INTRODUCTION. 103 



from the same quarter. Tahtar tribes repeatedly 

 swarmed westwards from the age of Attila to the 



o 



thirteenth century, when they still penetrated to 

 the Nile and as far as Silesia ; and twice within the 

 middle ages, Tahtar hordes invaded and subduec 1 

 China. To such a people, the present of a few 

 horses may appear an expression of consideration or 

 of value, on account of the rarity of their breed, but 

 a mere troop of horses, as such, cannot be deemed 

 of consequence to the smallest khan, in a region 

 where, according to Marco Paolo, the Chagan pos- 

 sessed more than ten thousand head of white horses 

 alone. 



When, therefore, we endeavour to fix the original 

 habitation of the domestic horse, considered as a 

 single species, and we recal to mind the statements 

 already made respecting the remains of these ani- 

 mals found in the soil, the regions where they are 

 still observed in a wild state, as will be shown in 

 the sequel more at large, and compare the facts 

 with the foregoing reflections, it seems to be clearly 

 demonstrated that the aboriginal region, where the 

 wild horse was first most generally subdued, should 

 be sought in High Asia, about the fortieth degree 

 of latitude, the table lands whence riding and cha- 

 rioteer nomads have incessantly issued, penetrating 

 to the east, the south, and the west, from periods 

 evidently anterior to historical record, almost to our 

 own times ; that from Central Asia, northward and 

 westward, and including, to the south, Bactria, the 

 valley of the Oxus, Northern Aria, Chorasmia, and 



