12 HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



cruel practice of forming the tail, by cutting and 

 nicking it on the under side, is yet continued. 



Although it would be impossible to trace out the 

 kind of Horses with which our British ancestors 

 opposed themselves to the legions of Julius Caesar, 

 on his landing in this country, yet that celebrated 

 warrior himself bears testimony to their activity 

 and discipline. 



The Ponies of Wales, and those that are bred in 

 the Highlands of Scotland, seem to be original and 

 unmixed. They are both much esteemed for the 

 neatness and beauty of their forms, for the nimble- 

 ness of their motions, and, above all, for being 

 remarkably sure-footed on the most difficult roads, 

 which renders them extremely valuable in the 

 mountainous tracts to which they originally be- 

 long. Those of Shetland are the smallest of the 

 genus, being in general much less than the Ass. 



