REARING AND FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 3^3 



chap, xlvii. 17th verse, "and Joseph gave them (the Egyp- 

 tians) bread in exchange for horses. 3 ' This was B. c. 1702, 

 and is the first and earliest record we have. We are subse- 

 quently informed that they multiplied with great rapidity, for 

 when Joseph removed his father's remains from Egypt to 

 Canaan, (B. c. 1670,) there "went up with him both chariots 

 and horsemen;" and we find that in a century and a half after 

 this period, that the horse constituted the principal strength of 

 the Egyptian army. 



The, varieties of the, domestic horse are numerous. Operated 

 on by climate and other circumstances, he assumes that form 

 best adapted to his locality. If reared in a country where the 

 plains abound in rich herbage, his form becomes large; but if 

 fed in an elevated country, or so far north that the herbage is 

 scanty, his size and form, will, as a necessary consequence, 

 vary with the circumstances in which he is placed. No con- 

 trast between animals of the same species can be greater or 

 more striking, than that between the horse of the mountains 

 and the horse of the plains. Yet all this great diversity is pro- 

 duced by a difference in the supplies of food, as influenced 

 by the effects of situation. Nor is this peculiar to the horse 

 the domestic ox and the sheep are subject to the same law, and 

 in a no less remarkable degree. These animals are essential to 

 the subsistence of the human race, and, by a beneficent provi- 

 sion of Nature, they are formed to adapt themselves to the cir- 

 cumstances in which they are placed.* 



No record is extant of the precise period when the horse 

 was first introduced into Europe. The frequent wars between 

 the Greeks and Persians, was probably the means of intro- 

 ducing the horse into Greece, as we read that Xerxes, who in- 

 vaded that country, had eighty thousand horses, principally 

 chosen stallions. From thence it was a very easy matter for 

 them to spread over the continent of Europe. The first 

 Arabian horse introduced into England was during the reign 

 of JAMES I. 



The Spanish horses are still held in high estimation. The 

 invasion of that country by the Moors in 1710, was the means 

 of introducing the most excellent breeds of oriental blood; and 

 during the continuance of the conquerors there for several cen- 

 turies, an improved race was produced. Notwithstanding the 

 unhappy state of that once prosperous country, the good quali- 

 ties of the horse are not wholly debased; for at the present day 

 the best Spanish horses are preferred by many competent horse- 

 men to the barbs. The Spanish Genet is celebrated for its 



* Professor Low's Elements. 

 27 



