ITS HISTORY. 3 



that the Olympic games were instituted, ineliidino' chariot and horse races. 

 We have, therefore, sufficient evidence that the horse was, at a very early 

 period, subjected to the dominion of man, and, unfortunately, for the 

 worst of purposes, — the business of war. 



From the records of the Old Testament, we are likewise enabled to 

 ascertain the precise period of time, when in Egypt and Canaan, and 

 the neighbouring countries, this animal began to be domesticated. 

 1920 years before the birth of Christ, when Abraham, having left Haran, 

 in obedience to the divine command, was driven into Egypt by the 

 famine which raged in Canaan *, Pharaoh offered him sheep and oxen, 

 and asses and camels. Horses would doubtless have been added, 

 had they then existed, or had they been subdued in Egypt. 



When, fifty years afterwards, Abraham journeyed to Mount Moriah, to 

 oflPer up his only son, he rode upon an ass, which, with all his wealth and 

 power, he would scarcely have done, had the horse been known f. 



Thirty years later, when Jacob returned to Isaac with Rachel and 

 Leah, an account is given I of the number of oxen, sheep, camels, goats» 

 and asses, which he sent to appease the anger of Esau, but not one horse 

 is mentioned. 



It is not until twenty-four years after this, when the famine devas- 

 tated Canaan II, and Jacob sent into Egypt to buy corn, that horses 

 are first heard of " Waggons," probably carriages drawn by horses, 

 were sent by Joseph into Canaan to bring his father to Egypt. It 

 would seem, however, that horses had been but lately introduced, and 

 were not numerous, or not used as beasts of burden ; for the whole 

 of the corn, which was to be conveyed some hundred miles, and was to 

 afford subsistence for Jacob's large household, was carried on asses. 



It appears, then, that about 1740 years before Christ, horses were 

 first used in Egypt; but they soon afterwards became so numerous 

 as to form a considerable proportion of the Egyptian army : and when the 

 Israelites returned into Canaan, the horse had been introduced and na- 

 turalized there ; for the Canaanites ** went out to fight against Israel with 

 horses and chariots very many§," 



The sacred volume, therefore, clears up a point upon which ho other 

 record throws any light, — namely, the period when the horse first became 

 the servant of man, at least in one part of the world, and that the most ad- 

 vanced in civilization, and before Greece was peopled. A long time must 

 have elapsed before man was able to ascertain the value and peculiar use of 

 the animals that surrounded him. He would begin with the more subordi- 

 nate — those which were most easily caught, and most readily subdued ; 

 and the benefits which he derived from their labours would induce him to 

 attempt the conquest of superior quadrupeds. In accordance with this, 

 the writings of Moses shew us that, after the ox, the sheep, and the goat, 

 man subdued the ass, and then the camel, and, last of all, the horse became 

 his servant : and no sooner was he subdued, and his strength and docihty 

 and sagacity appreciated, than the others were comparatively disregarded, 

 except in Palestine, where the use of the horse was forbidden by divine 

 authority, and on extensive and barren deserts, where he could not live^. 



*Gen. xii. 16. f Gen. xxii. 3. | Gen. xxxii. 14. 



II Gen. xlv. \d. § Joshua xi. 4. 



«f[ When Sir Gore Ouseley travelled through Persia, and the different countries of the 

 East, he examined, among other relics of antiquity, the sculptures on the ruins of Perse- 



B 2 



