EGYPTIAN HOESES.] 



THE HOESE, AND 



lEGYPTIAN HOESES. 



the Cffisars, the young men belonging to the 

 equestrian order were enthusiastically devoted 

 to horsemanship. They performed, in the 

 field, similar feats to those which the modern 

 exhibitor executes in the circus-ring : vaulting 

 off and on ; picking up things from the ground ; 

 stretching themselves on the backs of the 

 animals; standing upright; and leaping from 

 one horse to another, were amongst their 



favourite exercises. This people invented the 

 curb bit, and were the first to employ veteri- 

 nary surgeons to attend their horses. To each 

 of their legions horse-surgeons were attached. 

 But after the overthrow of the empire in the 

 fifth century, we lose all trace of any progress 

 having been made in the management and 

 treatment of the horae, whether in a state of 

 I health or disease. 



CHAPTER II. 



HORSES OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 



THE HORSE OF EGYPT. | 



Egypt being the country where, it is generally 

 supposed, the horse was first reclaimed, neces- 

 sarily takes priority in treating of the difiereut 

 breeds of that animal as described by travellers 

 and others, who have had opportunities of 

 making observations upon their forms, and 

 testing their qualities in their native climates. 

 This country was, in the earliest ages, distin- 

 guished by its culture, and has a length of 

 about 600 miles, with a varying width. Erom 

 Syene to Cairo, a distance of about 500 miles, 

 its great valley is about eight miles in breadth ; 

 while, in the Delta, it widens, and adds to the 

 extent of the country about ninety or a hun- 

 dred miles. It has two great divisions, named 

 Lower and Upper Egypt. The first comprises 

 that portion of territory which lies between 

 Cairo, the Mediterranean Sea, the Isthmus of 

 Suez, and the Libyan Desert, on the north, 

 and has Grand Cairo for its capital. The second 

 extends from Cairo to Assouan, or Syene, and 

 holds within its area the ruins of ancient 

 Thebes and Dendera. The river Nile is the 

 special glory of this country, watering and 

 fertilising it to an extent which makes it, even 

 at the present time, as fruitful as it was in 

 that of Joseph — " There is corn in Egypt," 

 having become a proverbial expression to denote 

 plenty. This river rises in Abyssinia, traverses 

 10 



Nubia and Egypt, and, after a course of about 



2,000 miles, enters the Mediterranean. Like 



most of the African rivers within the tropics, 



it annually overflows its banks; and thus, in 



a land where rain seldom or ever falls, fullils 



all the purposes which a luxuriant vegetation 



demands for the promotion of its growth. Tiie 



rise commences about the 17th of June, or near 



the summer solstice : by the middle of August 



it reaches half its greatest height ; and, towards 



the end of September, attains its maximum, 



when the waters begin to subside. The fields, 



on which a rich sediment has been loft, are 



then sown with all sorts of grain ; and, in an 



amazing short space of time, the face of the 



whole country is variegated with plants of 



every hue, and with the rapidly-ripening corn. 



As the fertility of the country may be said 



almost entirely to depend upon the inundations 



of the river, their progress is anxiously watched 



and measured by a pillar, called a Nilometer. 



This instrument consists of a thin column or 



pillar, placed about the middle of the river, 



on the point of an island called Ehoda, between 



Cairo and Geeza. It has twenty divisions of 



twenty-two inches each; and its height is 



thirty-six feet eight inches. "When the river 



has risen to the proper height, all the canals 



connected with the Nile are opened, and the 



whole country laid under water. 



