The Pennsylvania horses of the first half of the last century were remarkably uniform in size, and from a large number of cases in which the size is given I find the exact average was thirteen hands one and one-quarter inches. Of the twenty-eight animals in which the habit of action is given, twenty-four were pacers, three both paced and trotted, and just one is given as a natural trotter. Here we have two very striking facts—the low stature and the uniformity of the pacing gait. These horses average a quarter of an inch below the Virginians, the next lowest, and a higher ratio of pacers than in any other colony. There must have been some reason or reasons for this, and I will suggest two which strike me as probably effective in producing these results. The earliest settlers in Southeastern Pennsylvania were the Swedes. They brought their horses with them from the Old World, and they were undoubtedly pacers, but I have no means of determining anything about their size. This may be an important factor in determining the uniformity of the gait, as well as the diminutive size. The other consideration that I will present is the fact that the pacer was more fashionable in and about Philadelphia, then the leading city of the continent, than in any other section or portion of the colonies. It is a fact that seems to be fully established, that early in the last century the breeding of pacing horses was carried on in the region of Philadelphia, with much spirit and intelligence, and that pacing stallions for public service were carefully selected for their shapeliness and speed. It is also a fact that all horses that could not pace were, in the public estimation, classed as basely bred. The Swedes and Finns planted a colony on the west bank of the Delaware in 1638, and as they were an industrious and thrifty people they prospered and extended their plantation up the river as far as Philadelphia. This territory was then claimed by the Dutch of New Netherlands, and they overcame the Swedes in 1655, and ten years later they in turn had to surrender to the English. Of the early Swedes, the Rev. Acrelius wrote and published, in the Swedish language, a very valuable account of his people. In speaking of their horses he says: “The horses are real ponies and are seldom over sixteen hands high [evidently a misprint and should read “thirteen” instead of “sixteen”]. He who has a good riding horse never employs him for draft; which is also the less necessary, as journeys are for the most part made on horseback. It must be the result of this, more than of any particular breed in the horses, that the country excels in fast horses, so that horse races are often made for very high stakes.” Such horses often sold for sixty dollars in our modern money. The question of the pacers of Philadelphia will be considered more at length in the chapters devoted to the history of the pacer.