358 The Nahiralist in La Plata. 



the Indians. I believe they are right, for when 

 passing a distant Indian camp, from whicli the wind 

 blew, the horses driven before me have suddenly 

 taken fright and run away, leading me a chase of 

 many m.iles. The explanation that ostriches, deer, 

 and other fleet animals driven in before the invaders 

 might be the cause of the stampede cannot be ac- 

 cepted, since the horses are familiar with the sight 

 of these animals flying from their gaucho hunters. 



There is a pretty fable of a cat and dog lying in a 

 dark room, aptly illustrating the fine senses of these 

 two species. " Listen ! I heard a feather drop ! " 

 said the dog. " Oh, no ! " said the cat, "it was a 

 needle ; I saw it." The horse is not commonly 

 believed to have senses keen as that, and a dog 

 tracing his master's steps over the city pavement is 

 supposed to be a feat no other animal can equah 

 No doubt the artificial life a horse lives in Engla,nd, 

 giving so little play to many of his most important 

 faculties, has served to blunt them. He is a splen- 

 did creature ; but the noble bearing, the dash and 

 reckless courage that distinguish him from the modest 

 horse of the desert, have not been acquired without 

 a corresponding loss in other things. When ridden 

 by night the Indian horse — and sometimes the same 

 habit is found in the gaucho's animal — drops his head 

 lower and lower as the darkness increases, with the 

 danger arising fi^om the presence of innumerable 

 kennels concealed in the grass, until his nose sweeps 

 the surface like a foxhound's. That this action is 

 dictated by a powerful mstlnct of self-preservation 

 is plain; for, when I have attempted to forcibly 

 drag the animal's head up, he has answered such au 



