Chap. II. THEIR VARIATION-, 55 



lofty regions of the Cordillera, are, as I hear from Mr. D. 

 Forbes, strange little creatures, very unlike their Spanish 

 progenitors. Further south, in the Falkland Islands, the 

 offspring of the horses imported in 1764 have already so 

 much deteriorated in size -° and strength that they are un- 

 fitted for catching wild cattle with the lasso ; so that fresh 

 horses have to be brought for this purpose from La Plata at 

 a great expense. The reduced size of the horses bred on 

 both southern and northern islands, and on several moun- 

 tain-chains, can hardly have been caused by the cold, as a 

 similar reduction has occurred on the Virginian and Medi- 

 terranean islands. The horse can withstand intense cold, 

 for wild troops live on the plains of Siberia under lat. 56°,"i 

 and aboriginally the horses must have inhabited countries 

 annually covered vsdth snow, for he long retains the instinct 

 of scraping it away to get at the herbage beneath. The 

 wild tarpans in the East have this instinct ; and so it is, as 

 I am informed by Admiral Sulivan, with the horses recently 

 and formerly introduced into the Falkland Islands from 

 La Plata, some of which have run wild ; this latter fact is 

 remarkable, as the progenitors of these horses could not have 

 followed this instinct during many generations in La Plata. 

 On the other hand, the wild cattle of the Falklands never 

 scrape away the snow, and perish when the ground is long 

 covered. In the northern parts of America the horses de- 

 scended from those introduced by the Spanish conquerors of 

 Mexico, have the same habit, as have the native bisons, but 

 not so the cattle introduced from Europe.^^ 



The horse can flourish under intense heat as well as under 

 intense cold, for he is known to come to the highest perfec- 

 tion, though not attaining a large size, in Arabia and 

 northern Africa. Much humidity is apparently more in- 

 jurous to the horse than heat or cold. In the Falkland 

 Islands, horses suffer much from the dampness; and this 



20 Mr. Mackinnon on ' The Falkland burgh,' 1777, part ii. p. 265. With 



Islands,' p. 25. The average height of respect to the tarpans scraping away 



the Falkland horses is said to be 14 the snow, see Col. Hamilton Smith in 



hands 2 inches. See also my ' Journal ' Nat. Lib.,' vol. xii. p. 165. 

 of Researches.' -^ Franklin's ' Narrative,' vol. i. p. 



«' Pallas, ' Act. Acad. St. Peters- 87 ; note by Sir J. Richardson. 



