THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 9T 



descending only to the hocks, is furnished with coarse 

 and rather curly or wavy hairs, close up to the crup- 

 per ; the croup is as high as the withers. The voice 

 of the tarpan is loud, and shriller than that of a 

 domestic horse; and their action, standing, and general 

 appearance resembles somewhat those of vicious mules. 

 Such is the general evidence obtained from the orderly 

 before mentioned ; a man who was a perfect model 

 of an independent trooper of the desert, and who had 

 spent ten or twelve years on the frontier of China." 



Leo Africanus states that there are wild horses in 

 Northern Africa, and that they are sometimes taken 

 by means of snares, and their flesh is eaten by the 

 Arabs. This is probably the animal first described by 

 Colonel H. Smith, under the name of Koomrah. It 

 differs remarkably from all other known breeds in not 

 being gregarious. It inhabits the mountain forests, 

 whence it comes down singly or in small groups, to 

 the wells, where only it is liable to be captured, by 

 men or by beasts of prey ; but its wanness, its keen 

 sense of smell, its fleetness, and the courage and 

 fierceness with which it defends itself when brought to 

 bay, render it very difficult to be taken. Colonel H. 

 Smith says, " of the real koomrah we have seen a 

 living specimen in England, and the skin of another. 

 The first came from Barbary; the second died on 



