260 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. 



Which report I have heard to be true by divers of our owne 

 souldiers, which if it be true in deede, it doth better countevaile 

 their small stature and little strength, which is manifest to all 

 men's eies that do behold them." 



This description is admirably illustrated by Stradanus' 

 drawing of the ' Hispanus ' here reproduced (Fig. 75). 



The horses of northern Spain are grey and rufous-grey, and 

 are of a smaller size than the Andalusian 1 . In them we have 

 no difficulty in recognizing the Celtiberian, Galician and Asturian 

 breeds of Strabo and Pliny. In the dun-coloured 2 animals (often 

 striped) of the sierras we have the less modified descendants of 

 the old European horses, but in view of the continual inter- 

 crossing for many centuries of the Libyan and European blood, 

 and in face of the facts relating to the dun- coloured striped 

 horses of Kattywar (p. 157), it would be rash to assume that 

 these striped dun horses of Spain are really pure representatives 

 of the old dun horses of Europe. 



The curious statement that the Celtiberian horses lost their 

 distinctive speckled coats when removed into southern Spain is 

 readily explained. The actual horses exported did not change 

 their colour, but as they became mixed with the dark Libyan 

 stock in that region, the latter blood predominated and the 

 grey horses merged into the dark bay and black. 



The horses of the Asturias and other mountainous areas of 

 Spain are probably descended from the old European large- 

 headed horse, which may have continued in a wild state in 

 Spain down to the Christian era, since Posidonius mentions 

 horses among the wild animals of Spain. Of course these horses 

 may have been simply feral horses, but on the other hand there 

 is no reason why genuine wild Equidae should not have still 

 survived in wild and mountainous districts. 



We have seen that Strabo compared the Celtiberian horses, 

 that is, the horses of northern Spain, to the Parthian horses, 

 which were the descendants of the Nisaean horses, the best 

 in Asia in the fifth century B.C. ; it has also been shown that 



1 Hamilton Smith, op. cit. p. 247. 



2 Isidore of Seville (Orlgg. xn. 1) says that dun (cinereus) horses are the 

 worst (but cf. p. 348). 



