ANIMALS. 333 



of the bones there lies a ditfeient way ; and a weight of five 

 hundred pounds, as I am told, would break the back of the 

 strongest horse that could be found. The great force of a horse, 

 and other quadrupeds, is exerted when the load is in such a po- 

 sition as that the column of the bones can be properly applied, 

 which is lengthwise. When, therefore, we are to estimate 

 the comparative strength of a horse, we are not to try what he 

 <-an carry, but what he can draw ; and in this case, his amazing 

 superiority over man is easily discerned ; for one horse can draw 

 a load that ten men cannot move. And in some cases it hap- 

 pens that a draught horse draws the better for being somewhat 

 loaded ; for, as the peasants say, the load upon the back keeps 

 him the better to the ground." 



There is still another way of estimating human strength, by 

 the perseverance and agility of our motions. Men who are 

 exercised in running, outstrip horses •, or, at least, hold then' 

 speed for a longer continuance. In a journey, also, a man will 

 walk down a horse ; and, after they have both continued to pro- 

 ceed for several days, the horse will be quite tired, and the man 

 will be fiesher, than in the beginning.* The king's messengers 

 of IspahtBi, who are runners by profession, go thirty-six leagues 

 in fourteen hours. Travellers ajsure us, that the Hottentots 

 outstrip lions in the chase ; and that the savages who hunt the 

 elk, pursue with such speed, that they at last tire down and take 

 it. We are told many very surprising things of the great swift- 

 ness of the savages, and of the long journeys they undertake on 

 foot, through the most craggy mountains, where there are no 

 paths to direct, nor houses to entertain them. They are said toper- 

 form a journey of twelve hundred leagues in less than six weeks. 

 " But notwithstanding what travellers report of this matter, I have 

 been assured from many of our officers and soldiers who com- 

 pared their own swiftness with that of the native Americans 

 during the last war, that although the savages held out, and as 



*Tlii5 maybfi fluttprin? to humanity : butin justiop to the poor horse it may 

 be ptaled, that a fair trial has never been made of the respective powers o. 

 man and liorse in regard to pedestrianisiii. If there were, there can be little 

 doubt but that tlie horse would prove his superiority. Arab horses, for ex. 

 Binple, are known to carry their riders .ind accoutrements across the desert 

 for many successive days, at the rate of 70 and HO miles ii day. How far 

 they might go without weiKlit, may be imagined, but has never been tried. 



