230 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
eager to follow you, but will also hunt and seek you out so soon as lie finds 
he hath lost or misses you; and though you be in the company of never so 
many, he will find you out and know you. On the other side, every time he 
comes to you, you shall spit in his mouth, and anoint his tongue with your 
spittle ; and thus doing he will never forsake you, but follow you like 
a spaniel.” 
We see the same principle also pervading the following ex- 
tract, which we take from the late Mr. Youatt’s work on the 
horse. Reference is here made to Mr. Catlin’s travels among 
the North American Indians, in which he describes the man- 
ner in which the Indian tames the wild horses — 
“ He coils his lasso on his arm, and gallops fearlessly into the herd of 
wild horses. He soon gets it over the neck of one of the number 
when he instantly dismounts, leaving his own horse, and runs as fast as he 
can, letting the lasso pass out gradually and carefully through his hands, 
until the horse falls for want of breath, and lies helpless on the ground. 
The Indian advances slowly towards the horse’s head, keeping the lasso 
tight upon his neck, until he fastens a pair of hobbles on the animal’s two 
fore feet, and also loosens the lasso, giving the horse a chance to breathe, 
and passing a noose round the under jaw, by which he gets great power 
over the affrighted animal, that is rearing and plunging when it gets breath, 
and by which, as he advances, hand over hand, towards the horse’s nose, 
he is able to hold it down, and prevent it from throwing itself over on its 
back. By this means he gradually advances, until he is able to place 
his hand on the animal’s nose and over his eyes, and, at length, to breathe 
into its nostrils , when it soon becomes docile and conquered ; so that he lias 
little else to do than to remove the hobbles from its feet, and lead or ride it 
to the camp. The animal is so completely conquered, that it submits 
quietly ever after, and is led or rode away witli very little difficulty.” 
“JVir. Ellis, B.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, happened to read this 
account, and he felt a natural desire to ascertain how far this mode of 
horse-taming might be employed among British horses. He soon had 
the opportunity of putting the veracity of the story to the test. His 
brother-in-law had a filly, not yet a year old, that had been removed from 
her dam three months before, and since that time had not been taken out of 
the stable. A great amateur in everything relating to horses was present, 
and at his request it was determined that the experiment of the efficacy of 
breathing into the nostrils should be immediately put to the test. The filly 
was brought from the stable, the amateur leading her by the halter. She 
was quite wild, and bolted, and dragged the amateur a considerable distance. 
He had been using a short halter; he changed it for a longer one, and 
was then able to lead the little scared thing to the front of the house. The 
experiment was tried under manifest disadvantage, for the filly was in the 
open air, several strangers were about her, and both the owner and the 
amateur were rather seeking amusement from the failure than knowledge 
from the success of their experiment. 
“The filly was restive and frightened, and with great difficulty the 
amateur managed to cover her eyes. At length he succeeded, and blew into 
the nostrils. No particular effect seemed to follow. He then breathed into 
her nostrils, and the moment he did so, the filly, who had very much resisted 
having her eyes blindfolded, and had been very restive, stood perfectly still 
