CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 10. SOLIDXJNGULA. 607 
A HERD OF HORSES ON THK BORDKRS OF THli CASPIAN, DRIVEN UPON THE ICE. 
partially wild, but they are caught and trained to use as necessity requires. This country is subject 
to terrific winter storms, which sometimes drive these bands upon the ice, and they are destroyed 
by thousands. In this manner, a few years since, the Kalmuck prince Turaine lost six thou- 
sand of these animals; in the winter of 1827, among the Kirghis tribe, no less than three hun- 
dred thousand perished by the severity of the season. These facts show the abundance of these 
animals in those regions ; nor are they less numerous in the vast plains which stretch northward 
from the Crimea to the sonthern foot of the Ural Mountains. Thus, in its original seats, its an- 
cient heritages, the unbridled horse roams in countless numbers, the descendants of those fine 
animals which ages ago carried the fierce Scythians in their conquests over half the world.. 
AMERICAK HORSES. 
The continent of America has no indigenous species of the equine family : the Horse and' Ass- 
were brought hither by the European settlers, and are now dispersed over both North and Souths 
America. The Spanish breeds of horses were spread throughout the Spanish colonies, and some 
of them, escaping from their owners, fled to the wilds, where, in the course of centuries, they have 
become exceedingly numerous. At the present day, in the vast prairies or pampas of South 
America, they roam in large bands, sometimes amoimting to thousands ; they are also abundant 
in parts of Mexico, and in Texas, and even in our unsettled southwestern territories. The tribes 
of Indians in these regions, originally destitute of every species of domestic animal, have now the 
dog and. the horse, the latter being caught wild and trained to their use. The Camanches — those 
nomads of the wilderness which stretches eastward of the Rocky Mountains, and is traversed by 
the sources of the Red River, the Brazos, and the Colorado — especially, have large numbers of these 
animals, which they use for war and the chase with all the dexterity and daring of Tartars.. 
WILD HORSES. 
In general, it may be said that wild horses have not the fine proportions of the domestic varie- 
ties : they have usually large heads, heavy limbs, and the mane and tail are frizzled and bushy. 
In our southwestern territories, where they are constantly hunted by the Indians, they become 
exceedingly shy and watchful, and fly upon the slightest alarm, being usually led by an old stal- 
lion. They avoid thick forests and woody morasses, and seek broad, open plains or prairies. At 
full liberty, a troop of horses sweeping over the plain with 
"Wide flowing tail and flying mane, 
Wide nostrils— never stretched by pain- 
Mouths bloodlfcss to the hit or rein, 
