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Show CHAP. II. ITORSES. 52 . t Jl become oxtulC. 1 Parontly have a · Rnccics or naturalrncPR, t Jeso ap c 1 d . the common view 'l' w· 1 . ·csent ]mow e ge, tb in 1hc wild . tn,tc. J.t 1 0111 P1 . 1 pccics is, perhaps, e that an hn.vc dose ndccl from a smg e s most probable. the modificn,tions which horses \Vith rcHpect to the cm~s?s ofof life seem to produce a conhave nndergone, tho conchhonDs F :b s who has ]lad excellent siderable dt.r .e ct e f!'c c t · M·r · · I or. c ' f Spain w. 1 f 1th t 1ose o • rr tho bo1 ses o ' 1 · · opportunities of comparmo 1 t tl . horses of Chile, w nell Sonth Amcl'l.c a, m· f orm s me t 1a 1lB't " s as their I)rogem" t. ors ~ l th same cone 1 1011 have lived under near Y e _. .1 t tho Pam]ms horses and the in Andn.lusia, remam· una ltered ' "1d1'1fi s d 1'here can be no clou b t Pnno ponies are considerably ml o dll~ .size and altered in appear- that horses become g.r · catly. rec ucdc . m 1 · 1 cls. and this apparent y IS . . untams an IS an ' 1 ance by hvmg on mo < • d f d Every one knows ww ·t· or vane oo . clue to want of nutn tous . . the Northern islands and small and rugged the pomes aCre .o~ and Sardinia have their . f Europe or siCa < on the roountams o · 17 • t'll are on some islands on · d tl ere were or s 1 ' native porues; an 1 . 1.1' tl se of the Shetland I slands, f V · · · omes 1 {e · 10 the coast o n gmia, P .· . ted throuo·h exposure to b l' d to have ongma o whieh are e JCve. . The Puno ponies, which inhabit the unfavourable conditions. I hear from Mr. D. . f tl Cordillera, are, as . lofty regwns o te . unlike their Spam h pro-b t little creatures, very · For es, s range . l . tl Falkland I slands, the offsprmg 't . Further sout 1, m re 1 d gem OlS. • . . d . 1764 have already so muc l e-of the horses I.mpol te m . tl that they are unfitted for . t d . size 18 and stieng l tenora e m ' . 1 1 , . that fresh horses have to 1. · 'ld cattle wrth t 1e asso , so < catcumg Wl . f· L Plata at a great expense. be brought for this purpose rom : d both southern and The reduced size of the horses re o~ . , ell northern . 1 d d on several mountam-chams, can bar y IS an s, an . . d · h . d b the cold as a slmllar re uct10n as have been cause y ' . 1 d rrl e ·l v· . · · n and Mediterranean 1s an s. 1 occurred on tle ngnna < · • ]' n the . · ld for w1ld troops IVe 0 horse can wJthstand mtense co ' h t plains of Siberia under lat. 56o ,1n and aboriginally the orse mus 11 • 'fransact. Maryland Academy,' vol. i. part i. p. 28. 18 Mr. Mackinnon on ' Tho Falkland I slands,' p. 25. The avemgo height of tho Falkland horses is said to be 14 hands 2 inches. See also my 'Journal of Researches.' 19 Pallas, ' Act. Acad. St. Pete_rs-burgb,' 1777, part ii. P· 26~. W1th respect to the tarpans scrapmg .aw~y the snow' see Col. Hamil ton Sm1th m • Nat. Lib.,' vol. xii. p. 165. CHAP. 11. .THEIR VARIATION. 53 have inhabited countries annually covered with snow, for he long retains tho instinct of scraping it away to get at the herbage beneath. The wild tarpans in the East have this instinct; and, as I am informed by Admiral Sulivan, this is likewise the case with tho horses which have run wild on the Falkland Islands ; now thjs is the more remarkable as tho progenitors of these horses could not have followed this instinct during many generations in La Plata : the wild cattle of the Falklands never scrape away the snow, and perish when the ground is long covered. In the northern parts of America the horses, descended from those introduced by the Spanish conquerors of 1\:Iexico, have the same habit, as have the native bisons, but not so the cattle introduced from Europe.20 The horse can flourish under intense beat as well as under intense cold, for he is known to come to the highest perfection, though not attaining a large size, in AraLia and northern Afi·ica. Much humidity is apparently more injurious to the horse than heat or cold. In the Falkland Islands, horses suffer much from the dampness ; and this same circumstance may perhaps partly account for the singular fact that to the eastward of the Bay of Bengal, 21 over an enormous and humid area in Ava P e()'u Siam, the Malayan archipelago, the Loo Choo' Islands' ando ·a' . . ' large part of Chma, no full-sized horse is found. When we advance as far eastward as Japan, the horse reacquires his full size.22 With most of our domesticated animals, soroo breeds are kept on account of their curiosity or beauty; but the horse is valued almost solely for its utility. Hence semi-monstt:ous breeds are not preserved; and probably all the existing breeds J1ave been slowly formed either by the direct action of the conditions of life, or through the selection of individual differences. No doubt semi-monstrous breeds might have beeu formed : thus Mr. Waterton records 23 tho case of a ~are which produced sue- 20 Franklin's 'Narrative,' vol. i. p. 87; note by Sir J. Richardson. 21 Mr. J. H. Moor, 'Notices of the Indian Archipelago:' Singapore, 1837, p. 189. A pony fi·om J ava was sent (' Athenroum,' 1842, p. 718) to the Queen only 28 inches in height. For tho Loo Choo Islands, see Beechey's 'Voyage,' 4th edit., vol. i. p. 499. 22 J. Crawford, 'History of tho Horse ;' 'Journal of Royal United Service Institution,' vol. iv. 2 3 'Essays on Natural History,' 2nd series, p. 161. |