EGYPTIAN HOESES.] MODEEN VETEEINAEY PRACTICE, [eqyptian iioe8eb. 



The domestication of the horse, in this 

 country, took pLace very early ; and as he was 

 theu used principally as a war animal, or per- 



haps for the ornamental purposes of a state 

 pageant, he must have hoeu well kept and 

 properly attended. 



EGYPTIAN WAR CHARIOT. 



The modern animal, however, has immensely 

 degenerated. He is no longer the noble quad- 

 ruped which the poet delighted to describe as 

 the companion of princes; yet, under the 

 vigorous government of Mehemet Ali, in 1821, 

 a veterinary school was established at Abou- 

 Zabel, of which we have an account in the 

 7th volume of the Veterinarian. The degene- 

 racy of the Egyptian horse arose chiefly from 

 the oppressive system which the Turks long 

 pursued, in forcibly taking from the population 

 any valuable animals they happened to have, 

 and appropriating them themselves, without 

 giving, in return, the slightest remuneration. 

 Mr. Wilson— speaking of the corps of the 

 Mamelukes, the body-guard of the Bey— in 

 bis JExpedition to Egypt, says— " Although 

 these horses seldom pass out of a foot-pace, 

 except for a gallop of a hundred yards, most 

 of them are foundered ; and none, if qnicldy 

 trotted ten miles, would be able, from want of 

 wind and stamina, to go further." The shape 

 of the animal, too, is neither prepossessing nor 

 engaging. Burchardt says that he is ugly and 

 coarse, bearing a stronger resemblance to the 

 cart-horse than to the racer. He is frequently 

 to be found with a short thick neck, and thin 



legs and knees. His head is, occasionally, fine ; 

 but the same writer declares that he never saw 

 good legs in an Egyptian horse. Nor are the 

 race capable of bearing much fatigue in any 

 situation; but they are possessed of impetuosity 

 sufficient to render them very desirable as 

 cavalry horses; and it is upon this quality 

 alone, that any celebrity which they enjoy is 



founded. 



The physical features of Egypt are by no 

 means unfavourable to the production of a 

 beautiful breed of horses. The country con- 

 sists mostly of a long and narrow vale, on each 

 side of the Nile ; bounded by parallel ridges 

 of hills and mountains, and covered with a 

 rich vegetation, in the highest degree con- 

 crenial to the nature of the horse. The Delta— 

 Tyin^ between the two extreme branches of the 

 Nile° and the sea, and taking its name from 

 its trian<Tular shape, resembling that of the 

 fourth ktter in the Greek alphabet-is the 

 broadest and the most fertile part ; and pre- 

 sents a fine region for successfully rearmg the 

 animal. Here he might roam at wdl; and, in 

 the days of old, as ho " increased and multi- 

 plied " he supplied other countries with his 

 kind for the purposes of war. It is a remark- 



