118 INTRODUCTION. 



south-west of Sj^ain, from Gibraltar to the Douro, 

 usually coloured dark bay, "syhicli shows the Asiatic 

 blood, and grey, derived from a Mauritanian race, 

 or from a mixture with the second : the Gallaican, 

 which was small, hardy, daring, with excellent feet, 

 and indigenous in the northern mountains of Astti- 

 ria, hence also called Asturcan and Celtiberian, and 

 spread through the Western Pyrenees, where those 

 of Bilbilis, now Callahorra on the Ebro, were cele- 

 brated, according to Martial, " Bilbilim equis et 

 armis nobilem." It was usually grey, and in the 

 Roman era was trained to ambling. Under the 

 name of Thieldones, we find these ponies praised 

 by Pliny and Martial, and extolled by Silius and 

 Lemma Astureo, both native Spaniards. Lud. Car- 

 rie, in his notes upon Leutprand's Chronicle, quotes 

 the often repeated verses : 



" His parvus sonipes, nee marti notus ; at idem 

 Aut in concusso glomerat vestigia dorso 

 Aut moUi pacata celer trahit esseda coUo." 



The other horses of Europe become known to us 

 only from the period when Rome had extended her 

 empire to the Danube, the Rhine, and to Britain ; 

 they may therefore be considered together, in their 

 own characters, and in connexion with the relation 

 they bore to the imperial administration. 



Helvetian Algoici were in request for durability : 

 in common with the general breed of Gaul, they 

 were black or sooty, and, as will be shown hereafter, 

 were considered indigenous, long-backed, high-hip- 



