very good horses, which run with great speed over these wild tracts without being shod with iron.'[1]
The Tanghans, or Tibetan ponies Hooker saw in the Himalayas, are described as wonderfully strong and enduring. 'They are never shod, and the hoof often cracks and they become pigeon-toed.'[2]
Horses are never shod in the Moluccas, or the Straits of Malacca. With regard to Java, Sir Stamford Raffles says: 'Horses are never shod in Java, nor are they secured in the stable as is usual in Europe and Western India. A separate enclosure is appropriated for each horse, within which the animal is allowed to move and turn at pleasure, being otherwise unconfined. These enclosures are erected at a short distance from each other, and with separate roofs. They are generally raised above the ground, and have a boarded floor.'[3] The same kind of floor is in use at Manilla.
Lichtenstein remarks of the Cape of Good Hope horses, that, owing to their being accustomed from their youth to seek their nourishment upon dry mountains, they are easily satisfied, and 'grow so hard in the hoofs that there is no occasion to shoe them'.[4]
Anderssen, describing some of his journeys in South Africa, says: 'On an after-occasion, I remember to have performed upwards of ninety miles at a very great pace, only once or twice removing the saddle for a few minutes. And be it borne in mind that the animals were young, in-
- ↑ Narrative of the Travels of Marco Polo. London, 1849. p. 234.
- ↑ Himalayan Journals, vol. ii. p. 131.
- ↑ History of Java, vol. ii. p. 319.
- ↑ Travels in Southern Africa, vol. ii. p. 27. London, 1812.
