PRODUCTION OF NEW RACES OR BREEDS. 125 



over the animals living under his dominion. The horses which 

 are reared in our breeding establishments, partly owe their size, 

 their form, and their qualities, to the race from which they are 

 descended ; but the circumstances in which they are placed at 

 an early age, exercise over them, in process of time, an influence 

 not less great. It is remarked, that in general the colt receives 

 its size and weight more from its mother than its father ; whilst 

 in the shape of the head and feet, its courage and swiftness, it 

 more resembles the latter. Defects, likewise, as well as good 

 qualities, are transmitted from generation to generation; and, 

 to maintain a race in its purity, or to improve it, care must be 

 taken to remove from it all those individuals, which do not 

 possess the qualities that we desire to obtain. In order to 

 make a blemish disappear, we cross the individuals of this 

 defective race, during several generations, with others having 

 an opposite disposition ; and by perse veringly matching toge- 

 ther horses which possess particular perfections, we create a 

 race in which it becomes hereditary and general. It is owing, 

 in a great degree, to care of this nature, that the Arab horses 

 owe their well-merited celebrity. The Arabs attach such 

 importance to the purity of the race of their noble horses, called 

 kochlani, that their descent is always attested by authentic 

 pedigrees. They can even go back nearly two thousand years, 

 in the genealogy of these fine animals ; and there are some 

 whose lineage can be attested by written documents, during a 

 period of four centuries. On the other hand, the influence of 

 crossing a race is equally well shown by the English race- 

 horses ; for it is by a mixture of the native mares with the 

 males brought from the East, that we owe the creation of this 

 race, so remarkable for the delicacy of its shape, and its asto- 

 nishing fleetness. 



113. Again, the greater or less abundance and the quality 

 of the food, the dryness or humidity of the country, the daily 

 labour, and even a number of circumstances apparently of 

 very little importance, exercise a powerful influence upon the 

 shape, the size, and the qualities of horses. To give a proof of 

 this, we might show with what rapidity the finest English 



