11 



jennet." My friend Mr Oliphant, in his interesting narrative of Lord 

 Elgin's Mission, confirms this statement, and gives the following 

 curious account of the manage of a people as numerous as ourselves, and 

 of whom, for 250 years, we have known nothing but their lacquer- ware 

 and curious porcelain : — " As Lord Elgin had not yet seen much of the 

 town, I accompanied him on shore on another tour of exploration. In 

 the course of our walk we came to a large enclosure, and on entering it 

 found fifteen or twenty men on horseback, galloping and curvetting 

 about a considerable area, apparently used as a riding school. This, we 

 understood, was the constant afternoon amusement of the ' young 

 bloods' of Nagasaki. They were all men of fortune and family, 

 princes and nobles of the land, and this was their Rotten row. They 

 rode fiery little steeds, averaging about fourteen hands in height, and 

 took a delight in riding full gallop, and pulling up short, after the 

 favourite manner of Arabs. The saddles were constructed on the same 

 principle as they are in China, but with less padding. The stirrup- 

 leathers were short, and the stirrups like huge slippers, made of lacquer. 

 The bit was powerful, and the reins made of muslin, but strong, notwith- 

 standing. When we appeared, two or three good-looking young men 

 pulled up near us, and most good-naturedly pressed them upon us. I 

 took a short, uncomfortable gallop upon one with a propensity to kick, 

 and was glad soon to relinqiiish him to his smiling owner. We were 

 much struck with the gentlemanlike and unconstrained bearing of these 

 young men, who evidently wished to show us all the civility in their 

 power." 



From all the facts now detailed the great probability seems to be 

 that in many countries there existed distinct races of the wild horse, 

 which, in due time, their respective inhabitants reduced to servitude. 

 Scattered over the greater part of the Old World, and consisting of 

 widely different varieties, and considering the extremely rude state of the 

 intercourse, and more especially of maritime intercourse, of the early 

 nations, most of whom were even ignorant of each other's existence, it is 

 difficult even to imagine that all the horses of the world were derived 

 from one single stock. Neither the Hindus or Arabs had carried their 

 horses to the islands of the Malay Archipelago, although they communi- 

 cated to them their religions and a very considerable portion of their 

 languages. The Malays and Javanese did not succeed in conveying 

 their horses to the islands of the Pacific, although they did a con- 

 siderable portion of their languages. Close to them was the Philippine 

 group, and to the inhabitants of this they communicated a considerable 



