454 THE MULTIPLE ORIGIN OF HORSES AND PONIES. 



cave by one of the artist hunters of the early stone age, it will, I 

 thi»k, be admitted the Norse horse probably belongs to a very ancient 

 I'ace. 



I need only add that I regard the Norse race as the foundation of 

 what in the Highlands are known as " garrons." Horses of this type 

 may very well have been originally obtained by blending the old 

 indigenous yellow-dun striped race with P^lemish and French breeds 

 imported direct from the Continent or introduced from England 

 during the middle ages. Further, it is extremely probable that the 

 Norse race took part in forming the small active Clydesdales of a 

 former generation. 



OTHER OCCIDENTAL HORSES. 



In addition to Oriental and African varieties, which doubtless 

 include several wild species amongst their ancestors, there are two 

 or more Occidental varieties which in various ways dift'er from the 

 Norse and Celtic races and from Prjevalsk^^'s horse. 



One of the latter races include long, low, heavily built animals 

 with unusually long heads ; another consists of short-bodied animals 

 with a large head and a pronounced Roman nose. 



The long-headed variety which occurs in the Hebrides and the 

 Central Highlands reminds one of the horses engraved during the 

 stone age on a piece of reindeer horn. In one specimen of this 

 variety met with in Perthshire the profile is straight, and the dis- 

 tance from the orbit to the nostril is 13 inches, i. e.. 2 inches more 

 than in a member of the Norse breed of a like size, and 4 inches 

 longer than in a 14-hands Connemara pony allied to the Celtic race. 

 Some of these long-headed forms with a straight profile and a well- 

 molded muzzle resemble the horses of the Parthenon. 



Horses with a pronounced Roman nose also occur in the western 

 islands and Highlands of Scotland, and in Ireland, Austria, America, 

 and other parts of the world into which breeds Avere introduced from 

 Spain. One of this Roman-nosed type, of a yellow-dun color, met 

 with in the Outer Hebrides, was especially interesting. It very 

 decidedly differed from members of the Norse race in the same dis- 

 trict, but, on the other hand, it agreed in the outline of the heiul with 

 some of the engravings in the Dordogne caves. It is hence conceiv- 

 able that the Roman-nosed variety (from which the modern Shire 

 i)reed may be an ofl'shoot) is a very old one— a variety which was 

 firmly established centuries before domesticated breeds first made 

 their appearance in Europe. 



