CLEVELAND BAYS AND YORKSHIRE COACH HORSES 53 



similarity of type between the thoroughbred and the Cleve- 

 land Bay. 



The most feasible theory as to the origin of the Cleveland 

 Bay breed seems to be that it has been produced, by a 

 system of natural selection, from the original breed of horses 

 found in the southern part of the island of Great Britain. 

 Probably, nay possibly, an Eastern cross may have found its 

 way into the breed at a very early age. Historical probability 

 and the experiences of a later generation are all in favour of 

 such a theory. That there was a powerful and active breed 

 of horses in the island at the time of the Roman invasion is 

 an undoubted fact. The heavy war chariots with which the 

 Iceni discomfited the veteran soldiers of Julius Caesar must 

 have been horsed with animals possessing size, strength, and 

 action in a marked degree, possessing, in a word, all those 

 attributes which are comprised in the modern phrase "qual- 

 ity." Caesar, we are told, was so impressed with the good 

 qualities of the British horses that he took some with him to 

 Rome, and we have the authority of the coinage of King 

 Cunobelin that horses were much valued in Britain, and the 

 portraits of horses found on the coins of his reign, though of 

 course somewhat rude in execution, point to the existence of 

 a breed of great excellence, not dissimilar in many respects 

 to the Cleveland Bay. 



It has been suggested, and with some show of reason, that 

 the blood of Eastern horses had been imported into Britain 

 before the galleys of Caesar set sail from the shores of Gaul. 

 It is well-known that the Phoenicians carried on a con- 

 siderable trade with the inhabitants of the southern and 

 south-western portions of the island, and it was far from im- 

 probable that they would bring over some of their native 

 horses for purposes of sale or barter, especially when they 

 found that the Britons were of a' horsey tendency, and had no 

 objection to an honest deal. The similarity in type which 

 existed between the Cleveland Bay and the Devonshire pack 

 horse has been cited in confirmation of the theory that the 



