THE PERCHEROIT HOESE. 17 



CHAPTER III. 



ORIGIN OF THE PERCHERON. 



What, now, is the origin of the Percheron ? Some at- 

 tribute to him an Arabian ancestry ; others, less explicit 

 and without positively assigning to him so noble an origin, 

 hold him to be strongly impregnated with Arabian blood. 

 M. Eugene Perrault, one of the most extensive and skillful 

 dealers in fancy horses in all Europe, has frequently re- 

 marked to me that of all the various races of horses none 

 were so interesting to him as the admirable Percheron, 

 and that, judging from his appearance and qualities, he 

 was satisfied he was a genuine Arab, modified in form by 

 the climate and the rude services to which he had for 

 ages been subjected. 



We cannot, however, find in history the written positive 

 proof that the Percheron is an Arab, but we believe it easy, 

 by fair historical deduction, to prove what he is in fact. 



It is well known that after the defeat of the famous 

 Saracen chief Abderame by Charles Martel, on the plains 

 of Vouille, the magnificent cavalry of the foe fell into the 

 hands of the victors, since more than 300,000 infidels were 

 killed on that day, and the horses which they rode were, 

 like themselves, from the East. Upon a division of the 

 spoil a large number of these were assigned to the men 

 of La Perche, of Orleanais, and Normandy, who com- 

 posed the bulk of the French forces, and they must 

 necessarily have left in their progeny indelible traces of 

 their blood. 



La Perche, like all Christian countries, furnished, as is 

 well known, her contingent of fighting men to the cru- 

 sades, and the chronicles cite several Counts of Bellesmer, 

 Mortagne, and Nogent, barons and gentlemen of that 

 province, who, with many of their vassals, made pilgrim- 

 ages to the Holy Land. 



