GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 417 



asses, and camels," but no mention is made of horses ; this 

 was 1920 years before the birth of Christ. 



But after this time they seem to have propagated and 

 greatly increased in Canaan ; as it is said in the eleventh 

 chapter of Joshua and fourth verse, of certain kings op- 

 posed to Joshua, that there were " much people, even as the 

 sand that is upon the sea-shore in multitude, with horses 

 and chariots very many." 



From many other parts of holy writ we find that horses 

 were numerous in most of the kingdoms of the East, but no 

 mention of the country from whence they were originally 

 derived. It is a generally received, although erroneous 

 opinion, that Arabia was the native country of the horse. 

 We find that even so late as the seventh century of the 

 Christian era, when the prophet Mahomet attacked the 

 Koreish, not far from Mecca, he had only two horses in his 

 train ; and although, in the plunder of this horrible cam- 

 paign, he carried with him in his retreat twenty-four thou- 

 sand camels, forty thousand sheep, and twenty-four thousand 

 ounces of silver, there is no mention of horses being part of 

 the booty. 



Solomon's stables seem to have been magnificent. He 

 kept horses both for pomp and gain. His stud, even in 

 our own times, is unequalled. He is said to have had four 

 thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand 

 horsemen ! The price of a horse in those days was fifty 

 shekels of silver, which amounts to about seventeen pounds, 

 two shillings sterling ; a very large sum at that remote 

 period. '''' 



* Dr. Scot wrote me upon this subject : — " We allow that there is 

 some controversy among scholars about the exact number of the 

 stalls, and we dare not say that no mistake is introduced into the text 

 The probability, indeed, is very great that the most ancient and 



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