148 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. 



exactly like the ships of the same seas described by Procopius 

 seven centuries earlier 1 . The city of Gail, on the coast of 

 South India, was frequented by ships from the west bringing 

 horses and other wares 2 . Aden seems to have been the 

 chief port in Arabia for the export of horses: "There are 

 despatched from the port of Aden to India a very large 

 number of Arab chargers, and palfreys, and stout nags adapted 

 for all work, which are a source of great profit to those 

 who export them. For horses fetch very high prices in India, 

 there being none bred there, as I told you before ; in so much 

 that a charger will sell there for 100 marks of silver and more. 

 On these the soldan of Aden receives heavy payments in port 

 charges, so that it is said he is one of the richest princes in 

 the world 3 ." 



Another very important port was Esher, which was subject 

 to the soldan of Aden. " The people are Saracens. The place 

 has a very good haven, wherefore many ships from India come 

 thither with various cargoes ; and they export many good 

 chargers thence to India. All their cattle, including horses, 

 oxen, and camels live upon small fish and nought else beside, 

 for 'tis all they get to eat 4 ." 



Again, when speaking of Caltu (Kalhat, in Arabia) he says 

 that " they export many good Arab horses from this to India, for 

 as I have told you before, the number of horses exported from 

 this and the other cities yearly to India is something astonish- 

 ing 5 ." He adds here again the statement that horses were not 

 bred in India, and also that the natives did not know how to 

 treat them. 



If the reader's scepticism is roused by the statement that 

 the horses of Esher were fed on fish, it will be at once allayed 

 when he remembers that at the present day in Kamtschatka 

 the horses and cows in winter subsist entirely on dried 

 salmon 6 and that in Iceland the ponies are similarly fed on 

 stock-fish. 



1 Kidgeway, Early Age of Greece, Vol. i. p. 615. 



2 Marco Polo, Vol. n. p. 357. 3 Vol. n. p. 434 (Yule). 

 4 Vol. n. p. 439. 5 Vol. n. p. 448. 



6 Guillemard, The Cruise of the Marchesa, p. 68 (ed. 2). 



