730 
THE ORIGINAL HORSE. 
States. New York, a noted horse State, had 993,900 head in 
1880, and has practically decreased every year since, except 1894, 
and now only has 654,045. Pennsylvania, the other largest East¬ 
ern State, had 602,200 in 1880, and January 1, 1896, had 607,516. 
She increased to 659,484 in 1894, but dropped back again to 
normal conditions in 1895. 
THE ORIGINAL HORSE. 
A small party of Frenchmen of science, which included 
Prince Henri of Orleans and M. Bonvalot, has lately returned 
from a journey of exploration through the vast and almost unin¬ 
habited regions of Central Asia. The expedition brought back 
several stuffed specimens of rare animals found in that part of the 
world, and among them a specimen of the hemione, or Klang 
horse. This animal probably approaches as near to the primi¬ 
tive horse as any now found in a wild state. 
The home of the Klang horse is the high plateau of Chinese 
Turkestan, between Lake Eob Nor and the mountainous region 
of Thibet. This plateau is covered with a growth of short grass, 
on which the wild horses graze. The climate is very cold, the 
mercury in winter sinking to 40 degrees below zero, Fahrenheit. 
The Klang horse is a shabby, unkempt-looking animal, 
having bodily somewhat the aspect of a donkey, except as to the 
tail and ears. It is, however, a genuine horse, having rather 
delicate legs and feet, and ears by no means resembling those of 
a donkey or mule. 
The color of the head and of the upper part and sides of the 
body is a reddish-tan, shading to a bay, and though downward 
it contrasts strikingly with the pure white of the animal’s belly 
and the inner side of the fore legs. 
Along the spine runs a well-defined stripe of thick, blackish 
brown hair, extending to the root of the tail. The hair is long 
and shaggy, and adapts the horse to living in a cold country. 
The Klangs, like all the other wild horses, live in bands or 
herds of one hundred to two hundred individuals, each presided 
over by an old male, says the Youth''s Companion. This leader 
gives the signal when any danger approaches. 
The Klangs are preyed upon frequently by wolves ; but 
their most terrible and dreaded enemy is the ounce, or Turke¬ 
stan panther, several specimens of which were shot by Prince 
Henri. 
