146 INTRODUCTION. 



thirteenth century of the Christian era; and we 

 shall point out, in the next chapter, that feral 

 horses return to particular colours or liveries, as a 

 further proof of the probability in favour of the 

 views offered in the present. 



As among the Equidae the domestic horse is beyond 

 comparison the most important species to man, so 

 is it also the type of the others in systematic ar- 

 rangement, and the constant object of reference by 

 which their station and qualities are judged ; hence 

 the horse, properly so called, occupies singly the 

 far greater part of the history of the whole group. 

 Having already furnished some description of the 

 ancient history of the animal, we can now, before 

 we proceed to detail that of the races at present 

 diffused over the surface of the world, enter upon 

 the question of the wild horse, one which natu- 

 ralists are not wholly agreed on : we shall make 

 some remarks on varieties now r extant which appear 

 to have a claim to be distinct, being regarded as 

 such by the natives of the localities where they re- 

 side ; and examine whether they, like the differently 



the same white and bay, the pale Median, and the black Ro- 

 man or Scythic ; they are not golden, nor silvery, nor green, 

 nor blue, but actually taken from existing types, depicting the 

 nations who owned them. 



