

4-z 



Tarttriatt Horfe*. 





kA M E^I C A. Chap. II. 



an Evil Spirit call'd Tanto. In the Temples in Virginia remain yet the horrible 

 Images of the Devils Oka and Menetto. Not a Houfe in Mexico, but hath a pe- 

 culiar Chappel, let apart for this their fuppos'd holy, but damnable Adoration 

 of the Devil. Others in Virginia believe, That there is a great and fupreme De- 

 ity, which is Everlafting, and for ever. The Tartars alio are of the like per* 



fwafion. 



But this Opinion Grotius hath kid a ftrong and dangerous Battery againft, 

 that America could not be Peopled by the Tartars, becaufe the Americans before 

 the Spaniards coming thither,had never fcen any Horfes; whereas the Tartars ufe 

 no Beaft more, either in Peace or War, nor can lefs v^ant : For the Tartarian 

 Forces do not only confift in Horfc 5 but the Wealth of this Countrey is 

 reckem-d up in the numerous Breeds of Horfes, and fcvcral Studs of Mares. 

 Some of the Noblefs keep a thoufand Horfe . none, though never fo poor,' 

 but keep two or three 5 and Beggars there mounted crave Alms and Charity 

 of the People. When they remove their Habitations, their Horfes carry their 

 Provifions and Tents : If Provifions grow fhort, they cat Mares Milk, high 

 gufted with Garlick, which fatisfies Hunger and Third ; and the red Liquor 

 which they tap warm from their Veins, fcrves them to help Digeftion, and 

 heighten their Humor, inftead of the Blood of the Grape, our fweet Wine* 

 The fwifteft Rivers, though raging and precipitated with Land-floods, they 

 dare adventure fwimming their Horfes over, hanging naked by their Manes, 

 and guiding them by a flipped Rein whither they pleafe : To their Tails they 

 tie their Saddles, and other Neceffaries, bound up in Rufhcs. When a Per- 

 fon of Quality prepares to crofs any River, they tie two Horfes Tail to Tail, 

 and athwart both their Backs fatten a Mat pleited of Rufties, to fit on. When 

 they are ftopp'd at any broad River, or ftanding Lake, they kill and flea their 

 worft Horfes 5 then turning the Skins infide out, and well Liquoring, they 

 ftretch them open with the Ribs, which ftand like the Bayles of a Tilted Wher-j 

 ry, and thus furnifli'd, ferves them for a Boat to carry eight Perfons. When 

 they take the Field, going to War, not any but mufters three Horfes ; which 

 makes their Armies, when drawn out in Campain, Akw much bigger than 

 indeed they are : And though many of them arc kill'd in the Wats, or (lain 

 for Food, yet the European Tartars pay yearly forty thoufand Horfes tothe flcj*/- 

 ftans^ from whence Grotius thus argues, cc If America joyns to Tartary, then 

 " the Horfes which run wild at Grafs might eafily have found America them-' 

 a felves, feekingto improve their Pafture, and have gone from one Countrey 

 " into the other, as it appears, that fince the Spaniards tranfported Horfes to 

 <r America, they are difpers'd over the higheft Mountains, out of one Province 

 Cc into the other : Or if the Straights of Man run between both, the Tartars 

 " never were "Navigators • and fuppofe they had been, they would not have 

 *4 crofs'd without Horfes, without which they knew not how to fubfift. To 

 which we only fay thus, That although Tartary now, and in former times, 1 

 abounded in Horfe, yet muft we grant, that it hath been always fo ? or that 

 the ancient Scythians, who we avouch firft planted America, had fuch frequent 

 ufe of them as the Tartars now. This may be controverted, for that thefe 

 Scythians planting there in the Non-age of Time, prefcntly after the Flood, 

 the ufe of Horfes was unknown, which the Ancient Poets teftifie by their Fi- 

 ction of Centaurs, who when firft fcen, the Horfe and Rider were taken for 

 one Creature. The like miftakc the Mexicans had, when they law the mount- 

 ed Spaniards, a thoufand running away from one Cavalier, 



As 



