392 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY 



horses were numerous in most of the kingdoms of the 

 East, but no mention of the country from whence 

 they were originally derived. It is a generally re- 

 ceived, although erroneous opinion, that Arabia was 

 the native country of the horse. We find that even 

 so late as the seventh century of the Christian era, 

 when the prophet Mahomet attacked the Koreish, 

 not far from Mecca, he had only two horses in his 

 train ; and although, in the plunder of this horrible 

 campaign, he carried with him in his retreat twenty- 

 four thousand camels, forty thousand sheep, and 

 twenty-four thousand ounces of silver, there is no 

 mention of horses being part of the booty. 



Solomon's stables seem to have been magnificent. 

 He kept horses both for pomp and gain. His stud, 

 even in our own times, is unequalled. He is said to 

 have had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, 

 and twelve thousand horsemen ! The price of a horse 

 in those days was fifty shekels of silver, which amounts 

 to about seventeen pounds, two shillings sterling ; a 

 very large sum at that remote period."^ 



It seems certain that Egypt was the first country 

 in which the breed of horses was first improved, and 

 from whence most of the early Eastern monarchs 

 procured their studs. Solomon obtained many from 

 thence ; and although it abounded in horses, still I 



*Dr Scot wrote me upon this subject : — "We allow that there 

 is some controversy among scholars about the exact number of 

 the stalls, and we dare not say that no mistake is introduced into 

 the text. The probability, indeed, is very great that the most 

 ancient and authentic copies of the text are corrupted. We 

 should conceive that four thousand was a large number. This 

 indeed is stated to be the number in 2 Chronicles, chapter ix, 

 verse 25th ; and even the parallel passage in i Kings, chapter iv, 

 verse 26th, commonly translated forty thousand, will bear to be 

 so interpreted." 



