464 ■WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 



a " Cavayard" of Mexican mares, who are unadulterated 

 mustangs, without being instantly struck by the remarkable 

 resemblance between the two races. 



You see there the same long, and rather angular outline ; 

 the same thin, wavy mane, sometimes from two to three feet 

 in length; the same silky coat; the same round, flat hoof, 

 the bushy fetlock, and the spur distinctly defined ; the same 

 round, straight fore-leg and short pasterns; the same gray- 

 hound hams, and somewhat ragged hips ; the same short 

 coupling ; the same fine ear, thin head, rather lengthened 

 for symmetry ; wide, elastic nostrils, and deep mouth ; but 

 foremost of all, the prominent socket; the wide-open lid, 

 the large eye-ball, lit with a tameless, but not vicious fire, 

 with its free play showing the broad stripe of creamy white ; 

 and when they drink, which they do but once a day, the 

 same trick of plunging the nostrils up to the eyes in the 

 water, and swallowing with huge gulphs. 



Then mount one, and if you can stick there, you will 

 find the analogy fully sustained. Day after day, in a long, 

 springy gallop, it will carry you eighty or a hundred miles, 

 for weeks together, with scarcely a perceptible diminution of 

 spirit or vigor, and requiring nothing with all this but a long 

 draught of cool, clear water, and the grass of the prairies. 



This is the mustang as he really is ; as he is to be seen in 

 thousands multiplied, upon the ocean-like meadows of the 

 great South- West ! But such specimens as this are to be 

 seldom seen off his native wilds, for the reason I have 

 given above; and which must be self-evident, that he is 

 seldom taken, and when he has been, is far too valuable to 

 the hunter to be parted with. Mounted upon these magni- 

 ficent animals, they take in hundreds the stunted, vicious 

 little devils that have given reputation to the mustang 

 among us ! 



Like human hunchbacks these creatures seem to become 



