272 WILD HORSES. 



CHAPTER XXVII 



WILD HORSES. 

 Wild Hoises m Australia and America — faipans— Piejcvalsky's Horse 



Wild Horses in Australia and America.— In Australia, 

 there are many herds of wild horses, which are descended 

 from escaped or *' turned out" domesticated animals. Those 

 of America are usually supposed to be of a similar ancestry. 

 This idea is, however, open to doubt , for fossil remains of 

 horses like unto those of the present time, or closely akin to 

 them, are to be found nearly all over North and South 

 America. Considering their former abundance in prehistoric 

 times, and the favourable conditions for equine life which 

 appear since then to have existed in the New World, it 

 seems highly improbable that there were no horses on that 

 continent at the time of the Spanish discovery. This doubt 

 is still more strengthened by the fact that Northern Europe 

 was in communication with North America hundreds of 

 years before Columbus first sighted the Bahama Islands. 



Tarpans. — '* The nearest approach to truly wild horses 

 existing at present are the so-called Tarpans, which occur in 

 the steppe-country north of the Sea of Azoff, between the 

 river Dnieper and the Caspian. They are described to be of 

 small size, dun colour, with short marfc, and rounded, obtuse 

 nose " (Sir Wtlkam Flower). The Russian naturalist, Polia- 

 kof, states that they are mouse-coloured, lighter coloured 

 under the belly than elsewhere, and that their legs are black 

 below the knees and hocks. 



