294 HOUSES ANCIENT AND MODERN. 



lie in the polar ice along with the bones of the Siberian 

 mammoth ; in the Himalaya Mountains with lost and 

 but'recently obtained genera ; in the caverns of Ireland ; 

 and, in one instance, from Barbary, completely fossil- 

 ised. His bones, accompanied by those of the elephant, 

 rhinoceros, tiger, and hyena, rest by thousands in the 

 caves of Constadt, in Sevioii at Argenteuil, with those 

 of the mastodon in Val d'Arno, and on the borders of 

 the Khine with colossal urus." * 



It is surely in consequence of heavenly providence 

 caring for man, that while these creatures, found under 

 the same conditions, have ceased to exist, or have re- 

 moved to higher temperatures, the horse remains in the 

 same regions, without, it would appear, any protracted 

 interruption, "fragments of his skeleton continuing to 

 be traced upwards, in successive formations, to the pre- 

 sent surface of the earth the land we live in." His 

 appearance, however, on the continents of the New 

 World, whether of the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean, is of 

 comparatively recent date. 



This wide diffusion of the horse in all countries 

 renders it the more difficult to determine his original 

 habitat. Naturalists incline to think that it was Arabia ; 

 but until the time of Joshua (B.C. 1450) Dr Kitto 

 maintains that we find in Scripture no mention of 

 the horse unless in connection with Egypt. He for- 

 gets, however, that Jacob, a native of Palestine, but 

 dying in Egypt (B.C. 1689), compares Dan to "an 

 adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so 

 that his rider shall fall backward," Gen. xlix. 17. 

 Moreover, the sublimest description of the horse is in 

 the Book of Job, which the best scholars refer to the 

 epoch of the patriarchs ; thus making it the oldest book 

 in the world. And as Job dwelt in the land of Uz, 

 " the daughter of Edom," we identify his country with 

 that of " the land of Edom/' in Arabia Petrsea. " Hast 

 thou given the horse strength? Hast thou clothed 

 * Naturalists' Library, vol. xii. 



