ORIGIN OF BARBS 219 



In what is modern Algeria, the Mauretania of the Ro- 

 mans, where Carthage was a great city long before dis- 

 dainful Remus hopped over Romulus's wall, there is little 

 doubt that the nimble, intelligent runt of a steppes pony, 

 which furnished the mounts for the Numidian cavalry 

 that later all but destroyed Rome in the Second Punic 

 War, which had no bridle but was guided by a stick or by 

 the legs and voice, and whose endurance knew no bounds, 

 was the ancestor of the native horse of to-day. The same 

 thing applies to Morocco. There were other similar breeds 

 in other parts of the East, some of which had been earlier 

 perfected ; but the horse of the Algerian country no doubt 

 descended from the Numidian pony as he is known in his- 

 tory. The steppes horse, of whatever country, is generally 

 a stayer and a good progenitor. All others get weeded 

 out from the herds by wild animals or by scant forage. 

 Just as the modern thorough -bred comes of the native 

 British mares impregnated by Barb or Arabian sires, so 

 with the Numidian pony. Upon this animal an impress 

 must have been made from time to time by importations 

 of markedly good individuals from farther east, for the 

 horse, like civilization, has uniformly travelled westward, 

 until now, the Californian claims, it has reached its hioh- 

 est development on the Pacific slope ; but when the French 

 conquered Algeria in 1830 they found the countrj' horse 

 on a decidedly low level. That the Barb had theretofore 

 been a noble creature is sufficiently shown by the history 

 of the Moors in Spain ; but neglect had sapped his quality. 



There was not much done by the French for some time 

 to improve the stock, but later the best grade of stallions 

 were bought by the Government for public use ; a num- 

 ber of fine ones were purchased from the trans -Jordan 

 Bedouins of Syria; breeding for the army was carefully 

 attended to, and now the cavalry of the entire Nineteenth 



