Horses are suffered to live wild in the Ukraine, among the Cossacks, on the river Don; here they go in troops of four or five hundred together, seldom attended with more than one or two men on horseback; they have seldom any shelter when the ground is even covered with snow, which they scrape away with their fore feet to get at the pasture; and it is only in very hard winters, and then but for a few days, that they are lodged in the villages. These troops have a chief among them, whom they implicitly obey, and singular as it may appear, he directs their course, makes them proceed or stop at his pleasure. He seems also to have a regular command, and regulates all their movements when attacked by wolves or robbers: in this situation he assumes entirely the business of a commanding officer, and is busily engaged, during the whole time, in traversing round the troops, and if he perceives any out of their places he pushes them in with his shoulder, and actually compels them to resume their station. Without being arranged by men they march in perfect order, and pasture in perfect files or brigades, without ever mixing or separating, notwithstanding they are at perfect liberty, and without the smallest control. It is no less singular, that their chief generally maintains his situation for four or five years, but he no sooner discovers the least symptoms of inactivity than some one will come out of the herd and attack him; if he conquers he continues the command, but if subdued he is forced to fall into the ranks, and the victor becomes chief, and is obeyed by the whole troop.