, THE TARTARIAN HORSE. 33 



gig, carnage, and saddle horses, and even some that have pretensions to rank 

 in the list of racers." In fact races were instituted at Sydney. A turf-club was 

 formed, and horses of no despicable qualities entered the lists. 



An excellent stallion, named Bay Cameron, was imported from England 

 and the owner netted by him, for the first season or two, more than £600 per 

 annum. Horses generally rose more than fifteen per cent, in value. Even at 

 Sydney, £200 and more were given for a horse of extraordinary figure and, 

 powers ; and no good saddle, gig, or cart horse could be purchased for less 

 than £40. 



These horses were found to be remarkably hardy, and could undergo' con- 

 siderable fatigue. The greatest fault was a heaviness of the head, with a 

 considerable degree of obstinacy and sulkiness — as much, however, the fault of 

 education as of natural disposition*. 



A still later writer says, " that the breed is rapidly improving, and par- 

 ticularly the draught horses, from the importation of some of the Cleveland 

 breed from England." The true dray-horse, however, was yet to bo found 

 and could not be procured from any of the native horses, not even with the 

 assistance of the Cleveland. The mixture of English blood had not lessened the 

 endurance of the native breed ; for at the hottest time of the year, with the 

 thermometer at times as high as ninety-six degrees in the shade, the writer 

 says that he has ridden the same animal fifty miles a day for three successive 

 days. They will all go through a vast deal of work, but they would have 

 more endurance, if they were not broken in for the saddle and for harness so 

 young. It is no unusual thing to ride them sixty miles in less than seven 

 hours, and immediately turn them out, to pick up what scanty herbage they 

 can find. The number of good horses was so rapidly increased that their price 

 had materially diminished, and scarcely more than £35 could be got for the 

 best of them t. 



The traveller adds, that there are some diseases to which the horse is subject 

 in England, which are as yet. unknown in New South Wales. Glanders has 

 never made its appearance there. Greasy heels, the almost peculiar disease of 

 Britain, have not been seen there. Strangles, however, are prevalent, and, the 

 author of the present work learns from another source, unusually severe J. 



In Van Diemen's Land the breed of horses, originally derived from India, 

 is very good. A valuable breed of cart-horses is beginning to be formed. 

 The riding-horses are small, but they are hardy. Horses of every kind are sixty 

 per cent, dearer in Van Diemen's Land than in New South Wales ; because the 

 ■■■colony is smaller, and the number of horses that are bred is comparatively 

 small. Their treatment is not so good as in the larger colony. Many of them 

 know not the taste of corn, and, when it is given to them, it is usually in the 

 straw.f 



THE TARTARIAN HORSE. 



Tartary comprehends a vast extent of country, reaching from the Eastern 

 Ocean to the European dominions of Russia, through the central part of Asia 

 and Europe. Eastern Tartary belongs chiefly to China— the Western has 

 been subjected by Russia, but a small portion of it about the Caspian Sea claims 

 to be independent. The tribes which inhabit this immense space are dissimilar 

 in their appearance, and manners, and customs; but, with a few exceptions, 

 the character of the horse is nearly the same. 



* Two Years in New South Wales, by P. Cunningham, vol. i. p. 296. 

 t Breton's Excursions in New South Wales, in 1833, p. 330. J Ibid. p. 332, 



$ Widowson's State of Van Diemen's Land in 1829, p. 184. 



D 



