Charles
Hamilton Smith (1776-1859), an English artist and naturalist, delivered one of
the most important and extensive descriptions of the wild horses inhabiting the
Russian steppe during the 19th century. He also is the artist of the
famous “Augsburg Aurochs”.
In The Natural History of horses, with Memoir
of Gesner, published in 1841, Smith describes not only the appearance, but
also social behaviour and seasonal migrations of the animals considered to be
Tarpans. He also distinguishes between pure Tarpans and mixed feral domestic
herds. He apparently obtained his information from local people and soldiers, and also argues against other naturalists saying that all free-roaming horses of western Eurasia are feral and not wild. Moreover, Smith also mentions wild or feral horses in western Europe that seem to be largely similar to those of the steppes. Down below you find the most interesting passages on the Tarpan which I typed
from the digitalized version of his work on google, from page 148 to 166:
“But doubts
may be entertained respecting the real source of the wild horses roaming of the
Ukraine, in Europe, eastwards to the northern extremity of Chinese Tahtary:
those about the Don, it is asserted, are sprung from domesticated animals sent
to grass during the siege of Azof in 1696 (or, as in other authorities, 1657),
which could not again be entirely recaptured. Forster was disposed to consider
all the wild horses in Asia descendants from strayed animals belonging to the
inhabitants; and Pallas, who had likewise travelled in Asiatic Russia, inclined
to the same conclusions. He thought the horses from the Volga to the Oural the
progeny of domestic animals; and again, that all from the Jaik and Don, and in
Bokhara, where of the Kalmuck and Kurguise breed, remarking, that they are
mostly fulvous, rufous and Isabella; while, on the Volga, he noticed them as
usually brown, dark brown, silver-gray, some having white legs and other signs
of intermixture. […] Now, if we examine the extent of the travellers’ own immediate
means of judgment, we find that they have occasionally seen troops of wild
Equidae at a distance, and been enabled to give one drawing of a living colt
recently captured, besides two or three more species from living specimens or
stuffed skins: surely a sweeping conclusion upon such scanty data may be
convenient, but is scarcely deserving of acquiescence; particularly when we
take into account, that, including the collected opinions of those upon the
spot, in themselves only of conditional value, the field of obervation explored
is scarcely a hundredth part of the surface whereon this zoological problem
must be decided. The Russian dominions extend over most level part only: four
chains, at least, of enormous mountains, whose direction is even in a measure
unknown occur within the great basin of the Thiachan, the Little Altai, the
Himalaya mountains, and Hindukoh; and opon them there are table lands of more
than 16,000 feet in elevation, not as yet traversed by a European foot, though
known to be stocked with wild horses and other animals. […] Over the whole
extent of this almost boundless surface several species of Equidae are noticed,
and shall we assume that these also are feral descendants of stray animals at
the siege of Azof, though neither Forster nor Pallas advanced such an opinion?
Surely no: nor can we deny that in the south-eastern mountain frontier of
Russia, upon the inclinded plains restingagainst the chain, the original wild
Equus caballus is still found; and that in the other regions of the empire
stretching westward, they are likewise of the wild stock, but more and more
adulterated with domestic races as they approach towards Europe, or have been
long peopled by fixed residents.
Even in the
south-western steppes to the Ukraine, there have been wild horses, as is
attested by the earliest historians, poets and geographers […] and if the
horses on the banks of the Don are of feral or of mixed blood, their origin and
contamination is surely much older than the siege of Azof. Even at that period,
there were still wild horses kept in the parks of Eastern Europe, like other
game, for the service of the tables of the great. To admit, therefore, the
conclusion, that all the wild horses of the old continent are descended from
animals at some period under the dominion of man, appears a gratuitous
assumption resting upon no proof, and in opposition to historical records from
the time of Herodotus to our own age: it would imply the absorption into
domesticity of the whole species, or of several species, in regions where such
abounded wildernesses exist, in several parts still maintaining a parent stock
of other domestic animals: or involve the total destruction of the original
wild horses upon this immeasurable surface, where man subsequently could not prevent
their again multiplying to uncountable numbers; while in Europe, the most
peopled part of the old world, there were still in existence wild individuals
of a race never reclaimed. […]
Now, with
regard to wild horses, in the relations of the ancients and in the travels of
modern writers, though we have reason occasionally to suspect they mistake the
onager and the hemionus for real horses, their still remains sufficient
authority for their presence in a state of nature, under one or other of their
primaeval forms, as far as the south and west of Europe and their
characteristics assuming the same preference for opposite habitations in plains
or in woody mountains which we now perceive to be a leading distinction of the
zebra and the Dauw; traits of character the more important, as they indicate a
different mode of living a choice of plants, not alike both, - adissimilar
temperament; and when coupled with different proportions and position of the
ears, an arched or plane forhead, a straight or curved nose, a difference of
colour in the eyes, of the skin, of the hoofs, the constancy of their liveries,
of their marks, in a streak along the back and bars on the limbs, of dappled
croups and shoulders, or of dark uniform colours, dense or thin manes and
tails, although traits now mixed, feeble and evanescent, they appear to be
indications of original difference of forms sufficient to be distinct though
osculating species, or at least of races separated at so remote a period that
they may claim to have been divided from the earliest times of our present
zoology.
Wild
horses, by Oppian denominated hippagri and by Pliny equiferi, are the first
mentioned by Herodotus as being of a white colour and inhabiting Scythia, about
the river Hypanis or Bog, he notices others in Thrace, beyond the Danube,
distinguished by a long fur. Aristotle (de Mirab) indicates them in Syria, but
with manners that seem to refer them to hemionus or onager. Oppian places his
hippagrus in Ethiopia, and denies the presence of wild horses in Syria; an
opinion entitled to credit from his local knowledge and his description of the
onager, which shows that he was acquainted with both. […]
In Varro,
we find that there were wild horses in Spain; the ancients generally admit
their existence in Saridina and Corsica; dapper places others in Cyprus;
Strabo, in the Alps; and we know that they existed in the British islands. All
seem to refer to a sturdy form of mountain-forest ponies, still found in the
province of Cordova, in the Pyrenees, the Vogesian range, the Camargue, the Ardennes,
Great Britain, and in the Scandinavian highlands: all remarkable for an
intelligent but malicious character, broad forheads, strong lower jaws, heavy
manes, great forelocks, long bushy tails, robust bodies, and strong limbs; with
a livery in general pale dun, yellowish brown and a streack along the spine and
cross bars on the limbs, or the limbs entirely black, as well as all the long
hair and mostly havng a tendency to achy and gray, often dappled on the quarter
and shoulders. They prefer the cover, delight in rocky situations, are dainty
in picking their food, do mischief in plantations and their cunning, artifice,
and endurance is far greater of that of large horses. From many circumstances,
this form of Equus may be deemed indigenous in North-western Europe, and
aborigine distinct from the large black race of Northern Gaul, which once
ranged wild in the marshy forests of the Netherlands, and was so fears that it
was held to be untameable. It was a gaunt, ugly animal, with a large head and
bristly mouth, small, pale, often blue eyes, a haggard and abundand mane and
tail, which according to Cardanus, when rubbed in the night, emitted sparks of
fire; the hips were high, the legs nodose, and the feet broad, flat and hidden
in an immense quantity of long bristly hairs about the fetlocks: this form of
horse may have extended northward as far as the Hartz […]. It may, indeed, have
been a feral branch, only in part wild, and introduced with the first
Gallo-Belgic colony that ascended the Danube, […].
But the
ancients all agree in their statements concerning wild horses of the north-east
of Europe residing, according to their narratives, from Pontus northward into
regions unknown to their geography; some we have seen are described as white,
and having the hair five or six inches long, characters we find verified at
present in Asiatic Russia and in the wild horses of the Pamere table land. In
the woods and plains of Poland and Prussia there were wild horses to a late
period. Beauplan asserts their existence in the Ukraine, and Erasmus Stella, in
his work “De Origine Borussorum”, speaks of the wild horses of Prussia as
unnoticed by Greek and Latin authors. “They are”, he writes, “in form nearly
like the domestic species, but with soft backs, unfit to be ridden, shy and
difficult to capture, but very good venison.” These horses are evidently again
referred to by Andr. Schneebergius, who states, that “there were wild horses in
the preserves of the prince of Prussia, resembling the domestic, but
mouse-coloured, with a dark streak on the spine, and the mane and tail dark;
they were not greatly alarmed at the sight of human beings, but inexpressibly
violent if any person attempted to mount them. They were reserved for the table
like other game.” It may be that in both the above extracts the hemionus or the
onager is presumed to be depicted, but the difference of mane and tail is so
obvious, that such an objection cannot be entertained; and should it be said
that these were merely feral horses, it might be asked in return, what a true
wild species must be like to satisfy the dissentient. In our view, this form of
horse is the original eelback dun of the west, and allied to the common Median
horse of antiquity; the parent, by gradual subjugation and intermixture, of the
mouse-coloured and sorrels still common in Lithuania; and particularly those
breeds that, with the black streak along the back, have cross bars on the
joints, and a black mane, tail, and fetlocks [Footnote: Rzonozynski compares
the Polish wild horses (Kondziki) in size to the Samogitian (Zmudzineks),
mostly with tan or mouse-colored liveries; but there being other furs, attests
they were mixed in his time. He describes the manners of the stallions, and
admits that they can be trained, which, indeed, is equally true of the zebra
and quagga. He relates their extension over the Ukraine, and gradual decrease].
These were the wild and feral horses of Europe, as far as Bessarabia, from the
earliest era to the close of the seventeenth century; and from the facts recorded,
we may with some confidence conclude, that farther east, where Europe displays
an Asiatic character, becoming more and more, as we adcance in that direction,
wild and uncultivable, that the appearance of the wild animals, particularly
the horses, have retained their original nature more and more purely as we
reced from the haunts of civilization, showing marks of degeneracy only where
the old human migrations have passed, but leaving the typical characters
everywhere perceptible. This is the cause of which induced authors to derive
all the wild horses of Asia from the stray troop-horses at the siege of Azof,
then, be it observed, already geldings, yet made to replenish the steppe with a
species constantly noticed before and since as abundant in a wild state in the
same regions! Within these few years, Moorcroft and the brothers Gerrard, when
they penetrated into Independents Tahtary and within the borders of China, met
with numerous herds of wild horses, scouring along the table lands, sixteen
thousand feet above the sea, and express not the least in of their having been
domesticated at any period.
Whatever
may be the lucubrations of naturalists in their cabinets, it does not appear
that the Tahtar or even the Cossack nations have any doubt upon the subject,
for they assert that they can distinguish a feral breed from the wild by many
tokens; and naming the former Takja and Muzin, denominate the real wild horse
Tarpan and Tarpani. We have had some opportunity of making personal inquiries
on wild horses among a considerable number of Cossacks of different parts of
Russia, and among Bashkirs, Kirguise, and Kalmucks, and with a sufficient
recollection of the statements of Pallas, and Buffon’s information obtained
from M. Sanchez, to direct the questions to most of the points at issue. From
the answers of Russian officers of this irregular cavalry, who spoke French or
German, we drew the general conclusion of their decided belief in a true wild
and untamable species of horse, and in herds that were of mixed origin. Those
most aquainted with a nomad life, and in particular and orderly Cossacck
attached to a Tahtar chief as Russian interpreter, furnished us with the
substance of the following notice.
“The
Tarpany form herds of several hundreds, subdivided into smaller troops, each
headed by a stallion; they are not found unmixed, excepting towards the borders
of China; they prefer wide, open, elevated steppes, and always proceed in lines
or files, usually with the head to windward, moving slowly forward while grazing, the stallions leading and occasionally
going round their own troop; young stallions are often at some distance, and
single, because they are expelled by the older until they can form a troop of
young mares of their own; their heads are seldom observed to be down for any
length of time; they utter now and then a kind of snort, with a long neigh,
somewhat like a horse expecting its oats, but yet distinguishable by the voice
from any domestic species, excepting the woolly Kalmuck breed: they have a remarkable
piercing sight; the point of a Cossack spear, at a great distance on the
horizon, seen behind a bush, being sufficient to make a whole troop halt: but
this is not a token of alarm, it soon resumes its march, till some young
stallion on the skirts begins to blow with his nostrils, moves his ears in all
directions with rapidity, and trots or scampers forward to reconnoitre, bearing
the head very high and the tail out: if his curiosity is satisfied, he stops
and begins to graze; but if he takes alarm, he flings up his croup, turns
around, and with a peculiarly shrill neighing, warns the herd, which
immediately turns round and gallops off at an amazing rate, with the stallions
in the rear, stopping and locking back repeatedly, while the mares and foals disappear
as if by enchantment, because with unerring tact they select the first swell of
ground or ravine to conceal them until they reappear at a great distance,
generally in a direction to preserve the lee side of the apprehended danger.
Although bears and wolves occasionally prowl after a herd, they will not
venture to attack it, for the sultan-stallion will instantly meet the
enemy, and, rising on his
haunches, strike him down with the fore feet; and should he be worsted, which
is seldom the case, another stallion becomes the champion: and in the case of a
troop of wolves, the herd forms a close mass, with the foals within, and the
stallions charge in a body, which no troop of wolves will venture to encounter.
Carnivora, therefore, must be contended with aged or injured stragglers.
“The
sultan-stallion” is not, however, suffered to retain the chief authority for
more than one season, without opposition from others, rising in the confidence
of youthful strength, to try by battle whether the leadership not be confided
to them, and the defeated party is driven from the herd in exile.
“These
animals are found in the greatest purity on the Karakoum, south of the lake of
Aral, and the Syrdaria, near Kusneh, and on the banks of the river Tom, in the
territory of the Kalkas, the Mongolian deserts, and the solitudes of the Gobi:
within the Russian frontier, there are, however, some adultered herds in the
vicinity of the fixed settlements, distinguishable by the variety of their
colours and a selection of residence less remote from their human habitations.
Real
Tarpans are not larger than ordinary mules, their colour variably tan, Isabella
or mouse, being all shades of the same livery, and only varying in depth by the
growth or decrease of a whitish surcoath, longer than the hair, increasing from
midsummer and shedding in May: during the cold season it is long, heavy, and
soft, lying so close as to feel like a bear’s fur, and then is entirely
grizzled; in a summer much falls away, leaving only a certain quantity on the
back and loins: the head is small, the forehead greatly arched, the ears far
back, either long or short, the eyes small and malignant, the chin and muzzle
beset with bristles, the neck rather thin, crested with a thick rugged mane,
which, like the tail, is black, also the pasterns, which are long: the hoofs
are narrow, high and rather pointed; the tail, descending only to the hocks, is
furnished with coarse and rather curly or wavy hairs close up to the crupper;
the croup as high as the withers: the voice of the Tarpan is loud, and shriller
than that of a domestic horse; and their action, standing, and general
appearance, resembles somewhat that of vicious mules.”
The feral
horses, we were told, form likewise in herds, but have no regular order of
proceeding: they take to flight more indiscriminately, and were simply called
Muzin. They may be known by their disorderly mode of feeding, their desire to
entice domestic horses to join them, by their colours being browner, sometimes
having white legs, and being often silvery gray: their heads are larger and the
neck shorter; but their winter coat is nearly as heavy as that of the wild, and
there is always a number of certain expelled Tarpan stallions among them, but
they are more in search of cover and of watery places, and the wild herds being
less in want of drink and more unwilling to encounter water, being even said
not to be able to swim; while the Muzin will cross considerable rivers. During
winter, both resort to elevated ground were the winds have swept away the snow,
or dig with their fore feet and break the ice to get at their food.
Their
olfactory sense, though not delicate in distinguishing enemies at great
distances, is remarkable for judging the nature of swamps, which they often
traverse, particularly the south of the Lake Aral: when thus entangled at
fault, their scent indicates the passable places, and the snorting of the first
that finds one is immediately observed and followed by the others.
The genuine
wild species is migratory, proceeding northward in summer to a considerable
distance, and returning early in autumn. The mixed races wander rather in the
direction of the pastures than to a point of the compass; nearer Europe, they
haunt the vicinity of cultivation, and attack the hay-stacks which the farmers
make at a distance in the open country. Though in many respects they have
similar manners, they want the instinct of the wild: upon being taken young,
after severe resistance, they submit to slavery. The Tarpans always die of
ennui in a short time, if they do not break their own necks in resisting the
will of man: they are moreover, said to attack and destroy domestic horses:
they rise on their haunches in fighting, and bite furiously; while the mixed
races, though ready to bite, are more willing to strike out with their hind
feed, and neither have ever been remarked lying down. In these particulars, the
younger Gmelin, who likewise travelled in Eastern Russia, corroborates our
account, and he does not appear to have come to the same conclsions as Forster
or Pallas; we may therefore infer, from what is here stated, that the foal
observed by the last mentioned outhor, when he was on the Samara, opposite
Sorothinska, caught at Toskair Krepost, was of the mixed race, or not
sufficiently grown to furnish a satisfactory representation.”
Everyone is
free to interpret it himself, but to me it clearly shows that the Tarpan, also
in the steppes, was not a mere Konik-counterpart. His description suggests that the colour was predominantly some kind of bay dun, with some
individuals perhaps being black dun, which is accordant to the genetic
evidence. The attribute of being mule-like overall seems to confirm that the
Tarpan was much like the Przewalski’s horse in appearance (except the apparently
falling mane), and thus also resembling certain primitive horse breeds. Here
you have Smith’s artistic interpretation of the Tarpans of the steppe:
 |
| C. H. Smith's artistic interpretation of the Tarpan (public domain) |
