THE PERCHERON HORSE. 561 



back from Palestine several stallions which were put to mares, and 

 the progeny most carefully preserved. 



" The small number of the sires, their incomparable beauty, and 

 manifest superiority, must have led to the in-and-in breeding so 

 much deprecated by most breeders ; but the qualities of the sires 

 became indelibly fixed upon their progeny. 



" The Lord of Montdoubleau was, it is said, the most zealous of 

 the advocates and breeders of the new blood, and, being the most 

 zealous, was the most successful ; hence it is that the Montdoubleau 

 stock is to this day "the best in Perche. The Count Roger of 

 Bellesme, imported both Arabian and Spanish horses, as did 

 Goroze, the Lord of Saint Cerney, Courville, and Courseroult; these 

 are historical facts which have their importance. Like chronicles, 

 it is true, exist for other provinces for Limousin, for Navarre, for 

 Auvergne (the land of noble horses), also for Brittany and 

 Maine ; but in the latter not the least sign of Eastern blood is 

 perceptible. The fact is, the crusaders from all the French 

 provinces naturally brought back with them more or less of the 

 Eastern blood, which they had learned to appreciate on the plains 

 of Palestine but the truth is, it has not been preserved elsewhere; 

 and that we in La Perche, after so many centuries, should be so 

 fortunate as to be able to show the traces of it, should stimulate 

 us to its careful preservation. The historical data, these induc- 

 tions, incomplete as they may be, lead to the belief that for 

 antiquity the Percheron yields to no other of our French races, 

 and that the soil which has nourished and preserved it, must be 

 one of the best in France for horse-breeding. Under the feudal 

 rule it is not probable that the Percheron as a race had the 

 characteristics it now possesses. It must have been lighter, but 

 still possessing within itself the character it now presents. 



" The essential point is to prove that there was, at that period, a 

 native race ; and if the extraordinary life formerly led there if 

 the aspect of the country, which must have been always fertile 

 if the historical inductions do not prove it, the universal tradition 

 of the whole country should not leave us in any doubt in respect 

 to the fact. Let us then take no account of the silence of 

 historians. This silence is no proof of the non-existence of the 

 Percheron. Most of these writers were gentlemen of the eques- 

 trian order; they prized the saddle-horse, while they ignored the 

 equally useful breeds of all work." 



Allowing due weight to Mr. Du Huys' arguments of historical 

 induction, national tradition, and similarity of color, disposition, 

 and form, it is hardly fair to presume that the true Percheron is 

 the primitive Arab modified by climate, food, and education. 

 History is the most important element in establishing the periods 

 of the formation of races; and inasmuch as history has been until 



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