ANIMAL LIFE IN THE STEPPES. 



CHAPTER VI. 



ANIMAL LIFE IN THE STEPPES : THE WILD HORSE THE CAMEL. 



REFERENCE has been made to the numerous troops of wild horse 

 which haunt the Steppes on this side of the Oural. Similar troops of 

 these animals wander over the whole extent of the Steppes of Central 

 Asia, which the most accredited modern naturalists repute to be the 

 original cradle of their race. 



These horses are called tarpans, a word undoubtedly derived from 

 the Tartar. Shall we look upon them as the representatives of the 

 primitive breed, whence have sprung all the varieties known at the 

 present day ; or shall we see in them, as well as in the wandering 

 horses of the prairies and pampas of the New World, the descendants 



