458 



THE 11OKSE. 



ages, and where marvellous monuments, which have sur- 

 vived the lapse of thousands of years, and all the ravages of 

 war and barbarism, attest the early subjugation of the ani- 

 mal. 



In innumerable sculptures, as fresh as if they had been 

 chiselled yesterday, the Horse of the Egyptians appears as 

 harnessed to the chariots of their warriors and kings ; and 

 all the history of the country shews how much it depended 

 upon his power in war. Although the Egyptians were not 

 ignorant of the use of cavalry, for we learn that they had 

 their horsemen as well as charioteers, yet, like the other 

 civilized nations of the same era,, the Greeks, the Hindoos, 

 the Persians and other Asiatics, they gave the preference to 

 the chariot, which consisted of a light low carriage, open be- 

 hind, containing the charioteer and the combatant, having a 

 shaft or beam, and drawn by two or more horses yoked 

 abreast. 



From the records of the Jewish history we receive notices 

 of the horses of the Egyptians ; and from the same clocu- 



