168 THE BREEDS OF LIVE-STOCK 
several of the Islands. There are no trees nor shrubs 
on the Islands, the surface being a succession of hills of 
rock formation with peat and decayed vegetable matter 
in the basins and a light covering of soil on which heather 
and scanty grass grow, affording the only pasturage for 
the ponies. 
Although far to the north, the climate is greatly moder- 
ated by the surrounding waters of the Gulf Stream. There 
is consequently much mist and precipitation of moisture, 
that accounts largely for the Shetland’s very long, fine 
hair, which in wet weather mats and is almost waterproof. 
This heavy coat is the Shetland’s only protection against 
the inclement weather, as it is not housed, but is born, 
lives and dies in the fields, the hillsides and stone walls 
being the only shelter from the winds that are constantly 
blowing, and which in winter are very penetrating. 
197. History of the Shetland pony. — Ponies have 
been known in the Shetland islands from the earliest 
times of which there is record. From the finding of the 
Bressay stone recently, there appears to be good evidence 
that they were there prior to the Norwegian invasion in 
872. According to some early writers, the Scandinavian 
invaders introduced the foundation stock prior to the 
fifteenth century. 
The government returns for 1891 gave the number of 
horses, which included ponies, in the Islands as 4803, 
but because of the demand of recent years the ponies are 
steadily decreasing. While on a tour of the Islands in 
1906, the writer made a careful estimate of the number 
of ponies, and could not account for over 4000 of all 
ages and sexes, and he doubts whether there are much 
over 400 foals produced on the Islands annually. In 
America there have been registered in the stud-book 
