THE HOUSES OF NOUT1IKKX IM 



211 



the tarpans ; they stray in feeding, and scatter themselves more irregularly. Nor is their migration 

 definite, their wandering being rather directed by the abundance of pasturage than by a fixed routine 

 to which instinct impels them. They court the society of the domestic breed, but ha\ e often a few 

 expelled stallions of the tarpan breed amongst them; and the, more the tarpan blood prevails in 

 the troop, the more do they display the manners of the wild race, and the more do they avoid tlie 

 precincts of man. The young, when captured, though at first obstinate, are in due time subdued to 

 bondage 



The accompanying illustration represents an extraordinary scene, which not unfrequently occurs 

 on the southern coast of Russia a whole herd of horses overthrown in a snow-storm, and scattered o\ IT 



illil'.l) 01 Uor.sKS O.VrillT IX A SXOW-STl 



the frozen surface of the Black Sea. The wild excitement of the scene is ably realised, and fearfully 

 illustrates the terrible incidents to which the country of the Don Cossacks is subject. The wild horses 

 of the I'kraine are of a peculiar race ; and are not only used by the Cossack for riding, to carry him to 

 the wars, but they are sometimes hunted down as food. 



THE HORSES OP ENGLAND. 



WHEN JuliuB Cawar invaded our shores, he was opposed not only by infantry, but by horsemen and 



charioteer.; ; and the skill with which the horses were managed excited admiration a cireuinstanre 

 sufficient to prove a long acquaintance with this animal. We do not know with certainty the 

 character of the ancient British horse; ye,t, from the rapid movement of the cavalry, and the nianm r 

 in which the charioteers dashed along, we may readily conjecture that the horses were both light and 

 strong, docile and spirited. Probably they were not of a very large size, and were exported to Koine. 

 During the dominion of the Romans in Britain, it is probable that the original character of the 

 British horse became modified by the intermixture of the race with other breeds imported by the 

 con pierors from Italy, Gaul, and Spain ; but to what extent the admixture took place we have no 

 means of ascertaining. After the departure of the Romans the disturbed state of Britain would 

 forbid any attempts at improving the horse, or maintaining a pure and high-spirited breed distinguished 

 abo\ i! others. Yet that such a breed existed there can be little doubt, since Athelsian (A.D. 930) 



