88 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

“They stop—they start—they snuff the air,
Gallop a moment here and there,
Approach, retire, wheel round and round,
Then plunging back with sudden bound,
Headed by one black mighty steed,

‘Who seemed the patriarch of his breed,
Without a single speck or hair

Of white upon his shaggy hide;

They suort—they foam—neigh—swerve aside,
And backward to the forest fly,

. By instinct, from a humen eye.”

The most numerous herds are at present found on the ex-
tensive plains of South America, where, when an additional
horse is required, it is taken by the lasso, a strong plaited
thong, about forty feet in length, which the guachos cast dex-
terously round the frightened animal, when in full career ;
the sudden jerk throws him to the ground, and once in the
power of man, he is soon made to submit to his will, and to
devote his strength to the docile fulfilment of his wishes.

«Tt has been well observed, that had not custom dignified
the lion with the title of ‘king of beasts,’ reason could
nowhere confer that honour more deservedly than on the
horse. His courage, strength, and fleetness, his symmetri-
cal form, and grandeur of deportment, are unalloyed by any
quality injurious to other creatures, or calculated to create