THE MULTIPLE ORIGIN OF HORSES AND PONIES. 449 



Herodotus (v, q.) says of the horses of the Sigynnsc — the only tribe 

 lie know the iiiuiie of across the Danube — they " are shajijj^y all over 

 the hod}', to 5 finders in depth of hair; they are small, llat-nosed, and 

 unable to carry men ; but when yoked to chariots they arc very fleet, 

 therefore the natives drive chariots." This description, so far as it 

 iroes, is singularly accurate of the foxy red Faroe ponies, even to 

 their being very fleet "when yoked to chariots.'' It is extremely 

 probable that in the red colored Faroe ponies we have a remnant of a 

 very old and once widely distributed variety, the orign of which is 

 never likely to be revealed. I'or some unaccountable reason the silver 

 mane and tail are as a rule either handed on untarnished to cross-bred 

 oll'spring or they reappear in the second or one of the subsequent 

 generations. It is hence possible that various large breeds — such as 

 the Suffolk Punch, the white-maned horses of the Hebrides and of the 

 north and west of Ireland, certain silver-maned Hungarian and 

 Russian races, not to mention Chittabob and other English thorough- 

 breds — have all inherited their light manes and tails from an ancient 

 foxy red variety of the Celtic pony. 



The origin of the dark-brown variety of the Celtic pony is also 

 wrapped in mystery. These dark-brown ponies may represent 

 another old variety from which the Exmoors have sprung — a variety 

 which has contributed the tan-colored muzzle and the ring round 

 the eye so characteristic of many of the best Highland and Island gar- 

 rons. One of these dark-brown ponies, brought from Barra as a 2- 

 year-old, looked for a time like a miniature thoroughbred. Now as a 

 3-year-old it might pass for one of the oldest and best type of the dark 

 Fseroe ponies. Neither the dark nor the red Faroe ponies ever 

 possess all the Celtic characteristics ; at the most they are three parts 

 pure, and I may add they cross freely with Nor^vegian and other 

 breeds, generally transmitting such Celtic " points "" as they possess 

 to their mixed offspring." It is worthy of note that in some of the 

 small-headed horses engraved in the Combarelles and other caves 

 inhabited in Palfeolithic times the croup is stiaight and the tail set 

 on high, as in many Arabs; in others the tail, instead of being in a 

 line with the croup, looks as if it had been an afterthought — an 

 appendage inserted fairly well up in some cases, lower down in 

 others, as is the case in many large and small horses with rounded 

 quarters. In the engravings showing a small-headed horse with a 

 straight croup we seem to have the foxy-red variety represented; in 

 those Avith somewhat drooping quarters w^e may have a representation 

 of the dark-brown variety of the Celtic pony. 



If one may judge from its specialization and from its being now 

 adapted for sub-Arctic conditions, the Celtic pony belongs to a 



a See Marshall and Annandale. Proc. Cam. Phil. Soc, Vol. XII, Pt. IIV. 

 SM 1901 29 



