HISTORY OF 



they would soon sink and degenerate. Those 

 naturally belonging to the country are very small 

 and vicious. Some are so very little, that Taver- 

 ner reports, that the young Mogul prince, at the 

 age of seven or eight, rode one of those little 

 horses that was not much larger than a grey- 

 hound ; and it is not long since one of these was 

 brought over into this country, as a present to 

 the Queen, that measures no more than nine 

 hands high, and is not much larger than a com- 

 mon mastiff. It would seem that climates exces- 

 sively hot are unfavourable to this animal. In 

 this manner the horses of the Gold Coast, and of 

 Guinea, are extremely little, but very manage- 

 able. It is a common exercise with the grandees 

 of that country, who are excellent horsemen, to 

 dart out their lances before them upon full gallop, 

 and to catch them again before they come to the 

 ground. They have a sport also on horseback 

 that requires great dexterity in the rider, and a 

 great share of activity in the horse : they strike 

 off a ball, with a battledore, while they are upon 

 a full gallop, and pursuing it, strike it again be- 

 fore it comes to the ground ; and this they conti- 

 nue for a mile together, striking sometimes to the 

 right, and sometimes to the left, with amazing 

 speed and agility. 



The horses of China are as indifferent as those 

 of India : they are weak, little, ill-shaped, and 

 cowardly. Those of Corea are not above three 

 feet high : almost all the breed there are made 

 geldings, and are so timorous, that they can be 

 rendered no way serviceable in war ; so that it 



