56 HORSE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA. 



nutritive matter and the remainder to be expelled 

 onwards. They possess this power of motion from the 

 fact of one of their coats being a layer of muscle which 

 contracts when it is stimulated by the presence of 

 food. The more bulk the food has, speaking generally, 

 the less have the intestines to contract in order to 

 move it about. If this condition of bulk be not com- 

 plied with, the digestive apparatus will get out of order, 

 however accurately materials for building up tissue be 

 supplied. Indigestible woody fibre contained in large 

 quantities in the various grasses and unassimilated 

 starch, chiefly serve the required purpose. The fact 

 that, within certain limits, the measure of a horse's 

 appetite is by bulk and not by weight, is evidently due 

 to the necessity the animal feels of having his intestines 

 filled. We see the same craving for bulk evinced by 

 human beings. " The Kamschatdales, for example, are 

 in the habit of mixing earth or saw-dust with the train- 

 oil, on which alone they are frequently reduced to live. 

 The Veddahs, or wild hunters of Ceylon, on the same 

 principle, mingle the pounded fibres of soft and decayed 

 wood with the honey on which they feed when meat is 

 not to be had ; and on one of them being asked the 

 reason of the practice, he replied, ' I cannot tell you, 

 but I know that the belly must be filled.' " (Carpenter.) 

 Selection of Food. For all practical purposes, we 

 need not consider grain beyond its use as a former of 

 fat, and of nitrogenous tissues, such as the various 

 muscular and nervous structures. To give bulk to the 

 food (except in the case of horses getting as much oats 

 as they can eat), and to supply the required mineral 

 matters, we must principally depend on grass. As 



