94 WILD HORSES OF AMERICA AND TARTAR Y 



the horse. Prior to this, the ass and the camel were 

 utiHzed, and as the greater power and sagacity of the 

 horse evidenced itself, the use of the last-named animal 

 was, save in Palestine, where the use of the horse was 

 forbidden, almost abandoned. It was some 600 years 

 after the Egyptians had used horses that they were 

 introduced into Arabia, although it is to the latter 

 country that the chief improvements in the breed are 

 due. 



Troops of wild horses are to be found in South 

 America and Tartary, but they do not appear to be 

 aboriginal. The Tartar horses are speedy and strong, 

 but are common, whilst those of South America 

 appear to retain the size and shape of their European 

 progenitors unimpaired. They and the horses of the 

 Ukraine alike are the descendants of animals which 

 have made their escape from captivity. 



Travellers have stated that when crossing the plains 

 extending from the shores of La Plata to Patagonia 

 they have seen herds of horses which they have com- 

 puted as numbering as many as ten thousand. Their 

 safety seems to depend on their keeping together ; and 

 the master stallions, like the champion stags in herds 

 of deer, keep the rest in subjection. These stallions 

 have also a champion, or leader, the strongest and 

 boldest of the herd, to whom all the rest yield 

 obedience. Should a stranger — a lion, a leopard, or 

 even a man — appear amongst them, and the herd get 

 enclosed by woods, etc., the master champion gives a 

 signal neigh, and the herd immediately close into a 

 dense mass and trample their enemy to death. 



A friend of mine in Buenos Ayres has some 

 thousands of wild horses on his estates, and it is most 



