SAGACITY OF THE HORSE.

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and after being once subjected, they may be ridden by almost anybody. Often, however, they are gradually broken while yet little colts, by the children of the ranchos. The value of a horse is proportioned to his adaptation to the various operations of a cattle-farm, his courage, skill, and fleetness in the pursuit of wild cattle, and his familiarity with their subjugation and management. The severest test of these qualities is his behavior in attacking a bear, a feat often undertaken by a single ranchero, without other aid than his horse, his inseparable friend the riata, and the accustomed knife worn in his garter. Thus equipped, he will lasso the largest and most ferocious bear; and, drawing the brute to a tree, and taking a turn or two around him, will despatch him with his knife, while the sagacious horse keeps the riata fastened to the saddle at its fullest tension. The bear, indeed, is immensely stronger than the horse, and if lassoed by the fore-paw, could, by merely standing on his hind legs, draw up several mounted men united by their riatas; but skill and intrepidity accomplish what mere force could never effect; and I have seen the fiercest and wildest mountain bull attacked and overcome by a single skilful vaquero, who carried him off as peaceably as if he were a puppy led by a string. On such occasions the horse exhibits the wonderful sagacity of his nature, his sense of his own importance, as the trusty ally of his master, and a degree of excitement and pleasure at least equal to that of his rider. The intelligence of the animal then most nearly approaches human reason, and his large expanded nostril, his reeking coat, his cautious approaches to the foe, around whom he lightly careers, like a boxer in the arena, the stiffness of his muscles when he plants and braces himself for the sudden and violent jerks of his antagonist, far more powerful than himself, and above all, the careful and jealous watchfulness of his piercing and regardful eye, form a picture of equine sagacity and attitude which would delight a Horace Vernet. And

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CARE OF THE HORSE.

when the bellowing and raging bull, at length overcome in the struggle between strength and skill, falls heavily to the earth, cowed and conquered at the feet of the victor, it is surprising to see the apparent scorn with which the noble beast looks on the catastrophe, and how-guiltless of the meaner passion of revenge-he seeks only to recruit his exhausted strength for the next conflict.

No stabling, no grooming, no farriery, no shoeing, no docking, no clipping, no jockeying, are connected with the care of the California horse. After a hard day's journey he is unbridled and unsaddled, and suffered to roam at large until he is again wanted by his master. The manadas, once put under the care of their garañon, require no farther management than merely to drive them back from a neighbor's rancho, to which they may have strayed. The sultan garañon keeps a jealous eye over his harem, and should one of them attempt to stray from her "carencia," or to encourage the advances of a neighboring sultan, not only does the injured husband, with war-like neighs loud-sounding, attack the seducer with hoofs and teeth, but the luckless odalisque is sure to receive a severe punishment.

The horse in California probably attains his greatest age, owing, perhaps, to his living in a state of nature, and having abundance of food. General Vallejo has horses in his possession which he has owned upwards of twenty-five years, and I have been assured that this age is not uncommon. They are subject to none of the maladies of our horses, that I could ever see or hear of. The few that are broken to harness work well. Such a thing as storing food is almost unknown, although sometimes a little barley is put away for the use of a favorite horse during the rainy season. The season of scarcity, however, which begins about the first of October, is brief, as pasture or grass seeds, and wild oats, are abundant nearly the whole year.

With the earliest showers in October or November, the alfileria. (pin-grass), the bunch-grass, or tussock, the burr