HORSE. 



779 



vhen the king reproached him for being last in at a 

 iding, he replied, " Hur is as coot a shentlemans as 

 ;he pest, but hur ceffal is only a shentleman on the 

 ock, and let them try a riding there." For those 

 iA'ho require to be much on horseback, superintending 

 vorkmen, or doing anything else which does not 

 .require fast riding, a ceffal is worth all the fine horses 



n the world, both for comfort in the use and for 

 durability ; and then, as to footing, one of the true 

 Oreed will get upon hard stones, if he can, in pre- 

 ference to turf. The Welsh name Ceffal, like the 

 [French name Ckeval, is obviously derived from, and 

 indeed identical with, the Latin Caballus ; and this 

 ks a strong proof that the horse was introduced into 

 Wales by the Romans. An additional proof of this 

 is found in the fact, that the people of the north of 

 iScotland, who speak a dialect of the same language 

 as the Welsh, do not give the horse any name at all 

 resembling the Latin, but apply different names to it 

 fin different parts of the country, clearly showing that 

 lit has been introduced into different places by different 

 (nations and at different times. 



There are many breeds scattered over the wilder 

 districts, in various parts of the mainland of Britain, 

 and also in the isles, which differ considerably from 



each other, being, in some instances, exceedingly 

 jsmall, scarcely larger than Newfoundland dogs, and 

 <in others of considerable size. Some of these are 

 jvery rugged in their appearance, and others are very 



handsome ; but they all have a great deal of spirit 

 jand strength in proportion to their size, and they are 



remarkably abstemious in their eating. On Ex- 

 inoor, south of the Bristol Channel, they are found 

 [.completely in -a state of nature ; and we believe that, 

 Jin some instances at least, they are not considered as 

 '.property. These are generally very handsome little 

 ii animals, with the legs slender and beautifully formed ; 



and, when properly trained and broke, and rightly 

 .used, they are gentle and docile, and not so apt to 

 'I shy and be skittish as the horses of the north. For 



very light weights, or very light carriages, when well 

 1 matched, they are pretty little creatures ; and, as the 



burden of their own flesh which they have to carry is 

 jj \firy light, they can do more work, and continue 

 |l longer at it, than one would suppose, if their size only 



were considered. 



In the south-west of Scotland there is another 

 .breed, rather larger than these, but still handsomer in 



the limbs, and remarkably hardy and sure-footed 

 ;iThey are usually called Galloways, from the distric 



of which they are natives. 



In the southern part of the Western Islands, anc 

 'more especially in the Island of Mull, there is a very 

 Jfine breed of these small horses ; and these have 

 ibeen largely introduced into the mountainous parts o 

 jthe main-land. These are the Highland horses, pro 

 jperly so called, which have very shaggy coats, anc 

 get pot-bellied, when much exposed to the severity 

 Juf the weather, and scantily supplied with poor food 



!mt with proper treatment, their appearance is very 



different, and their qualities are superior, while they 



:an live well in places where the large horses of the 



low-country would starve. They appear to run 



gradually into smaller and more shaggy breeds, as 

 ^ve get more northward in the islands ; and when we 

 bet to Shetland we meet with the very small ponies 

 f.o which allusion has already been made. They are 



'omid, also, in the Faroe Islands, in Iceland, in Nor- 



.vay, and in the upland parts of Sweden ; and as 



hey all have less or more of the character of the Tartar 

 lorses and more of it the farther north they are found, 

 jve have as clear a proof as such a subject admits of, that 

 hey have come originally from that part of the world, 

 and been introduced into the islands on the nortn 

 and west of Scotland by the Norwegians, when they 

 were in possession of them. 



As to the superiority of the breeds, at the two or 

 hree points to which we have alluded, there have 

 been various conjectures, even before it was fully 

 ascertained that no breed of domestic animals can 

 je substantially improved without crossing. The 

 Tartar horse, which, we think, circumstances point out 

 as the ancient parent-race of the whole, is rather 

 a thick-legged horse, or at all events the legs are 

 stout ; and it is contrary to the whole system of 

 animal economy, that an animal with thick legs should 

 be a very swift goer. We know that the thin legs 

 and speed of our high-breed horses were procured by 

 means of crossings with the Arab ; and we know of 

 no other means by which such a change could be 

 brought about. It is, therefore, highly probable, 

 that those handsome horses wfrh thin legs are the 

 progeny of the native mares by Arabian horses, cast 

 ashore from the wreck of different vessels of the 

 Armada ; for it is pretty well ascertained that, in the 

 disastrous rout of that vain-glorious equipment round 

 the island of Great Britain, some ships were wrecked 

 on the coast of Mull, others on the coast of Gallowu y, 

 and there were, probably, others wrecked on the 

 south coast of the Bristol Channel, which would 

 account for the fine limbs of the Exmoor ponies. 



Having now taken a short glance at some of the 

 different breeds of horses in the several localities of 

 Western Asia and of Europe, and noticed, more 

 particularly, those of the British Islands, we are now 

 in possession of the elements of at least a very 

 rational theory of the emigration of those most useful 

 and interesting animals. Whence the Britons ob- 

 tained those horses which they had in their war 

 chariots, during their contests with the Roman in- 

 vaders, we have no means of ascertaining which are 

 perfectly satisfactory ; but as it is well understood 

 that there was a trade between the south of England 

 and the Levant at an earlier period than this ; and 

 as there was commercial intercourse between the 

 south of France, either the present Marseilles, or 

 some town near the same spot, --and the countries 

 both to the east and the south of the Mediterranean, 

 at a period still earlier ; it is highly probable that 

 horses might have found their way by those channels 

 into the south of Europe, and as far as South Britain. 

 Indeed, it is difficult to suppose that such was not 

 the case, for if there was a friendly intercourse between 

 two nations, the one of which possessed the horse, 

 and the otner did not, it must have followed, almost 

 as a matter of course, that they who were without 

 this animal should stipulate for it as one of the articles 

 of exchange. It does not appear, however, ^that at 

 this period the horse was generally known, or, indeed, 

 known at all among the Welch mountains ; for the 

 Roman name of the horse there, which is general 

 over ail the principality, clearly points to the Romans 

 as having introduced it there. Here the question 

 gets a little embarrassed with the qm-siiou or' the 

 human race, in the two parts of South Britain, and 

 would lead us to suppose that, long before the time 

 of the Romans, the low country of England was peo- 

 pled by a race quite different from the Welch ; and 



