AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 5 
¢¢ The wild Horses of Tarrary, although easily domesti- 
eated, materially differ in character from those on the 
plains of South America. They will not suffer a stranger 
to join them. Ifa domesticated Horse comes in their way, 
unprotected by his master, they attack him with their teeth 
and their heels, and speedily destroy him. They readily 
submit, however, to the dominion of man, and become 
perfectly docile and faithful. 
<¢ Among the Tartars, the flesh of the Horse isa frequent 
article of food; and although they do not, like the Indians 
of the Pampas, eat it raw, their mode of cookery would 
not be very inviting to the European epicure. They cut 
the muscular parts into slices, and place them under their 
saddles, and after they have galloped thirty or forty miles, 
the meat becomes tender and sodden, and fit for their table; 
and, at all their feasts, the first and last and most favourite 
dish, is a Horse’s head. 
«sWhen water was not at hand, the Scythians used to 
draw blood from their Horses and drink it; and the dukes of 
Muscovy, for nearly two hundred and sixty years, pre- 
sented Tartar ambassadors with the milk of mares. If any 
of this milk fell upon the mane of the Horse, the duke, by 
custom, was bound to lick it off.’’ 
In North America, innumerable wild Horses were seen 
by Lieut. Z. M. Pike, while on his exploring expedition 
to the sources of the Arkansas River, &c.; they were met 
with continually on the shores of most of the rivers in the 
Arkansas Territories, the first herd being seen in Lat. 
37° Long. 38°. 
“ The natural disposition of these animals is not ferocious, 
they are only high-spirited and wild; and though supe- 
rior in strength to the greatest part of animals, they yet 
never attack them; and if they are attacked by others, 
either disdain them or trample them under their feet. 
They go also in bodies, and unite themselves into troops, 
merely for the pleasure of being together, for they are not 
fearful of, but have an attachment to each other. As 
herbs and vegetables 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 quar- 
rels among carniverous animals. They live in peace be- 
cause their appetite is simple and moderate; and as they 
have enough, there is no room for envy. 
‘¢ As all parts of Europe are at present peopled, and al- 
most equally inhabited, wild Horses are no longer found 
there; and those which we see in America were origi- 
nally European tame Horses, which have multiplied in the 
vast desarts of that country. The astonishment and fear 
B 
which the inhabitants of Mexico and Peru expressed at 
the sight of Horses, and their riders, convinced the Spa- 
niards that this animal was entirely unknown in these 
countries; they therefore carried thither a great number, 
as well for service and their particular utility as to propa- 
gate the breed. M. de la Salle, in 1685, saw in the north- 
ern parts of America, near the bay of St. Louis, whole 
troops of these wild Horses feeding in the pastures, which 
were so fierce that no one dared to approach them. The 
author of the History of the Adventures of the Bucca- 
neers, says that, in the island of St. Domingo, Horses 
may sometimes be seen in troops of upwards of five hun- 
dred, all running together, and that as soon as they see a 
man, they will allstop; 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 time enough to their assistance, who instantly se- 
cures 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 tractable, 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 without trouble. 
«¢ The manners of these animals almost wholly depend on 
their education. From time immemorial it has been 
the custom to separate the colts from their mothers: 
mares are suffered to suckle them five, six, or seven 
months; for experience has taught us, that those colts 
which are suckled ten or eleven months, are not of equal 
value with those which are weaned sooner, though they 
are generally fuller of flesh. After six or seven months 
sucking, they are weaned, that they may take more solid 
nourishment than milk; bran is then given them twice a 
day, and a little hay, of which the quantity is increased in 
proportion as they advance in age, and they are kept in 
the stable as long as they seem to retain any desire to re- 
turn to the mare; but when this desire ceases, they are 
suffered to go out in fine weather, and led to pasture; 
but care must be taken not to suffer them to go out to pas- 
ture fasting; they must have bran, and be made to drink, 
an hour before they are suffered to graze, and are never to 
be exposed to great cold or rain: in this manner they 
spend the first winter; in the May following, they are 
not only permitted to graze every day, but are suffered to 
lie in the fields all the summer, and even to the end of Oc- 
tober, only observing not to let them eat the after-grass; for 
