FOREIGN HORSES. ■ 57 



could be ascertained, he writes : ' In exchanging or selling 

 horses, a lying story with regard to their native country is 

 used, to introduce the greatest fraud. For men being 

 desirous of selling them at the dearest rate, they falsely 

 pretend that they are of the best breed ; which circum- 

 stance has induced us, who, by travelling frequently into 

 so many different and distant foreign countries, are per- 

 fectly well acquainted with all kinds of horses, and have 

 often kept them in our own stables, to explain the cha- 

 racters and real merit and qualifications of every nation. 

 For not to mention the meaner services they are employed 

 in, it is manifest that horses are chiefly necessary for three 

 uses — for war, for the circus, and for the saddle. The 

 horses of the Hunni are by far the most useful for war, 

 by reason of their endurance of fadgue, cold, and hunger. 

 Next to them, those of Thuringia and Burgundy with- 

 stand fatigue and bad usage the best. The Phrygian or 

 Friesland horses are reckoned invincible, both with respect 

 to swiftness and perseverance in running. Next, those of 

 Epirus, Sarmatia, and Dalmatia, although they are ob- 

 stinate and refractory to the bridle, yet are reckoned very 

 fit for war. The noble disposition of the Cappadocian 

 breed for chariots is much renowned ; equally, or next to 

 these, the glory of the prize in the circus is reckoned due to 

 the Spanish horses ; nor is Sicily much behind in affording 

 for the circus such as are not inferior to them, although 

 Africa is accustomed to furnish the Spanish breed with 

 the swiftest of any. Persia, in all its provinces, furnishes 

 better horses for the saddle, and they are reckoned as a 

 great part of their patrimonial estate ; being very gentle 

 and easy to ride upon, tractable and submissive, and of 



