174 GUN, ROD, AND SADDLE. 



these horses introduced by the Spaniards, introduced 

 by De Soto, are doubtless sprung the countless teams 

 tliat the traveler may daily see over the unpeopled 

 plains of northern Texas and northern Mexico. 

 The Spaniards then brought the first horses to Amer- 

 ica, from whence did they obtain tliem? None 

 could be got nearer than Europe, none more conveni- 

 ently than in their own country ; we have, therefore, 

 every right to conclude that the horses were from 

 Spain, probably from the southern portion of it, as 

 horses are more numerous there, and the inhabitants 

 more partial to horsemanship. Who, that has trav- 

 eled in Spain, if his eyes have been employed to take 

 observation of more than the sierras and senoritas, 

 can have failed to observe that the native horse 

 is very unlike (in many respects) the Englisli or 

 French species, and that this dissimilarity increases 

 the farther you go south ; but it is in this very dis- 

 similarity that the descendants across the Atlantic 

 differ from our home breed. Moreover, in Spain I 

 liave observed among their nags, a great deal of what 

 is termed in America "knee-action," a })eculiar method 

 of raising and placing the loot down, which is con- 

 sidered a necessary by the connoisseur in selecting 

 an embryo trotter. The Spaniards like this action, 



