CURIOUS SUPERSTITIONS 123 



In those early times it was deemed criminal 

 intentionally to wound a white horse, while to 

 kill one even by accident was thought to be but 

 little less blameworthy — save, of course, upon 

 occasions when a white horse was to be sacrificed 

 to please the gods or to appease their anger. 



Some centuries later Herodotus virtually re- 

 peats what Homer has already told us, and gives 

 us to understand in addition that by that time 

 parts of Russia teemed with white horses, many 

 of them of great value. 



Whether towards the end of the third and 

 the beginning of the second centuries B.C. the 

 Russians treated even white horses with ordinary 

 humanity would appear doubtful, though we 

 know that Russians entertained superstitious and 

 grotesque beliefs concerning horses that were 

 either white or cream-coloured. 



Finally, some seven centuries later, Marco Polo 

 comes with his remarkable narratives of the 

 Tartars' herds of white horses and their strange 

 beliefs concerning them. From other sources 

 particulars may be obtained of the barbarous 

 practices these Tartars had recourse to upon 

 the occasions of their sacrificial ceremonies, par- 

 ticulars of too revolting a nature to be given 

 here. 



