EQUUS. 
E. caballus, or tlie common horse. The 
elegance, grace, and usefulness of the horse 
entitle him to particular attention, and cer- 
tainly confer upon him a pre-eminence 
above all other quadrupeds. There are 
few parts of the world in which horses are 
not to be found ; and in various parts of 
Africa they maintain their original inde- 
pendence, and range at pleasure in herds of 
several hundreds, having always one or 
more as an advanced guard, to alarm against 
approaching danger. These alarms are ex- 
pressed by a sudden snorting, at which the 
main body gallop off with the most sur- 
prizing swiftness. In the south of Siberia 
also, and at the north-west of China, wild 
horses are to be found in considerable 
abundance ; and it is stated, that different 
herds will carry on hostilities, and one party 
frequently surround an enemy inferior in 
number, and conduct them to the hostile 
territory, maneuvering perpetually to baffle 
all their attempts to escape. On each 
bank of the river Don, towards the Palus 
Mceotis, horses are found wild, but are 
supposed to be the descendants of domesti- 
cated horses, belonging to the Russian army 
occupied in the siege of Asoph, at the close 
of the seventeenth century. In America, 
likewise, horses are found wild in vast 
abundance, sweeping the extensive plains 
of Buenos Ayres, and the Brazils particu- 
larly, in immense herds. They are taken 
by the inhabitants by being entangled in a 
noosed cord, and are .often destroyed merely 
for their hides, as an article of commerce. 
These American horses are the descendants 
of those which were introduced by the 
Spaniards on their discovery of America, 
as none having previously existed on that 
continent. They are, in general, small and 
clumsily formed, and their height rarely 
above fourteen hands. In the deserts of 
Arabia it has been stated by several writers, 
wild horses are extremely abundant, but 
Shaw and Sonnini, with greater probabi- 
lity, confine their appearance in that coun- 
try, to the borders of the desert, the latter 
not supplying materials for their subsis- 
tence. Mr. Bruce mentions the horses of 
Nubia as unequalled in beauty, and far su- 
perior to those of Arabia. Of the former 
little notice has been taken but from that 
observant traveller ; of the latter the fame 
has long been distinguished, and the Ara- 
bian horse, celebrated for his beauty and 
swiftness, has been long exported to the 
most remote countries of Europe, to cor- 
rect and improve the native breeds. la 
Arabia almost every man possesses his 
horse, which lives in the same apartment or 
tent with his family, and is considered as 
constituting by no means the least im- 
portant part of it. Harsh and violent ap- 
plications, such as the whip or spur, are 
rarely inflicted on it. It is fed with the 
most regular attention, and cleaned with 
incessant assiduity. The Arab occasionally 
appears to carry on a conversational inter- 
course with his horse, and his external at- 
tachment to this animal excites in return a 
corresponding affection. The horse being 
purified under his management from every 
vicious propensity, and guarded against ca- 
sual injury with the utmost solicitude, suf- 
fering the infant children to climb its legs 
without the slightest attempt to kick or 
shake them off. The Arabs never cross the 
breeds of horses, and preserve the genealo- 
gies of these animals for a considerable 
number of generations; The horses of 
Barbary are in high reputation, also, for 
speed and elegance, as are likewise those' of 
Spain. In various parts of the East, as in 
India and in some parts of China, there 
exists a race of these animals, scarcely ex- 
ceeding the height of a large mastiff, and 
with their diminutive size are generally con- 
nected not a little intractability and mis- 
chievousness. In no country of the globe 
has the breeding of the horse been at- 
tended to on more enlarged and philoso- 
phic principles than in Great Britain, and 
with such success have the efforts of the 
English on this subject been attended, that 
their horses are in the highest estimation 
throughout Europe, and in periods of na- 
tional tranquillity constitute an important 
article of exportation. Their race-horse is 
not excelled in fleetness or beauty by the 
coursers of Barbary or Arabia, and in sup- 
porting a continuance of intense effort is 
far superior to them both. Details of the 
exploits of English racers form a subject of 
extreme interest to a particular description 
of readers, and cannot be considered by 
any admirers of nature as beneath attention. 
Out of innumerable instances which have 
been authenticated, we shall just mention, 
that Bay Malton, belonging to the Marquis 
of Rockingham, ran four miles on the York 
course in seven minutes and forty-four se- 
conds. The celebrated Childers is sup- 
posed to have been the fleetest horse ever 
known in the world. He was opposed by 
all the most distinguished horses of his day, 
and what is, perhaps, unprecedented in 
such a variety of contests, in every instance 
