INTRODUCTION. 107 



them ; this was the bay stock, which, coming from 

 the eastern borders of the Caspian, probably the 

 property of the shepherd kings, reached the Nile 

 and became an object of enlightened attention with 

 the government, from the moment the invaders were 

 expelled. The proof of a systematic care in breed- 

 ing may be presumed, from a similarly coloured 

 race being predominant in Asia Minor, Assyria, 

 and Armenia, but inferior in stature and beauty, 

 and with thick unsightly manes, as will appear when 

 we come to the Grecian horses. In Egypt, on the 

 government farms, they were evidently improved in 

 elegance, as may be gathered from the outline pic- 

 tures in the temples and tombs, where they are 

 figured equal in size to the present Arabian, but 

 shorter in the back, with rather slender arched 

 necks, straight chaffrons, large eyes, small pointed 

 ears, a small body, clean limbs, and the tail well 

 set on, not abundantly furnished with hair, and in 

 the oldest representations the mane hogged ; an in- 

 dication of recent subjugation : where these outlines 

 are filled with colour, the animals are painted red, 

 either bay or chesnut, and sometimes left white. * 

 A race of this stock was in possession of the Ca- 

 naanites perhaps before, but most certainly after, 

 the defeated shepherds, flying from the Cyrbonian 

 lake, retired to the Hauran, east of the Upper Jor- 

 dan, — for then commenced that breed which is still 

 of the first value, though now considered Arabian. 



* I have been told of one instance where a pair of chariot 

 horses are spotted ; but not knowing the locality, they may 

 belong to a later date. 



