Dollar Weekly Mirror

Fight Between Eleven Hundred Horses.

Southey, in his History of the Peninsular War, relates the following: "Two of the Spanish regiments which had been quartered in Fuen were cavalry, mounted on fine black long tailed Andalusian horses. It was impossible to bring off these horses—about 1100 in number—and Romano was not a man who could order them to be destroyed; he was fond of horses himself, and knew that every man was attached to his beast, which had earned him so far and so faithfully. Their bridles were therefore taken off and they were turned loose upon the beach. A scene ensued such as was never before witnessed. They became sensible that they were no longer under the restraint of any human power. A general conflict ensued, in which, retaining the discipline they had learned, they charged each other in squadrons of ten or twelve together, then closely engaged, striking with their fore feet, and biting and tearing each other with the most ferocious rage, and trampling over those who were beaten down, till the shore in the course of an hour was strewn with the dead and disabled. Part of them had been set free on rising ground at a distance. They no sooner heard the roar of battle, than they came thundering down over the intermediate hedges, and catching the contagious madness, plunged into the fight with equal fury. Sublime as the scene was, it was too horrible to be long contemplated, and Romano, in mercy, gave orders to destroy them. But it was found too dangerous to attempt this, and after the last boat had quitted the beach, the few horses that remained were still engaged in the dreadful work of mutual destruction."