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MAMMALIA. 
posed life, have lost many characteristics which were possessed by 
their progenitors. These Horses, called Tarpans, Mustangs, and 
Parameros, according to locality, live most frequently in bands of 
fifteen to twenty, of which only one is a mature male. In the 
pampas of Paraguay, however, the droves are sometimes composed 
of more than 10,000 animals. They are controlled by chiefs, who 
always lead them in travelling as well as in escaping pursuit, and 
each drove inhabits a particular district, which it defends against 
the invasion of strangers, and does not abandon unless obliged by 
deficiency of pasturage, or by the attacks of some of the larger 
carnivora. The migration of wild Horses crossing the wide 
plains of the Hew World, almost shaking the ground under 
their measured tramp, is a spectacle to delight the traveller. 
Divided into squadrons composed of a stallion and his attendant 
mares, the column progresses, preceded by their scouts. If 
these droves should meet with domestic Horses, they invite them 
by neighings to regain their lost liberty and join their wandering 
phalanx, a request too frequently accepted. 
These wild Horses can be broken in for Man’s use, but their 
struggles are most determined before they are willing to resume 
the commonplace life which was led by their ancestors. 
Spaniards and Indians capture wild Horses by surrounding, aud 
forcing a drove to enter an enclosure, called a coral, where a 
horseman, armed with a lasso (a long strip of green hide, provided 
with a noose at one end), or the bailer os (two balls connected by a 
cord), is placed. In Mexico the former implement is used, in lower 
South America the latter ; and the skill and address with which 
these people entangle and throw the objects of their pursuit are 
truly surprising. However violent and protracted the victim may 
struggle, it must ultimately succumb, when a leather strap with a 
slip noose having been placed round its lower jaw, or a villainously 
cruel Spanish bit in its mouth, an Indian mounts. After making 
vain efforts to get rid of the Man, the Horse sets off at full 
gallop, stimulated moreover by the spur. After being ridden till 
thoroughly exhausted, and its lungs bursting for want of breath, 
it submits to be led back to the coral. Henceforth it is tamed, or, 
more properly, broken-spirited, and although left free with the 
domesticated Horses, does not seek to escape ; for having felt the 
brand of serfdom, it feels unworthy of liberty. Young Horses are 
