Instead Of Bits They Have Bars Of Wood On Each Side
Of The Mouth, Secured By A Rope Round The Nose And Chin.
When
horses which have been broken with bits gallop they put up their
heads till the nose is level with the ears, and it is useless to
try either to guide or check them.
They are always wanting to join
the great herds on the hillside or sea-shore, from which they are
only driven down as they are needed. In every Yezo village the
first sound that one hears at break of day is the gallop of forty
or fifty horses, pursued by an Aino, who has hunted them from the
hills. A horse is worth from twenty-eight shillings upwards. They
are very sure-footed when their feet are not sore, and cross a
stream or chasm on a single rickety plank, or walk on a narrow
ledge above a river or gulch without fear. They are barefooted,
their hoofs are very hard, and I am glad to be rid of the perpetual
tying and untying and replacing of the straw shoes of the well-
cared-for horses of the main island. A man rides with them, and
for a man and three horses the charge is only sixpence for each 2.5
miles. I am now making Ito ride in front of me, to make sure that
he does not beat or otherwise misuse his beast.
After crossing the Nopkobets, from which the fighting horses have
led me to make so long a digression, we went right up into the "bad
mountains," and crossed the three tremendous passes of Lebungetoge.
Except by saying that this disused bridle-track is impassable,
people have scarcely exaggerated its difficulties.
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