CAPE HOUSES. 65 



length of body; total length, ahout four feet; it is 

 toothless. 



The Cape horses have been universally praised by tra- 

 vellers ; they are particularly hardy, game, and docile. 

 The climate in many parts of the colony is well suited 

 for breeding ; and although inland but little attention is 

 paid to this important matter, still it is a rare occurrence 

 to find an animal, however ugly or misshapen, without its 

 redeeming quality. At Cape Town and the immediate 

 neighbourhood, the horses generally are like those of 

 England, with a slight trace of the Arab in their head 

 and hind-quarters ; the breed, in fact, is a compound of 

 the English thoroughbred and the Arab. Several well- 

 known English horses have found their way to the Cape, 

 having been purchased for exportation when they were 

 stale or broken down ; Fancy Boy, Battledore, Rococo, 

 Gorharnbury, Evenus, and many more, having acted as 

 fountains for supplying a stream of pure blood through 

 the equine veins of Africa. Nearly a hundred horses of 

 tolerable English fame have been landed at the Cape 

 within the last twenty years. 



In many parts of the colony races are held, and the 

 stakes are sufficient to repay the winners for their ex- 

 penses in training and breeding. In Cape Town horses 

 of good appearance fetch from twenty- five to sixty guineas, 

 and very much larger prices are frequently given. The 

 stallion is all-in-all with Cape breeders, the mare being 

 considered as quite a secondary item. The consequence 

 is, that from the frequent disproportion between the dam 

 and sire, awkward-looking animals are common, more- 



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