INTRODUCTION. 75 



cause we find it repeatedly indicated in the Penta- 

 teuch before the horse is noticed, such as, in the 

 sacrifice of Abraham ; in his visit to Egypt, where 

 he received presents of Abimelech ; and in the spoils 

 of Shechem, where asses are numbered with other 

 cattle, but the horse is not mentioned. Yet that 

 noble animal, by nature provided with greater phy- 

 sical capabilities, with more intelligence, and more 

 instinctive tendencies for adapting his existence to 

 the circumstances of domestication in every region, 

 is in his servitude grown larger, more adorned, 

 more acute, and more educational than in a state of 

 nature ; while the ass, in similar circumstances, has 

 degenerated from his pristine character, becoming, 

 even in the greater part of Persia, smaller in stature, 

 less fleet, less intelligent, and by his own impulses 

 less the associate of man. When the horse, from 

 thorough domesticity, is again cast upon his own 

 resources, he resumes his original independence, 

 provides for his own safety and that of the herd 

 under his care, without altogether losing his acquired 

 advantages ; the ass, on the contrary, although never 

 a spontaneous associate in his domestication, is no 

 where known to have again become wild, or to have 

 sought his freedom with a spirit of persevering 

 vigilance ; and in cases where by accident he has 

 found himself in freedom, he has made no energetic 

 efforts to retain it, nor recovered qualities that 

 restore him to the filiation of the Hymar or the 

 Kulan. When emancipated, he becomes, without 

 effort, the prey of the lion, the tiger, the hyaena, or 



