THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, 73 



of pacers, in satire, poem, or romance, as a featm-e of feminine 

 luxury. 



In Andalusia and Spain generally, I have no knowledge of 

 a breed of horses to which that gait is native and characteristic ; 

 and if it were so, all the English military and many of my own 

 friends and relations, in my younger days, being thoroughly 

 familiarized to all the Spanish provinces during the course of 

 the Peninsular campaigns, I could hardly have been ignorant of 

 the fact. Beyond which, I well remember the question being 

 mooted as to the actual reality of natural pacers,, when, by the 

 mention of this particular breed of Narragansetts by Mr. Cooper, 

 in his " Last of the Mohicans," they were first introduced to the 

 English horseman. 



It would almost appear that various species of domestic 

 animals have their own allotted period of existence contempo- 

 raneous with the dates of their greatest utility ; and that when 

 the requirement has ceased to exist, the race itself speedily 

 passes away. For it would seem to require further causes than 

 the mere cessation of care in preserving any given species to 

 produce, in so short a space, the total extinction of a family, as 

 has been the case within the memory of man with several 

 varieties, both of the dog and the horse. 



Of the latter I may instance the true Scottish galloway and 

 the Narragansett pacer, which it would seem have some claims 

 to be considered pure races, besides several of the coarser breeds 

 already noticed — the former two entirely, the others nearly, 

 obliterated from the list of horses now in use, or even in being. 



Of the former, the pure Talbot bloodhound, the great Irish 

 wolf-dog, the genuine rough-haired Highland deer-hound, and 

 the old English mastiff, not crossed with bull, do not, it is 

 believed, exist at all in their original purity ; yet on many of 

 these much care has been expended, in the hope of perpetuating 

 their breeds ; and efforts have been made to reproduce them 

 by a course of artificial breeding. 



At all events, even if it were possible, as I am satisfied it is 

 not, to recreate these varieties of the horse, the attempt is not 

 likely to be made, for the age of long journeys on horseback, or 

 in private vehicles, has passed away for ever in the civilized 

 countries of the world; and for riding horses of mere ploasure, 



