The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1875-05-07
The Tarpan or Original Wild Horse.

Numerous troops of wild horses haunt
the Steppes east of the Ural Mountains.
Similar troops of these animals wander
over the whole extent of the Steppes of
Central Asia, which the most accredited
modern naturalists repute to he the ORR
ginal cradle of the horse.
These wild steeds are called tarpans, a
word undoubtedly derived from the Tar
tar. Shall we look upon them as the re-
presentatives of the primitive breed,
whence have sprung all the varieties
known at the present day; or shall We
see in them, as well as in the wander
ing horses of the prairies and pampas of
the New World, merely the descendants
of individuals which have escaped from
the thralldom of man! This latter
hypothesis seems to be the most proba-
BILE But there is good ground for be-
lieving that living a wild life, these an
imals are gradually returning to the
primitive type. They have lost the
harmonious graces of form. the beauty
and the vigor which we admire in
the high-br Steed. perfected by the as
siduous care of man.
There seems as great difference be-
tween the Arabian horse and the wild
horse Of the Steppes as between the ac-
compliShed American gentleman and a
Malaga<y savage. They are of small
stature; their limbs are lank; their coat
is coarse, woolly, rude and rongh. With
the tarpans of the northern Steppes il Is
thick, faky and frizzled. Their mouth
and nostrils are garnished with long hair
not unlike a goat. Their color il gener-
ally brown, though a few are black or
white. They have large head, with
the forehead projecting above the eyes;
straight chamfer, and long ears Gust
omarily laid back close to the head.
The troops of the tarpans are subdiv-
ided into herds of twenty or thirty; each
herd usually living apart, and only un-
iting in compact phalanx when a COM
mon danger threatens, or necessity
arises of migrating from one region to
another
The gaunt, grim wolves, which hung
er drives from their neIghboring forest,
and man, who hunts them hOtly, either
to reduce them into subjection or kill
them for their flesh, are almost the only
enemies they have any reason to-dread.
The warlike nomad tribes of the Black
and Caspian coasts, and of Central Asia,
have DO. other breeding-grounds than
the Steppes which they inhabit. Thith-
er come Cossack and Mongol, and
Kirgiis and Kalmuck. to choose their
chargers. They catch them by means of
lasso, which they throw with surpris-
ing dexterity, and in few days train
them into a suitable docility.
When in want of their hide and flesh,
the nomads hunt them with gun, arrow,
or spear; for hippophagy, which few
Jealous amateurs are now endeavoring to
popularize in France and England, has
been practiced from time immemorial
by the inhabitants of the Steppes.
In connection with the subject, it is
curious that the horse is nowhere found
in certainly wild state. When the
New World was discovered there was
not horse grazing on the rich pastur-
age from Greenland to Terra del Fuego.
All that we have are decended from Eu-
ropean stock; and yet, as scientific re-
search has shown, horses once existed
on this continent, preceded in still earl
ier times by animals of the same char
acter, but differing in the hoof and 9th.
er points.