PREFACE. vn 



the presence of refinement does not influence the welfare 

 of an equine slave. Then gentleness in the Arabian must 

 be a purely responsive emotion. Its presence or its absence 

 is apart from mental status, or the social distinctions of 

 the population to whom it is subjected and by whom it is 

 surrounded. 



The horse, in Britain, generally occupies the same house 

 as the groom; but it is not, therefore, regarded with the 

 feeling which is indulged by the inhabitant of the tent. 

 The change from the soil of its birth to the English stable 

 is attended with a total alteration of circumstances. Cold- 

 ness or brutality, however, cannot banish the spirit which 

 benevolence had fostered. The rebellion provoked by harsh- 

 ness is only more complete. The quietude of content is 

 replaced by the wildness of timidity. Confidence is de- 

 stroyed ; fear assumes the likeness of savagery. The horse 

 becomes a brute; for ignorance will not believe its inferior 

 can be actuated by a reasonable motive. 



In India the cavalry are mounted upon half-bred Persian 

 horses. Not a few of the ofiicers, however, bestride chargers 

 of pure Arabian blood. These last are commonly under 

 the charge of European servants, and serve European 

 masters. The animal's nature changes with its location. 

 The alteration, therefore, is independent of heat or of frost. 

 The Arabs of India are as famed for ferocity as the creat- 

 ures of the desert are notorious for gentleness of disposition. 



The English behavior is chiefly shaped by selfishness, 

 based upon a degraded superstition, which insists that every 

 form of inferior existence was created for man's use and 

 relinquished to his pleasure. The author must leave to 

 others the inquiry, whether Christianity invests those who 



