480 



HISTORY OF 



When this, which is spread under the horse about five iiichos 

 thick, is moistened, they dry it again, and spread it as be- 

 fore. The horses of these countries a good deal resemble 

 each other. They are usually of a slender make ; their leg fine, 

 bony, and far apart ; a thin mane ; a fine crest ; a beautiful head ; 

 the ear small and ■well pointed j the shoulder thin ; the side 

 rounded, without any unsightly prominence ; the croup is a 

 little of the longest, and the tail is generally set high. The race 

 of horses, however, is much degenerated in Numidia ; the na- 

 tives having been discouraged from keeping the breed up by 

 the Turks, who seize upon all the good horses, without paying 

 the owners the smallest gratuity for their care in bringing them 

 up. The Tingitanians and Egyptians have now, therefore, the 

 fame of rearing the finest horses, both for size and beauty. The 

 smallest of these last are usually sixteen hands high ; and all of 

 them shaped, as they express it, with the elegance of an ante- 

 lope. 



Next to the Barb, travellers generally rank the Spanish ge- 

 nette. These horses like the former, are little, but extremely 

 swift and beautiful. The head is something of the largest ; the 

 mane thick : the ears long, but well pointed : the eyes filled with 

 fire ; the shoulder thickish, and the breast full and large. The 

 croup round and large ; the legs beautiful, and without hair ; 

 the pastern a little of the longest, as in the Barb, and the hoof 

 rather too high. Nevertheless, they move with great ease, and 

 carry themselves extremely well. Their most usual colour is 

 black, or a dark bay. They seldom or never have white legs, 

 or white snip. The Spaniards, who have a groundless aversion 

 to these marks, never breed from such as have them. They are 

 all branded on the buttock with the owner's name ; and those of 

 the province of Andalusia pass for the best. These are said to 

 possess courage, obedience, grace, and spirit, in a greater degre" 

 than even the Barb ; and for this reason they have been prefer- 

 red as war-horses to those of any other country. * 



• Spain was early celebrated for a breed of fine horses. These took tlieir 

 rise In the Moorish horse, or Barb, at the time the greater part of the penin- 

 sula was under the subjection of the Moore. When the Roman empire was 

 at its height, the horses of Calpe were in higher repute than any otlier Eu. 

 ropean breed. Calpe, the modern Gibraltar, is situated at nearly the south, 

 west extremity of Spain; consequently, nearly opposite to Abyla, on the 



