COMMON HORSE, 
321 
colour. Their heads are larger, in proportion 
to their bodies, than those of the tame horses ; 
and their foreheads remarkably arched. They 
herd together in large companies, and often 
gather round the horses of the Mungals and 
Kalkas, while grazingin the fields, and carry them 
olf among them. They are observed to be very 
watchful of their common safety. While the herd 
is feeding, one of their number is placed as senti- 
nel on an eminence ; when danger of any kind ap- 
proaches, he warns his fellows by neighing, and 
they all betake themselves to flight with the ut- 
most velocity. Yet the Kalmuks frequently sur- 
prise them, ride in among the herds, on very fleet 
tame horses, and kill them with broad lances. 
Hawks are also used in taking the wild horses ; 
those birds are taught to fix on the forehead of 
the quadruped, where they tease and distress it in 
such a manner, as to prevent it from es^ping its 
pursuer. 
In the wilds of xlfriea too, the horse is said to 
be found in a state of nature. In the.couutry ad- 
joining to the Cape of Good Hope, numbers of 
wild horses are found. Their size is small, their 
dispositions vicious ; and no art, we are told, can 
succeed in taming them. The negroes kill them 
for eating. 
In the deserts on each side of the river Don, 
particularly towards the Pal us Ma?otis and the 
town of Backmut, there are a race of wild horses, 
which are known to be the progeny of the Russian 
horses that were turned loose from the siege of 
Asoph in the year 1697, for want of forage. The 
Cossacks chase and kill these for their skins. 
When they happen to take a young one, it is do- 
mesticated by coupling it, for a few months, with 
a tame horse. These arc much stronger than the 
tame horses of the country. The horses of the 
T t 
