ntry are thus described by Mr.
Catlin: "There is no other animal on the prairies so wild and sagacious
as the horse, and none so difficult to come up with. So remarkably keen
is their eye, that they will generally run 'at sight' a mile distant;
and, when once in motion, they seldom stop short of three or four
miles. I made many attempts to approach them by stealth, when they were
grazing, and playing their gambols, without succeeding more than once.
In this instance I left my horse, and skulked through a ravine for a
couple of miles, until I was within gunshot of a fine herd of them.
These were of all colors--some milk-white, some jet-black; others were
sorrel, and bay, and cream color; and many were of an iron-gray. Their
manes were profuse, and hanging in the wildest confusion over their
faces and necks, while their long tails swept the ground."

The Camanches and other tribes of Indians capture great numbers of wild
horses. The process is described by Catlin as follows: "The Indian,
when he starts for a wild horse, mounts one of the fleetest he can get,
and, coiling his lasso under his arm, which consists of a thong of
cowhide ten or fifteen yards long, with a noose at the end of it, he
starts under 'full whip' till he can enter the drove, when he soon gets
the noose over the neck of one of them. He then dismounts, leaving his
own horse, and runs as fast as he can, letting the lasso pass out
gradually and carefully through his hands, until the horse falls for
want of breath, and lies helpless on the ground. The Indian then
advances slowly towards his head, keeping the lasso tight upon his
neck, until he fastens a pair of hobbles on his two fore feet, and also
loosens the lasso, and moves it round the under jaws; by which he gets
great power over the affrighted animal, which is constantly rearing and
plunging. He then advances, hand over hand, towards the horse's nose,
and places one hand over his eyes; he then breathes in his nostrils,
when he soon becomes conquered and docile, and allows himself to be led
or ridden to the camp."

It appears that horses are subject to a kind of panic, which in the
western prairies is called _stampede_. The instances of this frenzy,
as described by travellers, sometimes present the most terrific
spectacles. Mr. Kendall, in his "Narrative," gives us the following
lively sketch:--

"As there was no wood about our camping-ground, some half a dozen men
pushed on in search of it. One of