328 



of 



birth of Christ ; which is a date anterior to | appearance of any danger, they evidently 

 any that profane history affords on the put themselves under the direction of a 



leader, in order the more effectually to 



subject. 



The generic characteristics of the Horse 

 are a broad undivided hoof; six cutting- 

 teeth or nippers in each jaw ; two very small 

 tusks or canines ; grinders with a flat crown, 

 presenting, when worn, different figures, 

 formed by the enamelled plates of the inte- 

 rior ; stomach small and simple, intestines 

 very large. Wild Horses exist in many 

 countries : but Arabia produces the most 

 beautiful breed, and also the most generous, 

 swift, courageous, and persevering. They 

 occur, though not in great numbers, even in 

 the deserts of that country, and the natives 

 make use of every stratagem to take them. 

 They select the most promising for breeding, 

 and, instead of crossing the breed, the utmost 

 care is taken to keep it entire. In other 

 countries it is found necessary to change the 

 races, otherwise, it is said, the Horses would 

 soon degenerate ; but in Arabia the same 

 blood has passed down through a long suc- 

 cession, without any diminution either of 

 beauty or strength. A general belief has 

 hence arisen, and been long maintained, 

 that to Arabia are we indebted for the primi- 

 tive breed of this noble animal, and for its 

 subjugation to man's use. This opinion, 

 however, has been combated by Mr. Bell (in 

 his History of British Quadrupeds) in the 

 following terms : " The long acknowledged 

 superiority of the Horses of Arabia is no 

 proof that they were indigenous to that arid 

 country in a wild state ; for there is great 

 reason to conclude that it was only at a 

 comparatively late period that they were 

 Whilst Solomon 

 Arabia treasures of 

 various kinds, it was from Egypt only that 

 his Horses were brought: and so highly 

 were they valued by this magnificent and 

 luxurious king, that notwithstanding the 

 Divine prohibition, ' that the king shall not 

 multiply Horses to himself, nor cause his 

 people to return into Egypt, to the end that 

 he should multiply Horses,' it is stated that 

 he had no less than forty thousand stalls of 

 Horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand 

 horsemen. There appears great probability, 

 therefore, in the opinion that Egypt or its 

 neighbourhood is its original country ; and 

 still more, that this extraordinary people 

 first rendered it subservient to man, and 

 subsequently distributed it to other coun- 

 tries." 



It does not appear, then, that a clue can 

 be obtained to determine, with any degree 

 of precision, in what country the Horse first 

 roamed at large, or where he first submitted 

 to the yoke of man. Those which at present 

 exist in a wild state seem to have been de- 

 rived from such as had been once domesti- 

 cated. In the Pampas or plains of South 

 America, on the banks of the river La Plata, 

 there are immense troops of wild horses, 

 which are descended from those of Anda- 

 lusia, originally carried thither by the 

 Spanish conquerors : and we learn from the 

 accounts given by various travellers, that 



comparatively late peri 

 employed by that people. 

 was receiving from Ar 



resist the enemy's attack. Large herds are 

 sometimes seen in the southern parts of 

 Siberia, in the deserts of the Mongul terri- 

 tory, and among the Kalhas to the north- 

 west of China. Moldavia also abounds with 

 them. At the Cape of Good Hope there are 

 numbers of wild Horses, but they are small 

 and vicious. They are likewise found in 

 other parts of Africa, but the savagas there 

 seem ignorant of their value, and also of the 

 methods of taming them. 



In Brande's Dictionary of Science, &c. it 

 is remarked, that " wild Horses appear to be 

 free from nearly all those diseases to which 

 the domestic breed are prone. They are 

 generally of a pale or grayish-brown colour, 

 with brown mane and tail, a whitish muzzle 

 changing to black about the mouth. They 

 are less than the domestic breed ; with a 

 larger head ; longer legs ; larger ears, with 

 the apices sub-reflected ; the forehead is 

 more convex above the eyes ; the hoofs are 

 contracted and sub-cylindrical ; mane sub- 

 erect, less lax than in the domestic horse : 

 the coat, in winter, looser and sub-undu- 

 lated along the back ; the tail not very large. 

 They recognize the presence of man at a 

 great distance when he approaches them to 

 windward, and fly from him with wonderful 

 speed ; they prefer sunny slopes, and avoid 

 forests and steep places. They do not wan- 

 der beyond the fiftieth degree of north 

 latitude. Wild stallions attracted by do- 

 mestic mares are often taken and killed. 

 The first change which domestication works 

 upon the form of the wild Horse is to 

 increase the bulk of his trunk as compared 

 with his head and limbs. This change is 

 beautifully exemplified in the Arabian, 

 which we must regard as an early, if not 

 first remove from his wild neighbours of 

 the more northern deserts, and which the 

 Bedouin still hunts for the sake of their 

 flesh. The head is not only proportionally 

 smaller, but is remarkable "for the breadth 

 and squareness of the forehead, the shortness 

 and fineness of the muzzle, the prominence 

 and brilliance of the eye, and the smallness 

 of the ears. The body is still somewhat light, 

 and narrow at the fore part; but the shoulder 

 is superior in its formation to that in any 

 other breed. The Arabian seldom stands 

 more than fourteen hands two inches. The 

 'Barb,' so called from its native country, 

 Barbary, is somewhat smaller than its near 

 ally the Arabian; it seldom exceeds fourteen 

 hands and an inch ; the shoulders are flat, 

 the chest round, the legs rather long, and 

 the head small and very beautiful. The 

 Barb is remarkable for its fine and graceful 

 action ; but though it is superior to the Ara- 

 bian in its general form, it has not its untir- 

 ing spirit or its speed. Our most valuable 

 English varieties of the Horse date from the 

 introduction of, and interbreeding with, the 

 Barb and Arabian." 



The Horse is naturally an herbivorous 

 animal, and is more scrupulous in the choice 



they not only associate together in herds or i of his food than most other domestic quad- 

 troops of several thousands, but that on the j rupeds; in the meadow rejecting several 



