From a report^" in 1845 by Lt, Colonel Richardson who bouglit 

 remounts in South Africa for the Indian Army we find that among 

 a batch of 266 horses the colors were the following: 147 bays, 46 

 brown, 32 chestnuts, 19 greys, 14 dark-grey, 7 black, 1 dun. This 

 shows a preponderance of about 56% bays, or over 72% if browns 

 are included. The greys and dapple greys show strongly the color 

 of the Spanish greys imported in 1807. The chestnuts and blacks 

 are the progeny of crosses and show the influence of different types 

 of Oriental sires. The Libyan influence, however, is most marked 

 especially in a country where up to then horse-breeding was prac- 

 tically based on the system of "survival of the fittest" and in a 

 case where the horses were picked ones. Ridgeway 's argument that 

 color is as much a characteristic — a natural specialization — as any 

 high quality holds true in this case as it does with the Thoroughbred. 

 The better animals of the highest qualities survived the severest 

 tests — and these were the bays. Making use of the proverbial 

 drowning man's straw it may be added that one of the stallions fre- 

 quently alluded to in Van Riebeeck 's Diary (1652-1662) as "most 

 beautiful stallions" was called "Rode Vos," (Red fox) and was 

 thus a bay.^^ 



From the valuable researches of Litchtenstein during the years 

 1798-1806^* we find the following remarks on the horse material of 

 South Africa a hundred and fifty years after the importation of 

 horses from Java and Persia ; a considerable period of time during 

 which the breed of horses could develop into a special and distinct 

 type, ' ' The breed of horses of Persian descent of the northers dis- 

 tricts of Cape Colony is considered to have been kept the purest. 

 They are characterized by a stronger structure, greater height, and 

 extraordinary endurance and are of a bay color. These northern 

 districts comprise the Hantam range of mountains and plains which 

 were adaptable to horse breeding, forming with its dry air and 

 scanty herbage on rich lime soils a second home for the Arab. 

 Greater care has been bestowed on their breeding and selection than 

 in the Southern districts." 



(16) Papers relating to the Purchase of Horses at the Cape of Good Hope for 



Cavalry and ArtiUery Service in India and the Colony. (Parliamentary 

 Blue Bool-s 1845). 



(17) Br. E. C. Godee-Molshergen. Jan van. Bieheeck. SticMer van Hol- 



lands Zuid Afril'a 1913. 



(18) Heinrich Litchtenstein. " Eeisen in Siidlichen Afrika 1798-1806. Ber- 



lin 1811. 



12 - -. -^ 



