454 



THE PHILOSOPHY 



no reftraints. In South America the horfes have multiplied prodi- 

 gioufly, and, In that thinly inhabited country, live in perfed free- 

 dom. They fly from the prefence of man. They wander about in 

 troopF, and devour, in immenfe meadows, the productions of a per- 

 petual fpring. Wild horfes are ftronger, lighter, and more nervous, 

 than the generality of thofe which are kept in a domeftic ftate. They 

 are by no means ferocious. Though fuperior in ftrength to moft 

 animals, they never make an attack. When affaulted, however, they 

 either difdain the enemy, or ftrike him dead with their heels. They 

 af' ciate in troops from mutual attachment, and neither make war 

 with other animals nor among themfelves. As their appetites are 

 moderate, and they have few objedlis to excite envy or difcord, they 

 live in perpetual peace. Their manners are gentle, and their tem,- 

 pers foclal. Their force and ardour are rendered confpicuous only 

 by marks of emulation. They are anxious to be foremoft in the 

 courfe, to brave danger in crofTmg a river, or in leaping a ditch or 

 precipice ; and, It is faid, that thofe horfes which are moft adventu- 

 rous and expert In thefe natural excrcifes, are, when domefticated, 

 the moft generous, mild, and tradable. 



Wild horfes are taken notice of by feveral of the ancients. He- 

 rodotus mentions white wild horfes on the banks of the Hypanis In 

 Scythia. He likewife tells us, that, In the northern part of Thrace, 

 beyond the Danube, there were wild horfes covered all over with 

 hair five inches in length. The wild horfes In America are the off- 

 fpring of domeftic horfes originally tranfported thither from Europe 

 by the Spaniards. The author of the hiftory of the Buccaneers * 

 informs us, that troops of horfes, fometimes confifting of 500, are 

 frequently met with In the ifland of St Domingo ; that, when they 

 fee a man, they all ftop ; and that one of their num.ber approaches 



to 



* L'Hift. des Avanteur. Flibufticrs, torn. 1. pag. no. 



