44 THE HORSE. 



what is that indigenous blood, as it is styled, and how far it is 

 impure, how far traceable to a warm oriental or African origin, 

 in remote antiquity. It has generally been assumed that the 

 British horse, with which only I have henceforth to do, as the 

 origin of the American blood-horse, until I come to speak of 

 him directly, was an utterly unimproved and worthless animal 

 until the comparativelj^ modern times, when his blood was first 

 gradually mixed by the monarchs of the Saxon dynasty, and 

 afterward by the Norman invaders and crusaders, with Arabian, 

 Syrian, Andalusian, and African strains. 



I hold, on the contrary, that the British horse, as originally 

 found by Csesar, was itself of Eastern European descent, from 

 Scythia, Thrace or Carpathia — for I disbelieve in the aboi'iginal 

 theory — though I admit that I have no proof of the fact, and 

 argue only on probability and analogy. But I am confident, 

 and regard it as historically made out, that, at a very early pe- 

 riod of the Roman occupation, it must have been, and was, 

 largely tinctured with the blood of the best Spanish and Gallic 

 chargers ; the former of which could scarcely be less than half, 

 or three-part Barbs, and the latter of which partook of the same 

 strain. 



There could scarcely also fail to be another direct cross from 

 Thrace or Scythia, though it cannot exactly be established that 

 such was the case ; the rather that more than one of the most 

 warlike and victorious of the Roman emperors made the island 

 their residence. 



I now come to the natural history of the horse, which I 

 propose to treat briefly, principally through quotations from 

 Winter and Youatt on the horse, who may be pronounced un- 

 hesitatingly the best authorities on the subject, before proceed- 

 ing to treat of the various distinct families of the animal, and 

 first, as noblest, of the English blood-horse. 



" Natural historians," says Mr. Winter, " in their endeavors 

 to arrange the varjnng objects of animated nature, class the 

 horse and its congeners in the following manner : 



" Division. Yertehrata — possessing a back-bone. 



" Class. Mammalia — such as give suck. 



" Trlbe. Ungulata — ^lioofed. 



" Order. Pachydermata — thick-skinned. 



