FERAL HORSES 171 



of the zebu stock. Writing in 1829, Sir John 

 Richardson stated that at that time herds of feral 

 horses were to be met with on the plains to the 

 west of the Mississippi ; and that at an earlier date 

 they were common in the Kutannie country near 

 the northern sources of the Columbia River, to 

 the east of the Rocky Mountains. The young 

 stallions, which were expelled from the main herds 

 by their seniors, formed troops by themselves. 



Early in the eighteenth century feral horses 

 abounded in Virginia ; and as these enticed away 

 the domesticated horses of the English settlers, 

 the Spanish type became gradually modified. 

 There are also herds in Texas, where they are 

 known as mustangs, and likewise in Mexico ; many 

 of the former being piebald or skewbald. 



The feral horses which formerlv abounded on the 

 pampas of Argentina appear to have been descended 

 from five stallions and seven mares of Andalucian 

 origin which escaped when the city of Buenos Aires 

 was suddenly abandoned by its inhabitants about 

 the year 1535. These rapidly multiplied, and gave 

 origin to the herds on the pampas to the south and 

 west of the Rio de la Plata ; but the troops to the 

 north of that river, in Paraguay, were derived from 

 another stock. Although these horses frequently 

 went about in small troops, each led by a stallion, 

 these troops sometimes combined into herds com- 

 prising thousands of individuals. When the herds 



