CUSTOMS OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. ii 



wanted for travellers, and, with very little harness, fasten 

 them to the carriage. In this state, theij are icithout shoes, 

 and seem perfectly wild ; but it is surprising to observe 

 how regularly and well they trot.' ' Brooke, however, re- 

 marks, that ' so dangerous are the wolves in some parts 

 of Sweden that the peasants, on turning their horses out, 

 generally tip their feet with iron, by which means of de- 

 fence they are frequently enabled to beat off their fero- 

 cious assailants.' ^ 



It is \ve\\ known that in many southern regions there 

 is but little need for any attempt at shoeing. The littoral 

 of Libya, and some parts of Arabia and Persia, furnish ex- 

 amples. In Tartary, whole tribes ride horses without 

 shoes of iron, and in Senegal the French squadron of 

 Spahis have no farriers, for the simple reason that they 

 have no shod horses.^ In the East Indies, among some 

 races shoeing is far from general. 



So we can easily understand, that in certain parts of 

 the world, horses have been and can be made service- 

 able to a certain extent without employing an iron de- 

 fence. If one may judge from the paintings of Ancient 

 Egypt and the sculptures of Assyria, where we see the 

 horse portrayed with great skill, and with that minute 

 perception of his external form which seems to us even 

 now very remarkable, no protection for the hoof was ever 

 had recourse to, and no remains of anything bearing a 

 resemblance to such an appliance have been found. And 

 though these countries were acquainted with many arts, 



' Travels in various countries of Scandinavia, London, 1838. 



^ Travels in Sweden, p. 19. 



^ Megnin. Ferrure du Cheval, p. 8. 



