remained for a short 

 time perfectly motionless. Apparently having made 

 up his mind to the task, he then waded farther 

 into the river until the water reached his riDs,— when 

 off he shot into the deep water without hesitation. 

 The current being so strong and rapid, the river 

 boiling and turmoiling over a rocky bed at the rate 

 of six miles the hour, it was impossible for the cou- 

 rageous and attached animal to keep a direct course 

 across, although he breasted the waves heroically, 

 and swam with remarkable vigour. Had he been 

 able to steer his way directly across, the pier-wall 

 would have proved an insurmountable barrier. As 

 it was, the strength of the current forced him down 

 to below where the lower extremity of this long 

 pier abuts upon an island, the shore of which being 

 low and shelving, he was enabled to effect a land- 

 ing with comparative ease. Having regained terra 

 /irma, he shook the water from his dripping flanks, but 

 he did not halt over a few minutes, when he plunged 

 into the basin, and soon regained his native shore. 

 The distance from where Grizzle took the water to 

 where he effected a landing on the island was about 

 seven hundred yards ; but the efforts made to swim 

 directly across, against the powerful current, must 

 have rendered the undertaking a much more labo- 

 rious one. At the commencement of his voyage his 

 arched neck and withers were above the surface, but 

 before he reached the island his head only was visible. 

 He reached his own stable-door, that home for 

 which he had risked so much, to the no small 

 astonishment of his owner. This unexpected visit 

 evidently made a favourable impression upon his 

 master, for he was heard to vow, that if old Grizzle 

 performed the same feat a second time, lor the 

 future he should remain on his own side of the river, 

 and never be sent to the mill again. Grizzle was 

 sent back to work the boat on the following day, 

 but he embraced the very first opportunity that 

 occurred of escaping, swam back in the way he had 

 done before, and his owner, not being a person to 

 break the promise he had once made, never after- 



