The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-01-07
THE WILD HO RSA.
He Makes a Rover OF Domesticated

He Makes a Rover OF Domesticated
Brethren w hen He Meets Them.
From Go!dthwGite's Geographical Magazine.
Very young students in their first at
tempts at composition, often informed US
that the horse is q useful animal This
sweeping generalization is subject to impor-
tant notifications before it is accepted in
all communities There are many thou
sands Of horses that toll not like their pro-
genitors, but 20 like the wind where it
listeth, and are looked upon as intolerable
nuisances in the civilized regions they some
times invade. Our Australian friends,
for instance, are no lovers of the
horse in his uutamed state, aud some OF the
colonies set price upon his head and do all
they can to stimulate movements for his de-
struction. Several thousand wild horses
were shot In New South Wales alone in 1875.
These rovers of the plains play the mischief
with domestioated animals when they come
among them, and the colonIsts are very
much disguised to observe that the noble
horse. relapsng into barbarism and forget
ting his oats and the other comforts Of oiv-
ilization, runs off with his wild brethren
which have not enjoyed his superior advan-
tages.
1t must be confessed that our horses need
the restraints imposed upon them to pre-
vent them from disgracing their ancestors,
who were certainly domesticated when they
were introduced into this country. Years
ago it used to be the custom in our south
western territory to brand the young stock.
aud even many work animals, and turn
them loose to shift for themselves for year
or two. When they were wanted they were
always as wild as Mexican mustangs. Mr.
Powell wrote book on the best method of
tanning wild horses. The specimens on
which he exerted his talents as a tanner
were. for the most part, formerly domestic
Gated animals, who had forgotten all about
their restraints while wandering over the
plains of our southwestern territory.
Travellers lin western territories are no
longer in danger of such an eruption of
horsefiesh as Murray described in his
travels In North America" He not only
witnessed a stampede of thousands of panic
stricken horses but the living torrent swept
along toward and over his camp, trampling
skins and dried meat into the ground ;,
knocking down some of the tents, aud TAX
ing with them all its horses except his riding
mare, who vainly struggled to break her
fasteninRs. They still range in much
smaller herds than formerly on the plains
of the upper Colorado; but the wild horse,
like the buffalo, has practically disappeared
before the advance Of the white man.
In spite of the experience Of the Austria
been able to turn the wild horse to good
account. Hundreds of thousands OF Next
can mustangs have been reduced to servi-
tude. The wild horse of the South American
pampas, which three centuries ago, only
fifteen years after the horse was introduced
from Europe, had spread to regions as re-
mote as Patagonia, has been tanned by
thousands, and has become the useful serv-
ant of Indian tribes.
Naturalists often discuss the question
| whether there is now in the world such a
creature as an aboriginal or truly wild
| horse. We know very well that the wild
horses OF the western hemisphere are all
descendants of domestioated animals
Where, then, is the aboriginal wild horse to
| be foundl The question will probably
never be settled. ]. H. Steel, who recently
read an interesting paper on wild Horses'
| be ore the Bombay Natural History So
ciety, thinks the evidence is In favor Of the
| existence Of the wild horse in Central Asia.
Gesner. the great authority on zoology of
the sixteenth century was Of the same
| opinion, but the fact has often been
| questioned, and the assertion cannot posi-
| lively be made that the wild horse of the
| great mountain region which the Russians
are now exploring, and Of which they have
secured some specimens, is not himself the
| descendant OF ancient domestic animals.
Another question Of Importance as yet
unsolved is: Whether two or three years.
run on the pampas would rejuvenate the
average street car horse, develop the latent
savagery of his nature and make a wild
horse Of him. II equine liberty and freedom
from human restraint could achieve such a
miracle, it would be very interesting to
| know it.