NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 



The Norway horfes are not uncommon in Denmark, for they 

 are carried thither, where they are admired for their neat and 

 elegant make, and their ftrength j they are generally fmall, but 

 well-proportioned, plump and round ; the largeft and beft are 

 from Guldbranfdal, Surendal and Larendal ; the peafants breed 

 them, for I never heard there was one ftud here. Their colour 

 is generally a deep bay, with black manes and tails ; and a 

 black, brown, grey, or lightifh moufe-colour ftreak along the 

 back ; but black is feldom feen ; in fifty hardly one. They are 

 kept on poor and fcanty food, but are in as good condition as 

 others that live better. A peafant's horfe hardly ever taftes 

 corn, yet, tho' they live on nothing but hay, they are ipirited 

 and fwift. 



Hormod Torf remarks in his Hift. Norv. p. 4. lib. 8. cap. 3. 

 that Anno 1302, a man, whole name was Angmund Hugh- 

 leickfon, and who was afterwards hanged at Nord Naefs near 

 Bergen, was the firft who gave his horfes oats in this country, 

 whence he had the nick- name of Horfe-Corn, Quod in Norvegia 

 primus equos avena paverit. 



The horfes here are not fubjecl: to fo many difeafes as in moft 

 other countries j and in particular the ftaggers, which they 

 feldom have naturally, tho' fbme get it by extreme labour and 

 old age. It is not ulual here, as in moft other places, to geld 

 horfes $ for which reafon they are full of ipirit and ftrength, 

 and are preferable to geldings. But as ftone-horfes often are 

 vicious, his excellence the ftadtholder Guldenloue, in his time, 

 ordered that moft of the horfes mould be gelded ; that there 

 fhould be only two ftone-horfes in each village. This made as 

 much mifchief among the peafants, as was done before by the 

 horfes ; for the commonality do not love to have new cuftoms 

 introduced ; and if they do come amongft them, they muft get 

 in very gradually. Thefe orders of the ftadtholder were exe- 

 cuted in but very few towns, and are now quite neglecled ; it 

 was, however, a well-grounded law, as may be obferved by this : 

 in the fields and clofes, for two miles (ten Englifh miles) about 

 Bergen, according to an antient cuftom, no peafant dare keep a 



have of them, firft naming horfes and oxen. According to Aldrovand's opinion, thefe 

 have the general name of Jumenta a juvando. This rule mould be obferved in hu- 

 man fociety •, the moft ferviceable member fhould have the preference. Hr. Jac. Theod. 

 Klein, in his lately publifhed Difpofitio Quadruped, p. 33. is not fatisfied with 

 Monf. Buffon's method, but claffes quadrupedes rather according to their parts ; and 

 agrees in that with H. C. Linnaeus in his Fauna Suecica, who, in that refpeci:, ridicules 

 Buffon rather too feverely. Jo. Jac. Schmidt, in his Phifico Biblico, p. 424, & feq. 

 treats largely on the diftin&ions, preference and pre-eminence of beafts. 



mare ; 



