VI 
THE HOESE. 
HISTORY. 
Mingled with the Gnoos, the Elands, the Caamas, the Camelopards, and all the beautiful species of Antelopes, they gladden the 
face of the wilderness, and give an aspect truly African to the scene; whilst Lions, Leopards, Hyaenas, Jackals, and other Ferae, 
restrain their numbers within fitting limits. Captain Harris, in his Account of the Interior, gives vivid portraitures of the mass 
of life which those wild scenes sometimes present. “ On the morning of the 9th October,” says he, “ when the waggons had 
started on their way to the Meristane River, our next stage, I turned off the road in pursuit of a troop of Brindled Gnoos, and 
presently came upon another, which was joined by a third still larger, and then by a vast herd of Zebras, and again by more 
Gnoos, with Sassabys and Hartebeests, pouring down from every quarter, until the landscape literally presented the appearance of 
a moving mass of game. Their incredible numbers so impeded their progress, that I had no difficulty in closing with them, dis¬ 
mounting as opportunity offered, firing both barrels of my rifle into the retreating phalanx, and leaving the ground strewed with 
the slain.” Again, in describing his further hunting in the country of the Meristane River,—“ We soon perceived large herds of 
Quaggas and Brindled Gnoos, which continued to join each other until the whole place seemed alive. The clatter of their hoofs 
was perfectly astounding; and I could compare it to nothing but to the din of a tremendous charge of cavalry, or the rushing of a 
mighty tempest. I could not estimate the accumulated numbers at less than 15,000, a great extent of country being actually 
chequered black and white with their congregated masses. As the panic caused by the report of our rifles extended, clouds of 
dust hovered over them, and the long necks of troops of ostriches were also to be seen towering above the heads of their less 
gigantic neighbours, and sailing past with astonishing rapidity. Groups of purple Sassabys and brilliant red and yellow Harte¬ 
beests likewise lent their aid to complete the picture.” “ The savages kept in our wake, dexterously despatching the wounded 
Gnoos by a touch on the spine with the point of an assagai, and instantly covering up the carcasses with bushes to secure them 
from the voracity of the vultures, which hung about us like specks in the firmament, and descended with the velocity of lightning, 
as each discharge of our artillery gave token of prey.” 
Turning from these regions of life to the elevated deserts of the great plateau of central Asia, we find another creature of 
the Equine tribe, the Dziggithai, or Horse of Tartary. This fine creature is frequently called the Wild Mule, from his resem¬ 
blance to the hybrid progeny of the Horse and Ass. He was termed Hemionos, or Half-Ass, by the Greeks, to whom he was 
known from his being formerly found in Arabia, and in the deserts of Syria, and in Asia Minor. He is chiefly found in the 
countries bordering on the Great Desert of Kobi, and extending eastward through Chinese Tartary. His stature is that of the 
Mule, but he is much more graceful and swift. His fur is of a uniform bay or fawn colour, long in winter, but smooth and glossy 
in summer. He has a soft bushy mane, which extends from the nape to the withers, and his tail is terminated by a tuft of hairs 
about a foot in length. Like the Horse in the wild state, he lives in troops, migrating from place to place, mainly in the open 
plains, and rarely approaching the forest. These animals are hunted by the people of the desert for their skins and flesh. They 
have the senses of sight and smell in exquisite perfection, and when put to flight they dart along with the swiftness of the antelope. 
They have never been reduced to domestication. It is said that when taken young they can be subdued to a certain degree, but 
never resign the wildness of their nature. 
But of all the species of Horse, that which most concerns the interests and enjoyments of mankind is the Common or 
Domestic Horse. This creature is not more remarkable for the grace and nobleness of his form, for his strength, agility, and 
swiftness, for his boldness and spirit, than for the docility with which he resigns his vast powers to the service of mankind. The 
subjection of the noble creature is complete ; but it is not the degradation of unwilling bondage, but the instinctive surrender of 
physical powers for the purposes for which they were given. If we can read design at all in the functions of the animal economy, 
we must believe that the Horse has been formed for the service of mankind, and has had the faculties assigned to him which are 
fitted for that end. His vast strength, his courage, his powers of rapid progression, would avail us nothing, were he not endowed 
with a temperament which causes him to submit his actions to the control of superior reason. Were he like the Zebra of the 
African mountains, or the Dziggithai of Eastern Tartary, he would be the subject of persecution and the chase, instead of being 
an instrument of civilization, by augmenting our means of mutual intercourse, and increasing our command over the objects which 
surround us. Nature has not formed this powerful creature to shun the control of man, but has linked him by his natural wants 
and instincts to our society. It is only when under human guidance that his most useful faculties are exercised, and his full ma¬ 
turity of strength and form attained. The natural state of the Horse, it may be said, is not that of freedom, but of domestication. 
The Horse is distinguished from all the others of the Equine genus, by the superior expansion of his chest, the larger develop¬ 
ment of his muscles, the greater strength and lateral distance of his limbs, the elevation of his withers, the long and flowing hairs 
of his mane and tail, and his loud and sonorous voice. He is herbivorous, and delights in the fruits of the gramineous and legu¬ 
minous plants,—as of the oat, the wheat, the maize, the rice, the bean, the pea. He partakes too of succulent roots and tubers, 
