ORDER PACHYDERMATA. 453 



which they likewise descend. Like them they have the 

 straight and rather slender forehand, their body is longer, 

 and the reins more elevated, but their qualities are exactly 

 the same. 



When we consider the situation of the inhabitants of 

 Europe, we shall find that they have need of much greater 

 varieties in the characters of their horses than the nations 

 of which we have just been speaking. More civilized 

 than the Asiatics, and at least equally numerous, though 

 shut up within a smaller space of territory, having no 

 deserts to cross, and plenty of provender for their horses, 

 they had no necessity to look for the qualities of temper- 

 ance and lightness in those animals, which would render 

 them unfit for the most ordinary labours : possessed of no 

 other beasts of burden, such as Camels and Dromedaries, 

 they were necessitated to look for horses which by their 

 loftier stature and. greater bulk could draw or carry the 

 heaviest loads. They reserved the finest, the lightest, and 

 handsomest of such horses for the service of the saddle ; 

 but, losing sight of the origin of these animals, neglecting 

 the first sources from which they came ; no longer con- 

 sidering what regions were most favourable for preserving 

 the forms and constitutions which they had received from 

 the hand of nature ; they paid no attention to that mode 

 of education which was best adapted to counteract the 

 influence of a colder or a moister climate, nor to the effect 

 of a more abundant, but less stimulating nutriment, which, 

 while it increased corporeal bulk, added nothing to energy 

 and spirit. Thus by degrees the original type disappeared, 

 and horses fit only for the purposes of draught alone 

 remained ; or, at least any others became extremely rare. 

 This degeneration has affected all the horses of Europe more 

 or less, according to the measures adopted by governments 

 to remedy it, or the spirit and disposition of the people. 



The Spanish Horses enjoyed for a long period the 



