WILD HORSES — KIANG — SMALLER MAMMALS 235 



the desert, where they apparently exist without water. Possibly they prefer snow 

 to the stagnant water, on account of its not being salt, but even snow soon acquires 

 a saline taste from contact with the salt-impregnated soil of the central Asiatic 

 desert. 

 Wild Horses or The domesticated horse (Equus caballus) is distinguished from 



Tarpan. the African wild ass and zebra, not only by the possession of bare 

 leathery callosities, or "chestnuts," on all four legs, but also by the long hair 

 clothing the tail to the root, as well as by the pendent mane and the forelock. It 

 has also a smaller head, shorter ears, considerably longer legs, and broader hoofs, 

 this being notably the case with the front pair, which are very much broader than 

 the hind ones. Domesticated horses, it is almost needless to say, show great 

 variation in colour, dun-coloured individuals occasionally displaying two or three 

 dark cross-stripes on the shoulders, and dark bars on the legs. Formerly wild 

 horses inhabited the open plains of Europe and northern and central Asia; and 

 till within half a century ago the tarpan was still abundant on the Kirghiz steppes ; 

 while less than a couple of centuries since its range extended from the Dnieper to 

 the Altai. Although these tarpan were undoubtedly more or less extensively 

 crossed with horses escaped from captivity, it is probable that they were the direct 

 descendants of the wild horses which roamed over the plains of Europe contempor- 

 aneously with the mammoth and woolly rhinoceros. 



The Gobi Desert is, however, the home of the truly wild tarpan (E. caballus 

 przewalskii) named in honour of the great Russian traveller, Przewalski, by whom 

 it was discovered. The muzzle is frequently white, the tail js not haired com- 

 pletely up to the root, there is a small forelock, and the mane is upright, but may 

 fall over in the adult. The general colour is dun, without a dark stripe down the 

 back (at least in the summer coat) or any trace of a shoulder-stripe or of bars on 

 the legs ; but the fetlocks and the front of the legs are dark brown ; and the mane 

 and tail-tuft black. These wild tarpan were probably the ancestors of the ordinary 

 horses of western Asia and Europe, where they are still represented by the dun 

 ponies of Norway. They are so fleet that it is impossible to come up with the 

 adults, and the young alone can be taken and then only with relays of horses. 



The kiang (E. kiang) of Tibet and Mongolia, to which the 

 chiggetai of the Kirghiz steppes is allied, is a large red-coloured 

 animal, with the muzzle, under-parts, and inner surfaces of the limbs white, and a 

 broad chocolate stripe down the back. " Chestnuts " are present only on the 

 fore-limbs, the lower half of the tail is alone clothed with long hair, and the ears 

 are longer than in the wild horse, although not nearly so large as in the African 

 wild ass. In this respect, as well as in the absence of a shoulder-stripe and of 

 bars on the legs, and in the great breadth of the hoofs, especially the front pair, 

 the kiang approximates to the horses and differs from the asses and zebras of 

 Africa. Kiang go about frequently in small parties, but sometimes alone ; and are 

 most active in getting over rough ground. In Chang-chemo they are found at 

 an elevation of from 13,000 to 18,000 feet. 



smaller Tibet is the home of a peculiar genus of water-shrews {Nectogale) , 



Mammals. an( j fche Yarkand district is inhabited by the remarkable long-eared 



jerboa (EucJtoretes naso), the sole representative of its genus. Voles of the genus 



