420 



THE HOESES OF PREHISTORIC 



[CH. 



Gunnar, and laid himself down at his feet'. It will be re- 

 membered that Otkell of Kirby was the owner of the two dun 

 horses with stripes on their backs — the two best in all the 

 country. If slaves and dogs were brought from Ireland, it is 

 not unreasonable to suppose that horses also would occasionally 

 form part of the cargo of the homeward-bound Icelander. The 

 reader will also remember that two other horses of exceptional 

 merit are described in Burnt Njal — the chestnut stallion of 

 Starkad and Gunnar's brown one. But our investigations have 

 made it clear that the colours chestnut and brown in horses 

 are a sure indication of a large proportion of Libyan blood. 

 It is also to be noted that in Otkell's dun horses with dorsal 

 stripes we may have an outcome of Libyan blood, similar to 

 that so well exemplified in the horses of Kattywar — but with 

 this feature we shall have to deal at greater length in the next 

 chapter. 



We have had good evidence for believing that there was 

 a considerable element of Libyan blood, derived through Spain 

 and France, in the best horses of Ireland, the country from 

 which a large proportion of the original stock of Iceland 

 was derived. It will also be remembered that, according to 

 Sanson, some North African horses lack hock callosities, the 

 absence of which often characterises Iceland and Faroe ponies. 

 It cannot, therefore, be held that the fine heads and limbs, 

 small joints and the absence of hock callosities in the ponies 

 of Iceland and the Faroes, as well as those of the Outer 

 Hebrides and some found in Ireland, are solely due to these 

 animals being descended from a small horse which inhabited 

 the north-west of Europe in late palaeolithic times. But as 

 it is possible that the ' Celtic ' pony in the north-west of 

 Europe and the small Libyan horse of North Africa are both 

 descended from the small horse of the Brighton ' elephant bed/ 

 the Libyan blood which passed into Ireland through Spain 

 and France may well have been there combined not only with 

 the coarse European type, but also with a closer relative, 

 and accordingly not a few of those (especially the bay, black, 



The Saga of Burnt Njal, lxix. 



