THE HORSE. 



Chapter I. 

 GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 



Hacknei/. 



Arabian. 



Hunter. 



Into this and the various breeds of horses, we shall enter at some length ; 

 and although the more practical division of the Treatise will be thereby 

 necessarily postponed imtil the next monthly part, we shall not, even at 

 present, forget the name of the Library to which it belongs, but endeavour 

 to blend the 2iseful with the entertaining. 



The native country of the horse cannot with certainty be traced. He 

 has been found, varying materially in size, in form, and in utility, in all the 

 temperate, in most of the sultry, and in many of the northern regions of 

 the Old World. 



In the Sacred Volume, which, beside its higher claims to stand at the 

 head of the Farmer's Library, contains the oldest authentic record of past 

 transactions, we are told that, so early as 1650 years before the birth of 

 Christ, the horse had been domesticated by the Egyptians. When Joseph 

 carried his father's remains from Egypt to Canaan, *' there went up 

 with him both chariots and horsemen *." One hundred and fifty years 

 afterwards, the horse constituted the principal strength of the Egyptian 

 army. Pharaoh piu'sued the Israelites with " six hundred chosen chariots, 

 and with all the chariots of Egypt t-" 



If we could believe the accounts of the uninspired historians, Sesostris 

 (the monarch probably whom Joseph served) had twenty-seven thousand 

 chariots of war; and Semiramis, the founder of Babylon, had one hundred 

 thousand chariots, and a million of horsemen ; but this was probably a 

 great exaggeration. 



Fifty years after the expulsion of the Israelites from Egypt, and 1450 

 years before the birth of Christ, the horse was so far naturalized in Greece, 



* Gen.i. 9. 



f Exod. xvi. 7, 



