WHAT MR. DARWIN SAW. 



THE HORSE. 



URUGUAY. 



T ONCE crossed the River Santa Lucia near its mouth, 

 -*- and was surprised to observe how easily our horses, al- 

 though not used to swim, passed over a width of at least 

 six hundred yards. On mentioning this at Montevideo, I 

 was told that a vessel containing some mountebanks and 

 their horses being wrecked in the Plata, one horse swam seven 

 miles to the shore. In the course of the day I was amused 

 by the skill with which a Gaucho forced a restive horse to 

 swim a river. He stripped off all his clothes, and, jumping on 

 its back, rode into the water till it was out of its depth ; then, 

 slipping off over the crupper, he caught hold of the tail, and 

 as often as the horse turned round the man frightened it 

 back by splashing water in its face. As soon as the horse 

 touched the bottom on the other side, the man pulled him- 

 self on, and was firmly seated, bridle in hand, before the 

 horse gained the bank. A naked man on a naked horse is 

 a fine spectacle; I had no idea how well the two animals 

 suited each other. The tail of a horse is a very useful ap- 



