DOMESTIC RACES 24 I 



mentioned the fact that their general build and appearance is 

 highly suggestive of the wild Horses sketched by primitive man 

 upon ivory. 



A really wild Horse, and possibly the ancestor of the European 

 domestic Horse, is E. przcwcdskii of the sandy deserts of Central 

 Asia. This animal has been believed to be a mule between the 

 Wild Ass and a feral Horse ; but if a distinct form, and probability 

 seems to urge that view, it is interesting as breaking down the dis- 

 tinctions between Horses and Asses. The species possesses the four 

 callosities of the Horse, but has a poorer mane and an asinine tail. 



There is no question that the Horse has been a domestic 

 animal for very many centuries. Hieroglyphics appear to show 

 that the Egyptians had not originally domesticated the Horse ; it 

 seems to have been first introduced among them by the Hyksos 

 or Shepherd Kings.'' Whatever the date may be, it is certain 

 that considerably anterior to the Egyptians the Assyrians and 

 Phoenicians possessed Horses. In Western Europe the date of 

 the introduction of the Horse seems to have been during the 

 bronze epoch. Lord Avebury ^ has pointed out that out of 

 eighteen cases of graves in which the remains of Horse were 

 found, twelve contained metal implements, i.e. 66 per cent. This 

 does not of course prove that the Horse was domesticated at that 

 period, but it throws doubt upon the earlier occurrence of the 

 Horse in abundance. The Horse, however, does occur on the 

 Continent associated with the remains of man during the Quater- 

 nary period.' 



Messrs. Cuyer and AJix enumerate between fifty and sixty 

 domesticated races of Horse, not counting the supposed wild 

 varieties which have been already refeiTcd to. These may be 

 further subdivided ; for instance, under the race " pony " we may 

 distinguish the Irish, Scotch, and Shetland varieties, all of which, 

 however, according to Sanson, have originated in Ireland. They 

 are used, remark the authors above quoted, " par les jeunes filles 

 des lords pour leurs promenades." The Arab, the Barb, the 

 Suffolk Punch, etc., are among the numerous races of domestic 

 Horses, into which to enter properly would require another 

 volume, and that of large size. 



1 Cuyer and Alix, Ze Cheval, Paris, 1886. 

 ■* Lubbock, Prehistoric Times, London, 1865. 

 ' J. Geikie, Prehistoric Europe, London, 1881. 

 VOL. X R 



