PERCHERON PROTOTYPES 51 



mandes" of 1909, in the report of an agricnltural 

 show held at Mortagne where one of the local nota- 

 bles, M. de Longuemar, who made the principal 

 discourse, said in speaking of the origin of the Per- 

 cheron : 



"The very nature of the soil itself, the environ- 

 ment — that is the primordial reason; much more cer- 

 tain than the hypothetical crossings of the native 

 mares with Arabian stallions, the legendary 'ka- 

 dischi.' " 



Modem Arab Crossing Not Mentioned. — It will 

 also be observed that while there were various views 

 expressed relating to the origin and crossing of the 

 breed, there was no disposition to attach special im- 

 portance to the Arabian phase of the proposition. 

 It will also be noted that while this took place in 

 1843, no reference whatever was made to modifica- 

 tions of the breed by the use about 1820 of the alleged 

 Arabian stallions Godolphin and Gallipoly, to be re- 

 ferred to further on. On the other hand, the prob- 

 ability of remote Oriental crossings was apparently 

 conceded, a fact which confonns to what we have 

 already intimated in preceding pages touching the 

 part possibly played by the Oriental blood in the 

 production of the gray chargers used by the old 

 French nobility. 



Before dismissing this reference to the congress of 

 Mortagne it should further be pointed out that at 

 the time when it was held the army was a large 

 buyer of horses in this district. This explains the 

 talk about crossing with stallions of lighter types. 



