RARE AND UNFAMILIAR ANIMALS 291 



Wellington to victory at Waterloo, has become a character in 

 history. 



"Horses were sent in ancient, as well as in modern, times as 

 presents of the highest value to neighbouring kings or mighty 

 rulers with whom it was desirable to be on terms of peace, and the 

 breeding of Horses in England, first mentioned by Caesar, has been 

 considered worthy of the greatest consideration through all ages, 

 so much so indeed that it was in early times protected by special 

 laws. 



"The Arab steed has always been regarded as the most perfect 

 animal for speed, lasting, and sagacity, and it has therefore been 

 the most sought after and, as many travellers have narrated, the 

 most difficult to obtain. The Eastern blood was first introduced 

 into England by Charles II, who sent his Master of the Horse to 

 Asia to buy horses for his own stable. These beautiful animals 

 were known as ' Royal Horses,' and it is from that time that the 

 custom arose for the reigning monarch to use cream-coloured 

 Arabians on State occasions. The French General Daumas asked 

 the Amir Abd el Kadir what was the origin of the Arabian horse. 

 The Amir, in his poetic way, informed him that Allah created the 

 Horse^ out of the wind as he created Adam out of the mud. This 

 terse description of the creation explains the relative position in the 

 mind of the Arabs of the horse and of the man. That the horse has 

 been the object of admiration and veneration from the very earliest 

 time is shown by the prehistoric sketchy of horses discovered in cave 

 dwellings, for the artists of those days mostly depicted their Gods 

 or the animals they feared or venerated." 



It is not possible to set out at this juncture a detailed account 

 of the evolution of the Horse, or of the many real and so-called wild 

 kinds which are still found in various parts of the world (including, 

 for instance, Exmoor and the New Forest in England, to mention 

 two places at home), but a few particulars concerning Prejevalski's, 

 or Mongolian, Wild Horse (Fig. 228) may be quoted from the same 

 source as recently mentioned before passing on to the next animal 

 on our list. 



"A yellow or dun colour has always been considered the primi- 

 tive colour of the Horse tribe, and Prejevalski Horses do not 

 disappoint us in the hue of their livery. They are yellow dun, a 

 colour which must blend with the sandy desert region in which 

 these animals make their home and render them comparatively 

 inconspicuous. The muzzle is cream, and the mane, tail and legs 



U2 



