reputation among the Romans. But Calpe, in Spain, was still of higher repute on 

 the same account. Calpe was situated on a hill, in the farthest extremity of Spain, 

 bounded by the Straits of Gibraltar, and opposite Abyla on the Barbary shore. The 

 horses there bred were held by the ancients to be of the finest and most generous spe- 

 cies, from which are descended the Gennets of Spain, so highly celebrated in modern 

 times. From both ancient and modern descriptions of this breed, they were doubt- 

 less originally derived from the opposite coast of Barbary, bearing the most striking 

 characteristics of the Barb, with a certain degree of variation from change of soil, 

 and probably of admixture with an aboriginal and shorter European breed. Vege- 

 tius indeed plainly assigns to them that origin. This rare species spread itself over 

 Betica, known in modern times by the names of Austria, Gallicia and Andalusia, 

 where at present the very few Gennets which remain are to be found. They were 

 denominated by Pliny thieldones, or tellers and measurers of their steps, and de- 

 scribed by him, as they were found in modern times, when in the highest perfection, 

 the period of which may probably have borne date with the Spanish Armada. The 

 Spanish horses are celebrated by both ancients and moderns for the pliancy of their 

 limbs, their free and unembarrassed action, and their cadenced pace. Justin, the 

 Roman historian, speaking of these and the Lusitanian or Portuguese horses, affirms 

 that they were endowed with such extraordinary swiftness that they might be said 

 to be born of the winds ; whence the ancient fable that the mares of Lusitania were 

 impregnated by the south wind." 



We take the liberty of submitting the following from the able pen of Mr. 

 Randolph Huntington, from his book, "General Grant's Arabian Horses, Leopard 

 and Linden Tree," which is considerably used as a college text-book : 



"I have been particular in following up these two Arabian stallions presented to 

 General Grant. I deemed their blood of important value to us. I would not 

 condemn such breeders as ridicule Arabians, but would ask questions. 



"If Arabian blood is of no value, why does England go back in her records to so 

 many importations of Arabian horses to create and sustain her national thorough- 

 bred running horse? "Why does Russia take pride in referring to her Orloff trotting 

 horse as of Arabian origin? Why does France through government statistics show 

 that her famous Percheron draught horse is moulded from the pliable blood of the 

 Arabian? 



"When men condemn Arabian horses, let them cease to extol Messenger, Dio- 

 med, Duroc, American Eclipse, Sir Archy, Boston, or Lexington, each of which owed 

 its greatness to Arabian blood; Diomed and Messenger being, as the reader knows, 

 close bred to the Arabian, and Messenger, which name has been the mouthpiece for 

 our breeders and horsemen for seventy-five years, was three times inbred to the 

 Godolphin Arabian. 



"Young men think there has been wonderful improvement in our horses during 

 the past thirty years. I do not think so. When I take up the little horseshoe nail, 

 but a trifle heavier than an old-fashioned shawl-pin, or examine the shoe, the har- 

 ness, the sulky, the tracks, the system of training, with other improved advantages 

 towards increased rates of trotting speed, and then look at our inferior coach horses, 

 and know the difficulty in obtaining even an ordinarily good pair, I must say that 

 our horses have degenerated, while our mechanical ingenuity toward increased 

 speed has augmented. That the number of trotting horses is greater than a few 

 years ago, is because we have a greater number of horses, and because one hundred 

 are now trained for speed where one was twenty years ago. 



"England, Scotland, France and Russia have each a typical horse, capable of 

 reproducing its type with excellence in any land to which it may be exported. They 



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