84  The  Devon  Pack  Horse  as  an  Army  Horse. 
faster  breed  for  light  fast  traffic,  the  modern  Cleveland  Bay 
(the  Norfolk  and  Yorkshire  roadster),  which  later  developed 
into  the  Hackney.  It  would  appear,  therefore,  that  up  to  1800 
the  Pack  horse  was  universal  in  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland, 
and  would  probably  linger  on  longest  in  out-of-the-way  parts  of 
these  islands  where  roads  were  the  worst,  and  the  necessity 
of  carrying  merchandise  and  men  on  the  old-fashioned  strong 
and  active  Pack  horse  still  continued. 
In  the  colliery  and  manufacturing  districts  in  the  north 
and  centre  of  England,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  large 
towns,  railways  quickly  came  to  drive  out  the  Pack  horse, 
and  it  was  only  in  Devon  and  Cornwall  and  certain  parts  of 
Ireland  that  his  services  and  general  usefulness  were  still 
required  and  recognised.  These  districts  embrace  much  rough 
moorland  country  studded  with  bogs  and  boulders,  very  hilly, 
splendidly  watered  by  innumerable  streams,  suitable  for  mills, 
but  which  to  this  day  can  only  be  crossed  on  foot  and  on 
horseback — Dartmoor  and  Exmoor.  These  districts  are  rich 
in  tin  and  other  mineral  mines,  and  china  clay,  peat  and 
surface  workings,  and  the  moorland  streams  are  used  to 
work  innumerable  flour  and  cloth  mills.  In  such  districts 
the  old  Pack  horse  has  lingered  on  up  to  the  present  day, 
or  at  least  up  till  1901,  when  the  last  two  old-fashioned  pure- 
bred Devon  Pack  horse  stallions  were  sold  out  of  the  country, 
viz.,  Mrs.  Giles’  Triumph  II.  and  Sportsman. 
Up  to  about  1850  there  appear  to  have  been  many  Pack 
horse  stallions  serving  in  both  North  and  South  Devon,  and 
all  these  appear  to  have  been  of  an  old  Devon  breed  not 
intermingled  with  the  similar  blood  of  the  old-fashioned 
Norfolk  roadster. 
After  1850  the  number  of  stallions  began  to  diminish, 
and  many  of  those  that  continued  became  crossed  with  much 
nondescript  blood. 
The  Giles  Family. 
We  are  indebted  to  a -yeoman  family  of  Giles  for  the 
remaining  examples  of  the  Pack  horse  still  to  be  found  in 
the  purest  form,  and  these  specimens  now  living  vary  from 
ten  to  twenty-five  years  old,  and  with  them  the  breed  will 
become  extinct.  If,  therefore,  anything  is  to  be  done,  it 
must  be  done  at  once. 
The  last  of  the  family  of  Giles  died  in  1901,  and  his 
stallions  were  then  disposed  of.  One  only  now  remains  alive  ; 
he  is  now  on  an  Australian  ranch,  where  also  are  thirty  brood 
mares  by  him,  and  he  is  now  fourteen  years  old  ; and  I now 
hold  the  offer  of  repurchasing  him  and  his  daughters  and 
bringing  him  back  to  this  country. 
