440 



THE MULTIPLE ORIGIN OF HORSES AND PONIES. 



mainly by the engravings on the walls of caves in the Dordogne, 

 Gard, and other districts in the south of France that the existence 



in late Palaeolithic times of various kinds 

 of light and heavy species of horses is 

 made manifest. 



In the cave of La Mouthe, e. g., two 

 horses are incised on the same panel — per- 

 haps by the same hand — one of which (fig. 

 1) has a very long head attached nearly 

 at right angles to a short, thick neck, 

 while the other has a small head, Arab- 

 like ears, and a long, slender neck, such as 

 we are wont to associate with race horses. 

 In the Combarelles cave (Commune of 

 Tayac), the walls of which for more than 

 100 yards are crowded ^^•ith animal fig- 

 ures, there are, in addition to 23 nearly 

 full-sized engravings of horses, numerous 



Fig. 1.— Horse with a long head, 

 from an engraving in the cave 

 of La Mouthe. (Munro's "Pre- 

 historic Horses." ) 



studies of equine heads. 

 Some of the Combarelles 

 horses decidedly differ 

 from those of La Mouthe. 

 There is, e. g., a large 

 drawing of a heavily built 

 horse (fig. 2) with a coarse 

 head, an arched muzzle, 

 a thick under lip, rounded 

 quarters, and a tail with 

 long hair up to the root. 

 At another part of the cave 

 there is what appears to be 

 a natural-size engrraVinsr 



Fio. 2.— Engraving of a heavily built horse, from 

 the Combarelles cave (x"s)- (Munro's "Prehistoric 

 Horses.") 



(fig. 3) of a head whicli in outline is won- 

 derfully suggestive of an Arab, and at yet 

 another part of the cave a horse with a 

 pony-like head is represented, behind which 

 stands an animal with a head like that of 

 a modern Shire horse. 



In addition to the tyiDes figured on the 

 walls of caves, there are others carved on 

 pieces of horn and other durable substances. 

 The majority of the horses engraved on 

 horn are characterized bj^ a very large 

 coarse head, but a few (e. g., the horse from 



the Kesserloch cave near Schafl'hausen) arc remai'kal)le for the small 



size of the head, the fine muzzle, and small ears. 



Fig. 3.— Head of a horse with a 

 profile like that of an Arab, 

 from the Combarelles cave 

 (i). (Munro's "Prehistoric 

 Hor.ses.") 



