WILD TARPAN AND ITS RELATIONS 79 



have been the case with the wild horses of Russia ; 

 additional evidence in this direction being the 

 above-mentioned statement as to their coats being 

 mouse-colour, which appears to be an indication of 

 cross-breeding. 



As regards the wild horses of the Volga-Ural 

 steppes, commonly called tarpan, the best account 

 is that given by the German traveller, Peter Simon 

 Pallas,^ in the early part of the nineteenth century, 

 who wrote as follows : — 



" The wild horses inhabit the steppes of Great 

 Tatary and Mongolia, from the Dnieper to the 

 Altai, and through the whole of Central Asia, in 

 small herds, seldom fifty in number. Most of them 

 are reddish grey or pale grey in colour, but the 

 mane, the spinal stripe, and the tail are reddish 

 brown, the muzzle is whitish, and the region of the 

 mouth blackish. (There are, however, herds of 

 different colours among them, which are due to 

 wild horses having interbred with domesticated 

 animals escaped from captivity.) They are inferior 

 in stature to domesticated horses, and have larger 

 heads, more slender limbs, and somewhat bigger 

 ears, which are bent backwards at the tips in sickle- 

 fashion. The forehead is swollen above the eyes, 

 with a whorl of hair between the latter. The hoofs 

 are small and almost cylindrical. The mane extends 



^ Zoogeographia Rosso-Asiatica, St. Petersburg, vol. i. p. 260, 

 1811. 



