312 THE MOUNTAIN. 



marriage of the soul of the dumb-brute forces of the uni- 

 verse, with the shining and ethereal elements of grace and 

 beauty. Almost human in his capacity of thought or do- 

 cility and affection, his long-established companionship with 

 man is no accident. The primitive huntsman,* with his bow 

 and arrow, living by the spoils of the chase, or the wandering 

 herdsman and shepherd, existing from the proceeds of their 

 flocks, were feeble, impotent. The infant man developing the 

 first phasis of his earthly career, seemed, by the limitations 

 of his force as an animal, to be doomed to a state of per- 

 petual childhood. When the happy idea arrived of sub- 

 duing the horse to his uses, he had with that thought the 

 key to an incomputable power. f The command "advance 1" 

 was given, and the word Progress came into existence, and 

 had significance. In this arm of strength he realized the 

 meaning of the fable of the Centaur :{ his power to subdue 



* "With regard to mental qualifications, the nations of North 

 America not having passed beyond the state of hunters, show, for 

 want of the laboring ox and conquering horse, the characteristics of 

 others in the same condition." Hamilton Smith. 



j- "It appears that the present Mongolia tribes were long igno- 

 rant of the real use of the horse ; while, in the Arctic regions, the 

 white wooly race of the Jakoutsk was not deemed serviceable except 

 for food. 



"From the subaltaic Yuchi, who were the first rulers, they no 

 doubt learned the art, and became conquerors, by the sole acquisi- 

 tion which changes the relations of every people on earth accessible 

 to this animal." Natural History of the Human Species, by Colonel 

 Hamilton Smith. 



% "Cheiron was the wisest and justest of the Centaurs." (Horn. 

 II., xi. 831.) "He was the instructor of Achilles, and had himself 

 been instructed by Apollo and Artemis, and was renowned for his 

 skill in hunting, medicine, music, gymnastics, and the art of pro- 

 phecy." (Xen. Cyneg. ! !) "Cheiron is the noblest specimen of a 

 combination of the human and animal forms in the ancient works of 

 art ; for, while the Centaurs generally express the sensual and savage 

 features of a man combined with the strength and swiftness of a 

 horse, Cheiron, who possesses the latter likewise, combines with it a 

 mild wisdom. He was represented on the Amyclsean throne of 



