HISTORY. 455 



serts, they are readily distinguished by the natives from the 

 true Wild Horses, by the more varied colour of their fur, 

 their tamer habits in the state of liberty, and the greater 

 facility with which, when captured, they can be reduced to 

 servitude. 



Of the Wild Horses of Africa, our knowledge is less pre- 

 cise than of those of Asia. In the range of mountains which 

 may be said to bound the basin of the Mediterranean on the 

 south, is found a race of small Horses, first, it is believed, 

 made known by Shaw, under the name Coomrie, applied to 

 them by the Moors or Negroes. They are from 10 to 11 

 hands high at the shoulder, usually of a reddish colour, with- 

 out any dorsal streak. They have the head broad at the 

 forehead, short, and narrowing much to the muzzle, the 

 ears wide, the eyes small, the hair long and woolly down to 

 the eyebrows, the mane black, the tail clothed with a short 

 fur at its commencement, and terminating with a tuft of 

 long black hair. This creature is exceedingly swift and 

 wild, taking refuge in woody coverts, and baffling pursuit. 

 It is not known whether it has been subjected to domestica- 

 tion. It may, perhaps, be one of the Wild Horses of Africa, 

 referred to by the Roman writers, and which were brought 

 to the shows of the amphitheatre. 



Of other Wild Horses in Africa, we have merely the pass- 

 ing notices of writers and travellers. Leo Africanus men- 

 tions their existence, and describes them as being of a dusky- 

 gray colour, with short manes and tails. Wild Horses have 

 likewise been seen towards Cape Verde ; and Mungo Park 

 states, that he met with a troop of them near Ludamar, 

 which fled at his approach, snorting and looking behind 

 them ; but he gives us no further details. Thus meagre is 

 our knowledge of the unsubdued horses of Africa ; but we 

 must remember, that the African region, which, of all others, 

 is likely to be the habitat of native horses, is as yet un- 

 known to civilized man, namely, the great range of moun- 

 tains and elevated terraces, rising, in some parts, to the 



