494 THE HORSE. 



distinction to the Belgian cohorts in the armies of the Ro- 

 mans : and, at a subsequent age, the great Black Horse of 

 the Vandals excited terror amongst the nations of Southern 

 Europe. 



Scandinavia, though imperfectly fitted for the rearing of 

 many horses, yet possesses them in greater numbers than, 

 from the nature of the country, and the pursuits of the in- 

 habitants, might have been expected. But the warlike North- 

 men, themselves derived, as their legends, mythology, and 

 language attest, from those countries eastward where the 

 Horse abounded, retain a considerable attachment to these 

 animals. Their horses vary in strength and stature with 

 the fertility, natural or acquired, of the districts where they 

 have been naturalized, from the Alps of Norway to the 

 provinces of the Baltic shores. But, with the exception of 

 the larger kinds fitted for the labour of draught, the Scan- 

 dinavian horses may be described as being of small size, as 

 having stout muscular limbs, with great power of enduring 

 steady labour, but as being wanting in the spirit and fleet- 

 ness which characterize the horses of warmer climes. 



In the British Islands the Horses present a greater diver- 

 sity than perhaps in any other country of the same extent. 

 This diversity arises in part from the different degrees of al- 

 titude and productiveness of the various parts of the country, 

 and in part from the great admixture that has taken place 

 of the blood of foreign races. But, before describing the 

 Horses proper to or naturalized in these Islands, we shall 

 consider the Horse as he is presented to us in another part 

 of the world, where, in regions of boundless fertility and ex- 

 tent, he has been subjected to the influence of new agents, 

 and regained his natural liberty under circumstances the 

 most favourable to the extension of his race. 



When the Spaniards, forgetful of the precepts of the im- 

 mortal Genius who had guided them to the peaceful shores 

 of the New World, began a war of extermination against 

 the unoffending natives, they everywhere carried with them 



