MAMMALIA—HORSE. 3ll 
not fearful of, but have an attachment to, each other. As herbs and vegeta- 
bles are sufficient for their nourishment, they have quite enough to satisfy 
their appetite; and as they have no relish for the flesh of animals, they 
never make war with them, nor with each other. They never quarrel 
about their food, they have no occasion to ravish the prey of another, the 
ordinary source of contentions and quarrels. 


































The astonishment aud fear which the inhabitants of Mexico and Peru 
expressed at the sight of horses and their riders, convinced the Spaniards 
that this animal was entirely unknown in those countries. They therefore 
earried thither a great number, as well for service and their particular 
utility, as to propagare the breed. M. de la Salle, in 1685, saw in the 
northern parts of America, near the bay of St. Louis, whole troops of these 
wild horses, feeding im the pastures, which were so fierce that no one dared 
to approach them. The author of the History of the Adventures of the 
Buccaneers, says, that, in the island of St Domingo, horses may sometimes 
be seen in troops of upwards of five hundred, all running together; and that as 
soon as they see a man, they will all stop. That one of them will approach 
to a certain distance, snort, take flight, and then all the rest will follow 
him. To catch them, they make use of nooses made of ropes, which they 
spread and hang in places which they know they frequent. But if they are 
caught by the neck they strangle themselves, unless the hunter comes in 
time to their assistance, who instantly secures them by the body and legs, 
and fastens them to trees, where they are left for two days without either 
food or drink. This experiment is sufficient to begin to make them tracta- 
ble, and in time they become as much so as if they had never been wild. 
And even if by chance they ever regain their liberty, they never become so 
again, but know their masters, and suffer them to catch them again with- 
out trouble. 
