OF HORSEMANSHIP. 39 



of them, it is fo perplexed and obfcure, that filence 

 itfelf could not have left us more in doubt. All the 

 advances we can make in this difficult road, rather 

 miilead, than conduft us to any knowledge that is 

 clear and certain. It may, therefore, be the wifer and 

 more modefl part, to fuppofe that the people of the 

 iirfl ages of the world, prompted by their necellities, 

 and a<5ting from them alone, made no other ufe of the 

 horfe at firft, than what might be for domellic pur- 

 pofes, teaching him to fubmit to carry men and bur- 

 dens ; and having reconciled and made him patient^ 

 they taught him by degrees to diftinguifli and obey 

 the diiFerent founds of the voice, as well as to be di- 

 re<Jted by the guidance of a fwitch or wand, which the 

 rider carried in his hand, 



It is, however, apparent that they made ufe of cords 

 or thongs to Hop and confine the horfe in any place 

 where they chofe he fhould ftay. Thefe cords they 

 fattened round the horfe's neck, as may be feen in the 

 figures (though of a much later date), carved upon 

 Trajan's pillar at Rome. Thefe ropes hanging down 

 from the necks of the horfes, are imagined to have fug- 

 gefted the firft hint of traces for drawing machines. 

 Strabo fays, that the Moors, or Africans, ufed cords 

 for bridles. It is probable to think, that after a time 

 they might difcover, that if a cord was put into the 

 mouth, or at leaft over the nofe, like our bakers, 

 which may be ufed both ways at the fame time, it 

 would be a more effe<5lual ra.ethod of guiding and con- 



trolhing 



