THE PONT. 



adversities and Iriumplis and in the occupations and amuse- 

 ments of man. Colonel H. Smith states that in the most 

 ancient legislation of Ipdia, dating back to a period nearly 

 coeval with Moses, the sacrifice of the horse to one of their 

 deities was enjoined with awful solemnities, and that it was 

 only next in importance to the immolation of a human being. 

 It is recorded of the Emperor 0. Caligula, that, possessing a 

 steed of wondrous beauty and speed, he created him a consul, 

 and high priests clothed him in gorgeous trappings worked 

 with pearls, and housed him in a stable, the floor and walls of 

 which were of polished marble, which, by the bye, the honoured 

 cjuadruped m,ust have found decidedly cold and uncomfortable, 

 and was not for a moment to be compared with the humble but 

 cosy stable enjoyed by the poor greengrocer's colt of modem 

 times. 



Even to the present day there exists amongst savage tribes 

 a disposition to regard the horse with superstitious awe. Bruce 

 relates, that whilst journeying through Abyssinia, a potentate 

 named Pasil, having assembled the Galla tribe, said to Bruce, 

 — " Now, before all these men, ask me aijything you have at 

 heart, and be it what it may, they know I cannot deny it you." 

 The one great thing the Abyssmian tr^/veller desired was to be 

 shown the source of the river Nile, and this desire he expressed 

 to Fasil. Taking him to the door of the tent the chief showed 

 Bruce a splendid grey horse. " T?ike this horse," said he, " as 

 a present from me. But ,do not mouj^t it yourself ; drive it 

 before you, saddled and bridled as it js. Xou are now a 

 Galla. A curse upon them and their children, their com, 

 and their cattle^ if ever they lift their hand against you or 

 yours, or do not defend you to the utmost if attacked by others. 

 No man of Maitsha will touch you when he sees that horse." 



The great hprse fields of the world are the North and South 

 American prairies. In sijph tremendous droves do they there 

 abound as to make it worth while to hunt them for their hides 

 and fat and bones, which are shipped to various parts of 

 Europe. A significant proof of the wonderful abundance of 

 horses spread over the plains that stretch from Patagonia to the 

 south-western prairies, is the existence of a written contract 

 wherein a native herdsman agrees to supply a certain Mr. 

 Robinson with twenty thousand horses at the rate of three- 

 pence each. The horses are hunted with a simple instrument 

 called a lasso, and the business is thus described in the " Wild 

 Sports of the "World" :— 



