HORSE 175 



How grandly he bears his course 

 Baedan's steed before the host. 

 Good for Baedan of the yellow hair, 

 He will win his renown on him. 



That the horse among animals stands pre-eminent (from the 

 winged " Pegasus " given to Bellerophon by Athena ; and in our 

 own Celtic land of old consecrated in certain places by being led 

 three times " sunways " round a certain earn, hence called 

 " Carnach " or Carn nan each) is but a trite saying ; of late we 

 have the famous Professor Cossar Ewart demonstrating the 

 evolution of that friend of man from prehistoric times when it 

 was a three toed animal, the size of a fox, up to the present time, 

 the Professor's most recent discovery being that of the old Celtic 

 horse of the Outer Hebrides. 



The "leader" among horses is termed ceanmarc, ceannmharc 

 or marc-cheann, while a pair of horses in the plough is still known 

 by the term seisreach, originally six; one who possesses many 

 horses is termed " Marcach." 



Camjibell, in his West Highland Tales, says horses are frequently 

 mentioned in ancient Gaelic tales, and more magic properties are 

 attributed to them than elsewhere in popular lore. The most 

 mysterious horse is of course the fabulous water horse, which, 

 however, is now thought to have been the walrus. Fairies were 

 supposed to ride always upon milk-white steeds. In the Ossianic 

 poems the bards loved to sing of chiefs as riding on "white 

 steeds " — see " Dean of Lismore." No Celt should forget the 

 names of Ciichullin's two horses, Dubh-sron-gheal and Dubh- 

 srannal, black-white-nose and black-snorter (Fingal, Duan I.) ; 

 while still another, Sith-fada, long-stride, pulled up the famous 

 James Macpherson in his translating stride. Duseivlin, Dubh- 

 saoileann or dubh-suilean, black eyes, was the name of one of the 

 famous steeds of Cuchulainn or of the Feinn, and Liath Macha 

 another. In the Irish account the horses' names are given 

 Dufhaoilean and Liathmara, ])lack sea gull and grey sea, while 

 the name "■ Stuadh-mhor," broad-chested, is very descriptive. 

 Though, so far as we know, no record exists of the signs used by 

 the ancient Celts signifying a kind of written language, or different 

 names for animals, birds, fishes, etc., etc., no doubt can exist that 

 they had such in common with other races, the Chinese name 

 or sign for horse being still in use. 



The "points" of a good horse are, as may be surmised, 

 numerous, and are and were by no means unknown to our Celtic 

 forefathers; Sibbald in Scotia Illustrata, 1684, says: — "Corporis 

 forma talis probatur — caput exiguum, nigri oculi, nares apertae, 

 breves auriculae, cervix mollis, latum pectus, armi grandes et recti, 

 venter substrictus, testes pares et exigui, cauda longa et secta 

 crispaque, raollia recta et alta crura, genua teretia parvaque, quae 



