PRICE OF HOESES. 83 



away from the mother, who, frightened and confused, 

 stays with the herd. Then, as he bears away, in like 

 manner, from the other horses till they are out of sight, 

 the foal, which he has been cutting off, will confidingly 

 stay with his steed and follow it home. 



When I first went to Texas horse-flesh was very 

 cheap, and I have known Mexicans who would lasso a 

 wild horse for you for a dollar (four shillings and two- 

 pence), and * gentle ' it for you for another. In those 

 days it was a common remark, that horse-flesh was 

 cheaper than shoe-leather : but horses have since gone 

 up much in price ; they now sell for from ten dollars 

 to a hundred. Some of the horse raisers in Mexico 

 own immense herds ; and it is related of a very rich old 

 lady, who sent her son to Spain to be educated, where 

 he afterwards entered the army, that when he returned 

 to his native land as colonel of his regiment, she sent 

 him, from her hacienda, in the interior of Mexico, to 

 Vera Cruz — the port at which her son and his men 

 disembarked — a thousand white horses, as a free mount 

 for his men. 



To many it may read rather like a story from the 

 ' Arabian Nights,' that one person should possess a 

 thousand white horses, but this will not appear singular 

 when it is considered what an enormous quantity of 

 horses some of the rich Mexicans own, and the pains 

 which they take in keeping manadas (literally bunches) 

 of the same colour together. A manada of mares 



g2 



