210 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. 



I beheld, and lo a black (/ue'Xa?) horse, and he that sat on him 

 had a pair of balances in his hand. I heard a voice in the 

 midst of the four beasts, saying, A measure (choenix) of wheat 

 for a penny (denarius), and see thou hurt not the oil and the 

 wine. And when he had opened the fourth seal,... I looked, 

 and behold a yellow (^X&jpo?) horse : and his name that sat on 

 him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was 

 given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with 

 sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of 

 the earth V 



As we have seen that white horses were held sacred amongst 

 the ancient Germans, Illyrians, and Persians, by the medieval 

 Tartars, and in modern Sumatra, and that from religious 

 motives they are preferred by the Arabs of to-day 2 , although 

 they are fully aware that bay horses are the best, it is not sur- 

 prising that the white horse stands first in the estimation of the 

 author of the Apocalypse, and that he represents the rider of 

 that steed as given a crown and going forth to conquer. In 

 another passage of the same book when heaven opened a white 

 horse came forth, " and he that sat on him was called Faithful 

 and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 

 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many 

 crowns ; and he had a name written that no man knew, but he 

 himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, 

 and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies 

 which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed 

 in fine linen, white and clean 3 ." 



As the sanctity attached to white has given in all ages 

 a higher value to horses of that colour than was really merited 

 by their powers of speed or endurance, St John preferred the 

 white horse to the red, that is, the bay or chestnut. 



We have just seen that bay is the colour of the best 

 Arab horses, that dun colour is characteristic of the unmixed 

 Turcoman or Mongolian pony, and that black horses are a 

 regular result of crossing the Arab with the Mongolian. As 



1 Eev. vi. 2 8. v 



2 W. S. Plunt, cited by Capt. Hayes (Points of the Horse, p. 326, ed. 3). 



3 Eev. xix. 11 sqq. 



