116 



INTRODUCTION. 



brese : among them was the Hirpinic breed, and 

 the Lucanian were the largest horses within the 

 Alps : of the Tyrrhenian or Etruscan, we only know 

 that they had a small nose, a very thick mane, and 

 hard hoofs, being probably of the Rasenic stock, 

 and allied to the horses along the Danube or Ister, 

 for they were compared to the Yenedic and Adriatic 

 race. In the islands the races were very distinct : 

 of the Etna and Agiigentine horse we have already 

 noticed their probable intermixture with the bay 

 race introduced by the Phoenicians, and the Greek 

 of difi'erent breeds; they were often victorious in 

 the chariot races of Greece, and inferior in speed 

 only to the Armenian and Iberian: but Sardinia 

 and Corsica possessed an indigenous horse, one 

 apparently not imported by man, perhaps of the 

 Koomrah species of Africa, and resembling the 

 smallest shelties of the Scottish islands : the former, 

 though small, were full of fire, and the latter, little 

 larger than great dogs, were so vicious, that it was 

 necessary to hoodwink them to be mounted ; their 

 feet were like asses', the manes short, and the tails 

 long : these horses are still wild in both islands. 



o 



Spain contained two very distinct forms of the 

 animal, one indigenous, the other imported from 

 Africa and improved by Phoenician attention ; this 

 was the Hispanic Iberian of Calpe, or Lusitanian, 

 so well known for flectncss and the fable of the 

 mares being impregnated by the Favonian wind. 



*' Ore oranes verscc in Zephyrum stant rupibus altis." 

 ViRG. Georg. iii. v. 273. 



