THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 85 



by the growth or decrease of a whitish surcoat, longer 

 than the hair, increasing from Midsummer, and 

 shedding in May ; during the cold season it is long, 

 heavy, and soft, lying so close as to feel like a bear's 

 fur, and then is entirely grizzled ; in summer much 

 falls away, leaving only a certain quantity on the back 

 and loins : the head is small ; the forehead greatly 

 arched ; and the ears far back, either long or short ; 

 the eyes small and malignant ; the chin and muzzle 

 beset with bristles ; the neck rather thin, and crested 

 with a thick rugged mane, which, like the tail, is 

 black, as are also the pasterns, which are long ; the 

 hoofs are narrow, high, and rather pointed ; the tail, 

 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 resemble 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 



