4 EARLY HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 



induced him to adopt the opinion of Colonel Hamilton Smith, that it took 

 place in Central Asia, and perhaps nearly simultaneously' in the several 

 regions where the wild animals of the horse form existed. From the 

 higher valleys of the Ox us and from Cashmere the knowledge of his 

 usefulness seems to have i-adiated to China, India, and Egypt. 



The original horse of the southeim and western countries came from the 

 north-eastern part of Asia, the domicile of those who escaped from the 

 ravages of the Flood. Indeed, without the aid of the horse, the advance- 

 ment of colonisation Avould have been exceedingly slow. 



Colonel Smith is perfectly correct when he says that 'to ancient Eg}^t 

 Ave appear to he indebted for the first systematic attention to reviving and 

 improving the breeds of horses ; numerous carved or outlined pictures 

 represent steeds whose s^-mmetry, beauty, and colour, attest that they are 

 designed from higli-bred types.' Grooms also are represented as ' rubbing 

 their joints, and sedulously attending to their comfort on every proper 

 occasion.' The horses, in all those tasteful works of art, are represented 

 as either being loose or harnessed to chariots ; no mow tied cavaJrij are to 

 be seen until a comparatively late period. It is the same with the bas- 

 reliefs of Persepolis. On the frieze, however, of the temple of Minerva, 

 in the Acropolis of Athens, built many years before the destruction of 

 Persepolis, there were numerous figures of men on horseback, but not one 

 of a horse harnessed to a chariot. The following cut was faithfully copied 



from the frieze of that temple. This is a singular fact, that might lead to 

 a very wrong conclusion — namely, that the chariot was in common use in 

 Persia, and not known in Greece ; whereas the Persians Avere far more 

 decidedly a nation of horsemen than the Greeks, but chariots Avere 

 occasionally used by them in their solemn festivals in honour of their 

 divinities, and therefore naturally found on the frieze of their temples. 

 Among the Greeks, however, chariots Avere never used for the purposes of 

 Avar, but only in their public games. It may not be u^seless to pause for 

 a moment, and study the form and character of these horses and their 

 riders. 



There is considerable difference in the form and action of the tAVO horses. 



