XXII 
THE HOESE. 
HISTORY. 
desired for the perfecting of the Horse. If, in certain parts, a too humid atmosphere, and rank vegetation, are calculated to give 
grossness to the animal form, there are others embellished with every gift that can give to it lightness, buoyancy, and grace. There 
are regions more pure of air than the Caucasian Mountains, or the Syrian Plains ; and were but a tenth part of the care bestowed 
on rearing the Horse in these beautiful countries as in the deserts of the wandering Bedouin, it cannot he doubted that South 
America would produce horses equal to any in the world. 
North America seems equally adapted to the temperament of the Horse as any similar countries in the Old Continent. The 
Mexican horses are derived from Spain, and seem in no other respect inferior to the European than a less careful management 
may account for. Mexican horses have likewise escaped into the woods and savannahs of the prodigious countries which extend 
northward and westward from the Gulf of Mexico; hut they have not multiplied in the same numbers as in the plains of the Plata. 
They have extended northward even to the Rocky Mountains, and the sources of the Columbia, in the 52d or 53d parallel of latitude. 
The Indians of the country have learned to pursue and capture them, employing them in hunting, and transporting their families 
from place to place; the first great change that has taken place for ages in the condition of the red man of the North American 
woods. The highest ambition, we are told, of the young Indian of these northern tribes is to possess a good horse for the chase 
of the buffalo. The Ossages form large hunting parties for the chase of horses in the country of the Red Canadian River, using 
relays of fresh horses until they have run down the wild herds. The horses in these parts are yet more precious in the estimation 
of the Indians than in the countries of the South, where they have multiplied more. To steal the horse of an adverse tribe, Dr 
Richardson informs us, is considered by the people as an exploit nearly as heroic as the killing of an enemy; and the distances 
they will travel, and the privations they will undergo, in these predatory excursions, are scarcely to be believed. So precious do 
they hold this new gift, that an Indian who owns a horse will scarcely continue to sleep after nightfall, but will sit at the opening 
of his tent, with the halter in one hand, and his gun in the other, the horse’s legs at the same time being tied with thongs of 
leather. Notwithstanding of all his care, it sometimes happens that the wearied hunter, suffering himself to be overcome by sleep 
for a few minutes, is awakened by the noise of the thief galloping off with his plunder. 
The Anglo-Americans, the Canadians, and the European Colonists of the West India Islands, have all acquired the domesti¬ 
cated horse. The horses of Canada, chiefly of French lineage, are coarse and small, but hardy, muscular, and useful. Those of 
the United States are of every variety, derived originally from England, but crossed by the modern English racer, and even by 
the horses of Syria and Arabia. From this cause, and the great variety and extent of these countries, the inhabitants of the 
States have a very mixed race of horses, many of which are excellent. It is the character of this people to carry ardour and 
boldness of execution into every favoured pursuit, and the improvement of their horses at this time occupies much of their atten¬ 
tion. They are fond of horse-races, particularly in the Southern States, and have adopted to a certain degree the usages of the 
English Turf. The nature of their country leads them to cultivate useful horses for the road, and for their innumerable private 
and public carriages. They prefer the trot to the paces more admired in the Old Continent; and having directed attention to the 
conformation which consists with this character, the fastest trotting horses in the world are to he found in the United States. The 
breeds of the West India Islands are those of the parent states. The horses of Cuba are derived from Spain, and retain the dis¬ 
tinctive characters of the parent stock. Those of the English Colonies have been improved by the continued intercourse with the 
mother country. 
