The Horse. 



CHAPTER I. 

 EARLY HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 



The Horse of Scripture — The Greek Horse — That of the Ramans 

 — The Arab of Antiquity — Egyptian, Libyan, Numidian, and 

 Moorish Horses — The original British Horse — Ancient methods 

 of using the Horse. 



THE HORSE OF SCRIPTURE. 



I HE EARLIEST RECORD of the Horse which we possess 

 is in the Old Testament, where we first find him infer- 

 entially mentioned in the thirty-sixth chapter of Gen- 

 esis, as existing in the wilderness of Idumea about 

 the beginning of the sixteenth century before Christ. 

 Many commentators, however, render the word which is translated 

 " mules " in our version, as " waters," and thus a doubt is thrown 

 upon the correctness of the inference which is thence drawn. 

 Moreover, in the thirty-second chapter of Genesis, camels, goats, 

 sheep, cattle and asses are all severally alluded to, but no horses j 

 so that it is highly probable that in the time of Jacob, whose de- 

 parture from Laban is there narrated, horses were unknown to the 

 Israelites. It was not until after their arrival in Egypt that the 

 horse is clearly alluded to. Jacob, on his deathbed, leaves us no 

 room to doubt his knowledge of the horse, and of its being domes- 

 ticated, for he speaks of the ''horse and his rider" in the same 

 sentence. We need, therefore, go no further for a proof of the 

 Oarly existence of this animal in Egypt, and may assume that 

 there were large numbers of them there, for Pharaoh is recorded 

 to have taken " six hundred chosen chariots, and all the horses," 

 to pursue the Israelites to the Red Sea. It is generally supposed 

 from the omission of all mention of horses while the Israelites 

 were in Arabia, that this country, which has since become so cele- 

 brated for them, was at that time entirely without them. The 

 proof, however, is entirely of a negative character, though I con- 

 fess that it is as strong as any of that nature can well be. Indee<l, 

 2 (13) 



