The horse, like the other tame animals, has, no doubt, been originally domesticated by human art. Wild horses are still found in various parts of the world. But this species of animals have been so long known in a domestic state, and their useful qualities have caused them to be diffused so generally over the globe, that it is impossible to discover with any degree of certainty, of what country they were originally natives. Wild horses are found in the country lying around the lake Aral; on the river Tom, in the southern part of Siberia; in the great Mongalian deserts, and among the Kalkas, north-west of China. These horses are smaller than the domestic; their hair, particularly in winter, is very thick, and of a mouse colour. Their heads are larger, in proportion to their bodies, than those of the tame horses; and their foreheads remarkably arched. They herd together in large companies, and often gather round the horses of the Mongals and Kalkas, while grazing in the fields, and carry them off among them. They are observed to be very watchful of their common safety. While the herd is feeding, one of their number is placed as centinel on an eminence; when danger of any kind approaches, he warns his fellows by neighing, and they all betake themselves to flight, with the utmost velocity. Yet, the Kalmuks frequently surprize them, ride in among the herds, on very fleet tame horses, and kill them with broad lances. Hawks are also used in taking the wild horses; those birds are taught to fix on the forehead of the quadruped, where they teize and distress it in such ing against the rebels, in 1715, died at Pennycuick, only in the year 1760; and must consequently have been, at the time of his death, more than fiftyyeam old. a manner as to prevent it from escaping its purs suer. We are told by a celebrated traveller, that he had once occasion to see a garment very speedily made, out of the skin of a dead horse. A young man, naked, received the skin on his shoulders, as soon as it was fairly separated from the carcase. A wo man, who performed the office of taylor, immediately cut the skin so as to fit it to the different parts of his body; and then sewed it about him while it was still raw; and the youth was accordingly, in less than two hours, now clad in an excellent brown-bay coat. The horses of Arabia and Barbary are often brought into Europe; and through all the countries of the east they are highly prized. The Persian horses are said to be not inferior to some of our finest European horses; yet still the Arabian horses are esteemed preferable to them. The horses of India are far from being of a good kind: they are extremely small; and Tavernier relates, that when he visited that part of the east, the young Mogul prince, who was about seven or eight years of age, used to appear in public, mounted on a small horse, elegantly shaped, the size of which was not larger than that of a grey hound. In India, therefore, the Arabian horses are very much sought after. The horses of Barbary have been introduced into Italy and Spain. The Spanish genette is much esteemed. This variety of the horse is small, but beautifully shaped, and very swift: The head is rather large in proportion to the body; the mane thick; the ears long, but well pointed; the legs finely shaped, and almost without hair, the pastern rather beyond proportion large; and the hoof rather too high. They are usually of a black or bay colour. The Italian horses are not, at present, in the same estimation in, which they once were. They are of a large size, and highspirited, and move very graceful; they are much disposed to prance. The Danish horses are excellent for the draught. They are stout and well built; but seldom elegant, or finely proportioned. They move well; and accordingly make good war horses. They are all of different colours; sometimes streaked like the tyger, or spotted like the leopard. The German horses are originally of the Arabian and the Barbary breed. They are, however, small, ill-shaped, and weak, and have tender hoofs: But the Hungarian horses are excellent for both the draught and the saddle. The Dutch horses are preferred for the draught, through Europe. The English horses are at present esteemed through Europe, more perhaps than those of any other country. The attention paid, in our island, to the culture of this species of animals, and the vast sums expended on studs and horse-races, must naturally produce this effect. The horse, as being a martial animal, was dedicated to the god of war. The Persians, Armenians, and Masagetæ, sacrificed horses to the sun. The Suevi, according to Tacitus, maintained white horses in the sacred woods at the public charge, and from them drew omens. The sight of a horse, according to the poet Virgil, was generally considered as ominous of war. ON THE PRESENT INHUMAN MODE OF HE mode of slaughtering cattle, &c. in this discreditable to those who have the power to re dress it. It is the current practice to bleed calves to death for the purpose of whitening the meat, and the process evinces ingenuity in torture. An incision is made in the throat, and the animal is hung by the heels to a beam, while yet alive, and convulsed with pain, one end of a short iron hook is stuck in the body near the tail, and the other in the mouth, for the purpose of bending the neck, and opening the wound, and in this state the poor beast remains, sometimes for hours, before it dies.The mode of felling oxen, although less objectionable, is still unnecessarily barbarous, The writer of this article has seen an ox, with its head almost shattered to pieces, five several times break from the butcher, after receiving as many blows. The subject is so painful and so disgusting, that the multitude have not decision enough to credit it, and thus it happens that either with cruel indifference they submit to the abuse, or with mistaken notions of necessity, silence the pleadings of humanity. Lord Somerville, to whom society is much indebted for his benevolent and patriotic endeavours to promote useful knowledge, took with him to Lisbon a person to be instructed in the Portuguese method of slaying oxen, or, as it is there termed, from the mildness of the 66 process, to lay down cattle."-The butcher stands in front of the animal, and holding the right horn in his left hand, passes a sharp pointed knife, about six inches in the blade, over its brow, through the vertibræ of the neck into the spine, and in an instant it is dead. His Lordship has engaged to have our slaughtering butchers here instructed in this practice, but they, with all the ignorant pertinacity and prejudice to be expected from such a class, decline the offer, and we fear will continue to do so, unless the legislature or the community, by appropriate resolutions, should coerce its adoption. ANECDOTES OF THE CZAR PETER OF RUSSIA. PETER ETER the Great, desirous of forming useful establishments in his dominions, and of encouraging those already existing, visited the different work-shops and manufactories with much assiduity. -Among others, were the forges of Muller, at Istia, on the road to Kalouga, at ninety wersts distance from Moscow. He once passed a whole month there, during which time he drank chalybeate waters; and after having given due attention to the affairs of the state, which he never neglected; he amused himself with not only seeing and examining every thing in the most minute manner, but also with putting his hand to the work, and learning the business of a blacksmith. He succeeded so well, that one of the last days of this excursion, he forged alone eighteen poods of iron (the pood is equal to forty pounds), and put his own particular 'mark on each bar. The boyars and other noblemen of his suite were obliged to blow the bellows, to stir the fire, to carry coals, and perform all the other offices of journeymen blacksmiths. Some days after, on his return to Moscow, he went to see Verner Muller, bestowed great praise on his establishment, and asked him how much he gave per pood for iron in bars, furnished by a master blacksmith. "Three copacks, or an altin," answered Muller. "Well, then," said the Czar, I have earned eighteen altins, and am come to be paid." Muller immediately opened his bureau, took out eighteen ducats, and counting them before the prince, "It is the least," said he, "that |