72 THE HORSE AND ITS RELATIVES 



or wild horse, of the Zungarian district of Mongolia, 

 having big heads, but relatively slender limbs. 



These Stone Age horses will be described later 

 on in this chapter; and attention may now be 

 directed to the evidence relating to the survival 

 of wild horses in Western Europe during the 

 historic period. In this connection it will be con- 

 venient to quote the summary of the evidence given 

 by Messrs. Heyn and Stallybrass in their work 

 entided The Wanderings of Plants and Animals} 

 After pointing out that wild horses exist in Mongolia, 

 the authors proceed as follows : — 



"That the horse in its original wildness also 

 roamed westward to Turkestan, over the steppes of 

 the present South-eastern and Southern Russia, and 

 to the foot of the Carpathians, seems likely enough ; 

 not so likely that even the forest regions of Central 

 Europe once abounded in troops of that animal. And 

 yet much historical testimony seems to put the 

 fact beyond a doubt. Varro speaks of Spanish 

 wild horses ; and Strabo writes, ' In Iberia there are 

 many deer and wild horses.' Wild horses as well 

 as wild bulls lived among the Alps, as we learn 

 again from Strabo ; and Pliny tells us, not only in 

 the Alps but in the north generally. Nor are the 

 Middle Ages wanting in proofs of the existence of 

 wild horses in Germany and the countries east of 

 Germany. At the time of Venantius Fortunatus 



1 London, 1885, p. 37. 



