66 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



step of the accomplishment which gave us our existing spe- 

 cies was effected in this land. It seems indeed most likely 

 that the ancestral form of our domesticated horses found 

 their way to the continents of the Old World, and there 

 underwent the last slight changes, before they were made 

 captive by man. If there ever were perfect horses on this 

 continent, they had passed away from its area before the 

 coming of man to the land. The history of our aborigines 

 would have been quite other than it has been, if they had 

 had a chance to win the assistance of this noble helpmeet. 



Central Asia appears to have been the domicile of the 

 horse when he first began his acquaintance with our kind. 

 We do not know the original form of the creature. The 

 wild horses existing at the present day in that part of the 

 world, and which plentifully occur in other regions whereunto 

 they have been taken by man, appear to have been set free 

 from captivity. 



The first domestication of the horse appears to have been 

 brought about, at an early time in the history of our race, in 

 northern Asia. The time when this feat was accomplished 

 antedates our records. The creature may first have come 

 into possession of the Tartar tribes, but it quickly passed 

 over Asia and Europe and shortly became the mainstay of 

 the Aryan and Semitic folk. None other of our domesti- 

 cated forms has been disseminated with like rapidity, or at 

 the outset with as little change in its original features. From 

 the first the horse seems to have been mainly used as a saddle 

 and pack animal. It has never served in any considerable 

 measure for food. The failure to make use of the flesh of 

 this animal appears to be common to most of the savage or 

 barbaric people who keep horses, and has been transmitted 



