4 THE HORSE 



unmatched. C;Bsar depended for his cavahy upon Gallic horses, which 

 v/ere able to ride down the Roman horses of his I'ival Porapey without 

 the slightest difficulty. So also Crassus was unable to make head in Asia 

 against the Parthian horse ; and from his day until British horses were 

 transported to Oriental soil, the superiority of Asiatic horses remained 

 undisputed. 



THE ARAB OF ANTIQUITY 



The Arab of the present day is said by his countrymen to be the 

 same in form, in courage, and in endurance, with the horse which existed 

 in Arabia before the time of Christ. There is a poetry surrounding the 

 Arab horse which we must needs unlearn, as all scientific knowledge goes 

 to disprove the popularly accepted idea that the horse was originally to be 

 found wild in Arabia. The absence of water and of pasture have made 

 him remarkably dependent upon man, and as man's associate more intelli- 

 gent than other breeds. Professor Huxley, in a letter to Mr. Wilfrid 

 Blunt, says, " It appears to me certain that horses and chariots were unknown 

 to the old and middle empires of Egypt, while in the eax'ly age of the new 

 empire they abounded. Egypt, however, had a hold on Northern Arabia 

 from at least the fourth dynasty, or very early in the days of the old empire. 

 If horses were known and domesticated in Arabia at that time, how is it 

 for a good thousand years the Egyptians knew nothing about them 1 " I 

 have shown that there is every reason to believe that the Israelites Avho 

 dwelt in Arabia had no horses in the time of Jacob, and therefore it is 

 scarcely likely that this variety could have arrived at its present state of 

 excellence much before the commencement of the Christian era. But 

 beyond the traditional accounts which are preserved in the various tribes, 

 there is no means of arriving at the truth, and they are to be regarded 

 with considerable suspicion. Buffon comes to the conclusion, nevertheless, 

 that Arabia is the birthplace of this animal, and his opinions are followed 

 by a host of subsequent writers ; but I have already given the reasons for 

 the contrary conclusion. The dry nature of the country, and the scantiness 

 of herbage, show that in a wild state the horse could hardly exist there, 

 and that it is only by the care and superintendence of man that the 

 Arabian horse has become so famous. 



EGYPTIAN, LIBYAN, NUMIDIAN, AND MOORISH 



HORSES 



The Egyptian Horse is handed down to us on some of the sculptures 

 found in the ruins of Nineveh ; the carvings of which are in a high state 

 of preservation, and are very elaborate and spirited. Even the superficial 

 veins are carefully rendered ; and hence we may place some reliance upon 

 the fidelity of the porti'aiture. In all these bas-reliefs the animal is 

 represented with a large and coarse head, a high crest, and a heavy, 

 lumbering body, not very dissimilar to the Flemish horse of the nineteenth 

 century. 



