PHYSICAL CHARACTERS IN MAN 37 



and in i 738 there were no cattle left there. Evidently 

 the cattle never became so truly feral as the horses, 

 which were landed afterwards. Unlike the latter, 

 they sought shelter from human habitations in storms, 

 also they increased in size and remained uniform in 

 colour. The hogs also ran wild, and became quite 

 fierce. But they w^ere all destroyed in 1814 " because 

 of their ghoulish tastes when shipwrecks occurred." 

 English rabbits, as well as rats, cats, dogs, and foxes, 

 were introduced in turn, the native red and black 

 foxes having become extinct. These introductions 

 furnish an instructive instance of how one species 

 may prey upon and quickly exterminate another. 



But the history of the horses is of greatest interest . 

 In 1753 there were twenty or thirty horses on the 

 island descended from animals landed some time 

 earlier. About 1760 Thomas Hancock, a Boston 

 (Mass.) merchant, landed horses, cows, sheep, goats, 

 and pigs. By the end of the American Revolution, 

 all had been killed except a number of horses. Many 

 of the horses, as well as other animals, had been eaten 

 as food by shipwrecked mariners. The horses de- 

 scended from this stock are well described by Gilpin 

 (1864), who visited the island about 1864, and found 

 some 400 wild ponies in about six herds, each headed 

 by an old male with masses of mane and tail. Each 

 herd had its own feeding ground, and they separated 

 again when driven together promiscuously. The 

 males often fought savagely, and they appeared to 

 sleep standing and never to lie down to rest, alwa^^s 

 fleeing from man and shelter. Thus in one hundred 

 and fifty years or less they had returned to the habits 

 of the wild tarpany horse, with which they agreed in 

 size, hairy heads, and thick coat, though differing in 

 form in some respects. They are said to reproduce 

 wonderfully the forms of horses known only from 

 the sculptures of Nineveh and the friezes of the Par- 



