124 THE DUN HORSE OF ASIA 



broker I might see in stocks and shares the 

 origin of prosperit3^ Each to his trade ; but 

 as an old packtrain captain I have ridden many 

 a hundred miles, noting the grass-grown bridle 

 paths along dry ridges, the hesitating down-hill 

 curves of ancient roads as they approach wet 

 ground, the outer hedging and the inner hedg- 

 ing as highw^ays narrowed down when they 

 were paved, and public house signs, such as the 

 Packhorse, dating from the recent centuries 

 when still the traffic of old England was done 

 on cargo ponies. It needs but a httle scouting 

 to show clearly the story of some fifteen hundred 

 years of England's progress down to the time 

 when Caesar's strength was taxed on joining 

 battle with the British tribes. Our people, 

 like the Gauls, had roads and chariots, armour 

 of bronze and gold, old trades, and industries 

 and towns before the Romans came. 



II. THE DUN HORSE OF ASIA. 



As the Earth reels through the Dark, and on 

 her journey spins like a sleeping top, we only 

 notice the changing of the seasons while she 

 swings round her great orbit, and the swift 

 passage of fl^^ing nights and da3^s. It is only 

 when one is quite alone in the far wilderness 

 that one begins to feel the Earth in motion, and 

 after sunset to watch her shadow climb the 



