Each morning one of the men would go out some
distance from the house and blow on a horn, which could be heard
distinctly two miles away; and presently a number of horses, in couples
and troops, would come galloping in, after which they would remain all
the morning grazing and gamboling about the house. These horses were now
in constant requisition, all the members of the family, male and female,
spending several hours every day in careering over the surrounding
country, seemingly without any particular object. The contagion did not
affect me, however, for, although I had always been a bold rider (in my
own country), and excessively fond of horseback exercise, their fashion
of riding without bridles, and on diminutive straw saddles, seemed to me
neither safe nor pleasant.
One morning after breakfasting, I took my ax, and was proceeding slowly,
immersed in thought, to the forest, when hearing a slight swishing sound
of hoofs on the grass, I turned and beheld the venerable father, mounted
on his charger, and rushing away towards the hills at an insanely
break-neck pace.
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