246 Btdo'iiin Tribes of tJic Eut>hratcs. [m. xxvin. 



scribes as "little lions/' of great power and beauty; 

 the "tattoes" of the Indian market. 



It is not then in the peninsula of Arabia, where 

 water is only to be had from wells, that the original 

 stock can have been found, but rather in Mesopo- 

 tamia and the great pastoral districts bordering the 

 Euphrates, where water is abundant and pasture 

 perennial. I Avas constantly struck, when crossing 

 the plains of Mesopotamia, with its resemblance to 

 Entrerios, and the other great horse - producing 

 regions of the Eiver Plate. Here the wild horse 

 must have been originally captured, (just as in the 

 [)resent day the ivdhash or wild ass is captured,) and 

 taken thence by man to people the peninsula. 



Later on, invasions from the north seem to ha^'c 

 brought other breeds of horses to these very plains, 

 members perhaps of other original stocks, those of 

 the Piussian steppes or of Central Asia. These we 

 find represented on the Chaldean bas-reliefs, and 

 still existing in the shape of stout ponies all along 

 the northern edge of the desert— animals disowned 

 by the Bedouins as being horses at all, yet service- 

 able for pack work, and useful in their way. This 

 Chaldean type, from whatever source it springs, 

 stands in direct contrast wdth that of the true Aral)ian. 

 It is large-headed, heavy-necked, straight-shouldered, 

 and high on the leg — a lumbering clumsy beast, fit 

 rather for draught, if it were large enough, than for 

 riding ; and in this way the ancient Chaldeans seem 

 to have chiefly employed it. The desert, however. 



