4^0 



COMMON HORSE. 



this state it is smaller than the domestic or tame 

 animal, with a larger head, a more arched fore- 

 head, and the body thickly covered with pale 

 brown or mouse-coloured hair. It has been af- 

 firmed by several authors, that wild horses were to 

 be found in the deserts of Arabia; but I must 

 agree with Mons. Sonnini, in thinking it not very 

 probable that this animal should be able to exist 

 in such deserts. We must, therefore, rather sup- 

 pose that it is occasionally found wild in some 

 parts of the country bordering perhaps on the 

 confines of the desert. It is certain that in Ara- 

 bia the most beautiful domestic horses are bred ; 

 and even those which are kept by the Arabs of 

 the desert are allowed to excel most others in 

 swiftness and elegance of form ; and it is from 

 their breed that the European horses have been 

 gradually improved. 



Large herds of wild horses are said to be found 

 about the lake Aral, near Kuzneck, in lat. 54 ; on 

 the river To7?i, in the southern parts of Siberia, 

 and in the great Mongalian deserts, and among 

 the Kalkas, north-west of China ; and it is af- 

 firmed that they will occasionally surround and 

 trepan, as it wxre, the horses of the Mongalians 

 and Kalkas, while grazing, and carry them off 

 among their ow^n herd. They are extremely swift, 

 active, and vigilant, and, like some of the Ante- 

 lopes and other quadrupeds, have always a centi- 

 tiel, who gives notice to the herd on the approach 

 of danger, by a loud neigh ; upon which they fly 

 ©if with amazing rapidity. 



