296 HORSES ANCIENT AND MODERN. 



But in order that the horse may not suffer under the 

 imputation of being merely an excitable brute, roused 

 to frenzy by " the pomp and circumstance " of war, 

 we must allow Mr Youatt to testify how lasting is the 

 sympathy of this generous creature for those of his own 

 kind : "In some the fiiendship is so intense that they 

 will neither feed nor live when separated from each 

 other. Two Hanoverian horses had long served to- 

 gether during the Peninsular war : they had drawn the 

 same gun, and had been inseparable companions in 

 many battles. One of them was at last killed; and 

 after the engagement was over, the survivor was pick- 

 eted as usual, and his food brought to him. He refused 

 to eat, and was constantly looking about in search of 

 his companion, sometimes neighing as if to call him. 

 He was surrounded by other horses, but he did not 

 notice them ; and he shortly afterwards died, not having 

 tasted food from the time when his former associate 

 was killed." 



We have rode off at a tangent. Coming back to our 

 starting-point, as to the native country of the horse, 

 there really appears to be no sufficient ground for be- 

 lieving it to be Arabia. We have a complete inventory 

 of the live-stock of Job and of several of the patriarchs, 

 but the horse is mentioned in none of them ; and when 

 the Jews were brought into contact with the nomades 

 of Arabia, they found " their camels were past number- 

 ing," and that even their kings rode on camels (Judges 

 viii. 21). Ancient history makes no allusion to Arabia 

 as distinguished for its horses ; and Strabo, who wrote 

 so late as the time of Christ, expressly declares that it 

 was destitute of these animals. The Arabs trace the 

 genealogies of their best horses to Solomon's stud ; but 

 this is as manifestly fabulous as their tradition of their 

 own descent from the Queen of Sheba's liaison with the 

 wise king. It is certain that by the time of Mahomet 

 the Arabs had paid attention to the breeding of horses, 

 but when they began to do this is unknown. As to the 



