474 THE OKIGIN OF THE LIBYAN HORSE [CH. 



the peoples of North-western India used not naerely bits but 

 muzzles to control the Upper Asiatic horses. It seems there- 

 fore certain that the invention of the bit at so early a period 

 by the peoples of Asia and Europe was due to the intractable 

 nature of the indigenous horses, whereas the Libyan horse 

 and his descendant the Arabian is ridden to this hour with 

 nothing more than a nose-band. We have in this another 

 specific difference between the two animals. If the Libyans 

 had obtained the horse already in a state of domestication 

 from Asia or Europe, they would probably have borrowed the 

 bit, and it is inconceivable that they could in a short time have 

 influenced the stubborn temper of the Asiatic horse to such a 

 degree that not only their own horses, but all the descendants 

 of these animals down to the present, even after they have 

 been feral for centuries, are stamped with extraordinary 

 docility and good temper. It is clear that the difference in 

 temperament between the Libyan and Asiatic horse has not 

 been acquired under domestication, but is fundamental, and 

 this of itself is a sufficient indication that the Libyan horse is a 

 naturally differentiated species or variety. It is significant that 

 the ' Celtic ' pony, which may be in part descended from a 

 northern branch of the same variety as the Libyan horse, is 

 also remarkable for its docility. 



We have noted the well known belief that chestnut horses 

 are frequently bad tempered, even when well bred, and reason 

 has been given for thinking that chestnut colour in English 

 thoroughbreds and even in Anazah horses is the outcome of a 

 small strain of Asiatic blood. Now that we realise the funda- 

 mental difference in temper between the Asiatic and the Libyan 

 horses, we at once understand why a cross temper should be 

 a concomitant of chestnut colour. 



Moreover if, as is commonly held, the 'Arab' horse is more 

 prolific in Barbary than in other regions where it at present 

 exists — from India to the British Isles — we may reasonably 

 infer that as North Africa is best suited for its propagation, it 

 was there that the stock was originally differentiated ^ 



1 Col. Hamilton Smith, "The Horse," Naturalist's Library, Vol. xii. p. 214. 



