TUEKISH HOESE.] 



THE HOESE, A.ND 



[tUEKISH HOESE. 



is even longer than the Arabian's, and the 

 crupper more elevated. He has contributed 

 materially to the improvement of the English 

 breed. The Byerley and the Helrasley Turk, 

 are names familiar to every one conversant 

 with horses, and connected with our best blood. 

 Asiatic Turkey is the largest and most 

 valuable portion of the Ottoman empire, oc- 

 cupying the central part of the temperate 

 zone in the west of Asia, He has no country 

 more interesting, and few richer in historical 

 remembrances, whether sacred or profane. 

 The garden of Eden is, by many topographical 

 writers, supposed to have been situated be- 

 tween the point where the junction of the 

 Tigris and the Euphrates takes place, and 

 the Persian Gulf; hence it becomes the re- 

 puted scene of the primitive creation of man. 

 Here, according to them, Adam and Eve were, 

 in a state of innocence, placed. 



" His fair large front and eye sublime, declared 

 Absolute rule ; and hyacinthine locks 

 Round from his parted forelock manly hung, 

 Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad ; 

 She, as a veil, down to the slender waist 

 Her unadorn'd golden tresses wore 

 Dishevell'd." 



Both Europe and America received from 

 this land their religion and their letters ; the 

 former from Palestine, and the latter from 

 Phoenicia; and the principal events in the 

 life of our Saviour, took place within its 

 boundaries. 



The inhabitants of a country bo eminent in 

 renown, and so high in arts and civilisation, 

 must, at a very early period, have had the 

 horse reduced to a state of domestication. 

 Here was the Assyrian empire, one of the 

 greatest of antiquity ; and here Nineveh, its 

 capital, was laid waste in accordance with the 

 denunciations of the prophet Nahum. From 

 these remote times, the Turkish horse has 

 been a prominent object in war ; and no animal 

 has a more majestic, a more noble and brilliant 

 appearance when carrying his rider, and ex- 

 hibiting his costly caparisons. 



Evelyn, the author of Sijlva, thus describes 

 one of these animals which had been sent over 

 to England in the reign of Charles II., and 

 which he seems to have been fortunate enough 

 to have seen. " I never beheld so delicate a 

 creature !" he exclaims ; " somewhat of a bright 

 32 



bay, two white feet, a blaze; such a head, 

 eyes, ears, neck, breast, belly, haunches, legs, 

 pastern, and feet ; in all respects beautiful, and 

 proportioned to admiration ; spirited, proud, 

 nimble, making halt, turning with that swift- 

 ness, and in so small a compass, as was 

 admirable." The learned and benevolent Bus- 

 bequius, who was ambassador at Constantinople 

 in the seventeenth century, is equal to Evelyn 

 in his admiration of the Turkish horse. 



" There is no creature so gentle as a Turkish 

 horse, nor more respectful to his master, or 

 the groom that dresses him. The reason ia, 

 because they treat their horses with great 

 lenity. I myself saw, when I was in Pontus, 

 passing through a part of Bithynia called 

 Axilos, towards Cappadocia, how indulgent 

 the countrymen v.ere to young colts, and how 

 kindly they used them soon after they were 

 foaled. They would stroke them, bring them 

 into their houses, and almost to their tables, 

 and use them even like children. They hung 

 something like a jewel about their necks, and 

 a garter, which was full of amulets against 

 poison, which they are most afraid of. The 

 grooms that dress them are as indulgent as 

 their masters; they frequently sleek them 

 down with tlieir hands, and never use a cudgel 

 to bang their sides, but in case of necessity. 

 This makes their horses great lovers of man- 

 kind ; and they are so far from kicking, wincing, 

 or growing untractable by this gentle usage, 

 that you will hardly find a masterless horse 

 amongst them. 



"But, alas! our Christian grooms' horses 

 go on at another rate. They never think them 

 rightly curried till they thunder at them with 

 their voices, and let their clubs or horsewhips, 

 as it were, dwell on their sides. This makes 

 some horses even tremble when their keepers 

 come into their stable ; so that they hate and 

 fear them too. But the Turks love to have 

 their horses so gentle, that at the word of 

 command they may fall on their knees, and in 

 this position receive their riders. 



" They will take up a staff or club upon the 

 road with their teeth, which their rider has 

 let fall, and hold it up to him again; and 

 when they are perfect in this lesson, then, for 

 credit, they have rings of silver hung on their 

 nostrils, as a badge of honour and good dis- 

 cipline. I saw some horses, when their master 



