CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 10. SOLIDUNGULA. 



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A HERD OF HOUSES ON THE BORDERS OP THE CASPIAN, DRIVEN UPON THE ICE. 



partially wild, but they arc caught and trained to use as necessity requires. This country is subject 

 to terrific winter storms, which sometimes drive these bands upon the ice, and they are destroyed 

 by thousands. In this manner, a few years since, the Kalmuck prince Turaine losi six thou- 

 sand of these animals; in the winter of 1827, among the Kirghis tribe, no less than three hun- 

 dred thousand perished by the severity of the season. These facts show the abundance of these 

 animals in those regions ; nor are they less numerous in the vast plains which stretch northward 

 from the Crimea to the southern foot of the Ural Mountains. Thus, in its original seats, its an- 

 cient heritages, the unbridled horse roams in countless numbers, the descendants of those fine 

 animals which ages ago carried the fierce Scythians in their conquests over half the world. 



AMERICAN HORSES. 



The continent of America has no indigenous species of the equine family : the Horse and Ass 

 were brought hither by the European settlers, and are now dispersed over both North and South 

 America. The Spanish breeds of horses were spread throughout the Spanish colonies, and some 

 of them, escaping from their owners, fled to the wilds, where, in the course of centuries, they have 

 become exceedingly numerous. At the present day, in the vast prairies or pampas of South 

 America, they roam in large bands, sometimes amounting to thousands ; they are also abundant 

 in parts of Mexico, and in Texas, and even in our unsettled southwestern territories. The tribes 

 of Indians in these regions, originally destitute of every species of domestic animal, have now the 

 dog and the horse, the latter being caught wild and trained to their use. The Camanches — those 

 nomads of the wilderness which stretches eastward of the Rocky Mountains, and is traversed by 

 the sources of the Red River, the Brazos, and the Colorado — especially, have large numbers of these 

 animals, which they use for war and the chase with all the dexterity and daring of Tartars. 



WILD HORSES. 



In general, it may be said that wild horses have not the fine proportions of the domestic varie- 

 ties : they have usually large heads, heavy limbs, and the mane and tail are frizzled and bushy. 

 In our southwestern territories, where they are constantly hunted by the Indians, they become 

 exceedingly shy and watchful, and fly upon the slightest alarm, being- usually led by an old stal- 

 lion. They avoid thick forests and woody morasses, and seek broad, open plains or prairies. At. 

 full liberty, a troop of horses sweeping over the plain with 



" Wide flowing tail and flying mane, 

 Wide nostrils — never stretched by pain — 

 Mouths bloodless to the uit or rein. 



