HISTORY. 471 



The Arabian horse, in the same latitudes, scarce exceeds the 

 size of a pony ; which leads us to the conclusion that the 

 African horse is distinct from the Asiatic, attaining his maxi- 

 mum of development, like the negro race of mankind, under 

 conditions of temperature and natural productions entirely 

 different from those which favour the growth of the Asiatic 

 species. How far this remarkable race of horses extends into 

 the burning regions of the interior we are ignorant, on ac- 

 count of our imperfect knowledge of these countries ; but the 

 same general form of the animal has been observed in Bornou, 

 in the yery heart of the Continent ; and we have reason to 

 believe, from the notices of travellers, that the horses in the 

 countries extending westward have much of the same charac- 

 ter of lightness of body, and high and imposing action. Travel- 

 lers who have visited Abyssinia, which, however, is a country 

 of mountains, and therefore fitted to produce a small race 

 of horses, speak of them as possessing the proud aspect and 

 action of the horses of the Nubian deserts. Bruce describes 

 a favourite black horse which he himself rode, and with whose 

 action and demeanour he expresses himself charmed. It is 

 probable that the horses of Africa, as we depart from this 

 centre, deviate from the parent type. Passing through the 

 boundless countries of the Negroes to the south, the Horse 

 seems at length to disappear ; and towards the countries of 

 the coast of Guinea, which differ greatly in their character 

 from the Nubian deserts, he appears to degenerate. We 

 learn, however, that horses exist in vast numbers through- 

 out all the interior, from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Benin, 

 and that they are everywhere used for the purposes of war, 

 of pomp, and of racing. But the horses of Africa, with which 

 we are most familiar in Europe, and which have been largely 

 mixed in blood with the horses of Southern Europe, and even 

 of England, are those which inhabit the countries of Africa 

 north of the desert of Sahara. They are termed Barbs, and 

 they inhabit the kingdoms of Fez, Morocco, and all the coun- 

 tries eastward to the deserts bordering on Egypt. 



