458 THE PHILOSOPHY 



make an attack. When affaulted, however, they either dil- 

 dain the enemy, or ftrike him dead with their heels. They 

 aiTociate in troops from mutual attachment, and neither 

 make war with other animals nor among themfelves. As 

 their appetites are moderate, and they have a few obje6ls to 

 excite ^nvy or difcord, they live in perpetual peace. Their 

 manners are gentle, and their tempers focial. Their force 

 and ardour are rendered confpicuous only by marks of emu- 

 lation. Tiiey are anxious to be foremoft in the courfe, to 

 brave danger in croffing a river, or in leaping a ditch or pre- 

 cipice ; and, it is faid, that thofe horfes which are moft ad- 

 venturous and expert in thefe natural exercifes, are, when 

 domefticated, the moft generous, mild, and tractable. 



Wild horfes are taken notice of by feveral of the ancients. 

 Herodotus mentions v»rhite wild horfes on the banks of the 

 Hypanis in Scythia. He likewife tells us, that, ifi the north- 

 ern part of Thrace, beyond the Danube, there were wild 

 horfes covered all over with hair five inches in length. The 

 wild horfes in America are the ofi'spring of domeftic horfes 

 originally tranfported thither from Europe by the Spaniards. 

 The author of the hiftory of the Buccaneers* informs us, 

 that troops of horfes, fometimes conlifting of 500, are fre- 

 quently met with in the ifland of St. Domingo -, that, when 

 they fee a man, they all ftop j and that one of their number 

 approaches to a certain diftance, blows through his ncftrils, 

 takes flight, and is inftantly followed by the whole troop. He 

 defcribes them as having grofs heads and limbs, and long 

 necks and ears. The inhabitants tame them with eafe, and 

 then train them to labour. In order to take them, gins ©f 

 ropes are laid in the places vv'here they are known to frequent. 

 When caught by the neck, they foon ftrangle themfelves, 

 unlefs fome perfon arrive in time to difentangle them. They 

 are tied to trees by the body and limbs, and are left in that 



* L'Hift. des Avanter.r. Flibufliers, torn. i. page no. 



