ON MILITAEY HORSE-POWER. 201 



Now throughout that region of South America which 

 extends in 35 south latitude from Buenos Ay res on the 

 Atlantic, to Santiago and to Valparaiso on the Pacific 

 Ocean, harness is composed of nothing but a surcingle 

 and a single trace, by which the horse draws as a man 

 would drag a garden-roller, by one hand instead of by two. 



By this simple mode all the merchandise, and all the 

 travellers that have ever traversed on wheels those im- 

 mense plains that separate the two great oceans of the 

 world, have been transported. 



For military purposes its efficiency has been thus sub- 

 stantiated by General Miller in his history of ' The War 

 for Independence : ' 



"Our corps consisted often six -pounders and one how- 

 itzer. Each gun was drawn by four horses, and each 

 horse ridden by a gunner, there being no corps of drivers 

 in the service. A non-commissioned officer and seven 

 drivers were, besides the four already mentioned, attached 

 to each piece of artillery. Buckles, collars, cruppers, and 

 breast-plates were not in use; the horses simply drew 

 from the saddle, and with this equipment our guns have 

 travelled nearly 100 miles in a day." 



But besides its efficiency for all the requirements of 

 either peace or war, the singular advantage of this simple 

 harness is that any description of horse, tame or wild, 

 uses it without noticing it ; for if the single trace which 



