298 MISCELLANEA. 
Method of treating the Sore Backs of Horses near 
9 
THE MlSSISIPPI. 
Our horses’ backs had been chafed by the saddles, notwith¬ 
standing all the care taken to keep them in a sound state, which 
was dictated, not only by humanity, but also by a provident at¬ 
tention to our own interest; for very little experience is required 
to satisfy a traveller that much of his comfort and expedition, in 
such a journey as our’s, depends on the circumstance of his 
horse’s back not being galled, as it otherwise torments and tires 
the animal before he has performed much work. For the in¬ 
formation of other travellers we may mention that, after having 
tried many applications, we found none to succeed so well as 
white lead moistened in milk: whenever the application was 
made in the early stage of the wound, we have found this to be 
very effectual. As long as this could be procured, we used it. 
After we left the settlement, sweet oil was used as a substitute for 
milk. It is a convenient thing to carry on an expedition, as a 
couple of ounces of white lead sufficed for the whole of our party 
during more than a month.— Keating’s Expedition to the Source 
of St. Peter’s River , p. 190. 
Docking Horses. 
Horses kept for riding are adorned with.a long bushy tail, 
which increases their beauty and value. Even the meanest negro 
slave would think it an indignity and a punishment, were he or¬ 
dered to ride a horse deprived of its tail. The Indians think we 
are jesting when they hear us say, that in Europe there exist 
men w r ho cut off the tails of their horses, and reckon it an im¬ 
provement ; for they think that a handsome tail is not only a 
great ornament to a horse, but likewise his instrument of defence 
with which he drives away the swarms of flies and gnats. 
To mutilate the tail of another person’s horse, is a bitter and 
not uncommon kind of revenge amongst the lower orders of In¬ 
dians ; and it is also thought an insufferable insult for one man to 
call another un rabon , i. e. a horse without a tail. 
Dobrierhoffer’s Account of the Abipones y vol. i, p. 232. 
■.. A 
«* • 
Attachment of Animals. 
Grief works, in a lively manner upon animals. I knew a 
dog that died for the loss of its master, and a bullfinch that ab¬ 
stained from singing ten entire months, on account of the absence- 
of its mistress, and on her return resumed its song. Lord Kaimes 
relates an instance of a canary which, in singing to his mate, 
hatching her eggs in a cage, fell dead. The female, quitted her 
nest, and, finding him dead, rejected all food, and died by his 
side. Homer is not so extravagant as some may be inclined- to 
