THE HORSE. 23 



Wild horses of South America. 



sometimes seen in herds often thousand. If 

 they perceive any tame horses in the fields they 

 gallop tip to them, caress, and, by a kind of 

 grave and prolonged neighing, invite them to run 

 off. The domestic animals are soon seduced, 

 unite themselves to the independent herd, and 

 depart along with them. It happens not unfre- 

 quently that travellers are stopped on the road 

 by the effect of this desertion. To prevent this 

 they halt as soon as they perceive these wander- 

 ers ; watch their own horses ; and endeavour to 

 frighten away the others : in this case the wild 

 horses resort to stratagem ; some are detached 

 before, and the rest advance in a close column, 

 which nothing can interrupt. If they are so 

 alarmed as to be obliged to retire, they change 

 their direction, but without suffering themselves 

 to be dispersed. When the natives wish to con- 

 ?ert some of these quadrupeds to domestic pur- 

 poses, a number of persons, mounted on horse- 

 back, attack a troop of them, and when they are 

 able to approach, they throw ropes round their 

 legs, which preclude the possibility of their run- 

 ning away. They are soon tamed, but must be 

 carefully watched to prevent them from rejoin- 

 ing their wild friends. 



In Norway, where most of the roads are im- 

 passable for carriages, the horses are remarkably 

 sure-footed, they skip along over the stones, and 

 are always full of spirit. Pontoppidan informs 

 us, that when they go up and down a steep cliff, 



VOL. II. NO. VIII. D 



