e EARLY HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 



more than 17?. The cliariot cost 600 shekels, or little more tlian 68?. Of 

 the comparative value of money at that period it is impossible to speak; 

 but it was probably many times greater than at present. 



It is a question yet disputed, whether the use of chariots or the art of 

 riding was first cultivated. According to Colonel Hamilton Smith, the 

 northern nations were exclusively riders. At Nineveh, in Asia Minor, 

 and India, they were both charioteers and riders. In Greece, Palestine, 

 and Egyi^t, they were originally charioteers only. The probability, how- 

 ever, is, that although one might prevail in particular eras and countries, 

 the other Avould not long remain unpractised. 



Before a sketch of the histoi-y of the European horse is attempted, it may 

 be interesting to collect the accounts given by historians of the chax'acter 

 and management of the horse in earlier periods. 



Upper Egypt and Ethiopia were inhabited by horsemen, of wild and 

 predacious habits ; plundering those who fell into their power, or hiring 

 themselves to increase the army of any foreign potentate. Many troops 

 of them attended Xerxes in his expedition into Greece. 



In Libya, Numidia, Mauritania, and the settlements on the northern 

 coast of Africa, comprising Morocco, Barbaiy, Tunis, and Tripoli of the 

 present day, and the northern part of the Sahara, or Great Desert, the 

 horses were numerous and fleet. yElian describes them as being somewhat 

 slenderly made, and seldom carrying much flesh ; reqiTiring little care and 

 attendance from their owners : content with the common pasture which 

 the country afforded, and on which they Avere turned, without further care 

 or notice, as soon as their woi^k was done. Their present treatment is not 

 a great deal better. 



They were at first ridden, as they are represented on the fresco of the 

 Parthenon, without either bridle or saddle ; and the rider had nothing but 

 a SAvitch or stick by which to guide them. This is said to have given 

 them an ungraceful and awkward appearance ; their necks being straight 

 and extended, and their noses pointing somewhat upwards. ' It may, in 

 some degree,' says Berenger, 'be difficult to conceive how a wand or 

 stick could be sufficient to guide or control a spirited or obstinate horse 

 in the violence of his course, or the tumult of battle ; but the attention, 

 docility, and memory of this animal are such, that it is hard to say to what 

 a degree of obedience he may not be reduced. There is no reason why 

 these horses should not be brought to understand the intention and obey 

 the will of their riders with as much certainty and readiness as our cart- 

 horses in our crowded streets attend to the voice of their driver, by which 

 they are almost solely governed.' The older writers say that the horse 

 was touched on the right of the face to make him go forward — on the left, 

 to direct h'm to the right — on the muzzle, when he was required to stop : 

 while the heel was used to urge him forward. The guidance of the horse 

 by the gentle touch of the fingers is well represented in the engra-vaug 

 given at page 4. 



Passing the Isthmus of Suez, ancient -winters say not a word of the horses 

 of Arabia. These deserts were not then inhabited by this noble animal, 

 or there was nothing about him worthy of record. 



Palestine, dui^ing the later periods of the Jewish monarchy, contained 

 numerous horses. Mention has been made of the forty thousand stalls for 

 horses built by Solomon ; but they were all brought from Egypt, and a 

 very little portion of the Holy Land was ever devoted to the breeding of 

 horses after the settlement of the Israelites in it. 



Syria acquired little reputation, on this account, nor did Asia Minor 

 generally, with the exception of the country around Colophon, between 

 Smyrna and Ephesus, whose cavahy was so ilumerous and well train(;d 



