GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HORSE 39 1 



clothed his neck with a mane ? Canst thou make 

 him bound as a locust ? The majesty of his snorting 

 is terrible. He paweth in the valleys and exulteth ; 

 he goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at 

 fear, and trembleth not ; nor turneth he back from .the 

 sword. Against him rattleth the quiver, the glittering 

 spear, and shield. He devours the ground with fierce- 

 ness and rage, and is impatient when the trumpet 

 soundeth. He uttereth among the trumpets, Ha ! 

 Ha ! He smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of 

 the captains, and the shouting." 



The time at which the horse was first domesticated 

 is now lost in the cloud of antiquity. He is mentioned 

 by the earliest writers, and in all probability his sub- 

 jugation has been nearly coeval with the earliest 

 state of society. From the Scriptures we learn that 

 seventeen hundred and two years before the Christian 

 era, horses were used ; for in the 47th chapter of 

 Genesis we are told that Joseph gave the Egyptians 

 bread in exchange for horses. It seems probable, 

 from the earlier chapters of Genesis, that horses were 

 unknown to the Hebrews and Egyptians ; as we find 

 from the 12th chapter of that book that Abraham 

 " had sheep and oxen, and men-servants, and maid- 

 servants, and she-asses and camels," but no mention 

 is made of horses : this was 1920 years before the 

 birth of Christ. 



But after this time they seem to have propagated 

 and greatly increased in Canaan ; as it is said in the 

 eleventh chapter of Joshua and fourth verse, of 

 certain kings opposed to Joshua, that there were 

 *' much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea- 

 shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very 

 many." 



From many other parts of holy writ we find that 



