94 



THE HORSE 



is very remarkable that, out of so many species, two only 

 should have shown any aptitude for domestication, and 

 that these, too, should have been from time immemorial 

 the universal and most useful companions and servants 

 of man, while all the others remain in their native free- 

 dom to this day. It is, however, still a question whether 

 this really arises from a different mental constitution, 

 causing a natural capacity for entering into relations 

 with man, or whether it may not be owing to their having 

 been brought gradually into this condition by long- 

 continued and persevering efforts, when the need of 

 their services was keenly felt. It is quite possible that 

 one reason why nearly all of the attempts to add new 

 species to the list of our domestic animals in modern 

 times have ended in failure, is that it does not answer 

 to do so in cases in which existing species supply all the 

 principal purposes to which the new ones might be put. 

 It can hardly be expected that zebras and quaggas fresh 

 from their native mountains and plains can be brought 

 into competition as beasts of burden and draught with 

 horses and asses, whose naturally useful qualities have 

 been augmented by the training of thousands of genera- 

 tions of progenitors. It must be remembered also, that 

 the original habitat of both the last-named species 

 probably lay in those countries in which human civili- 

 sation took its rise, and that they would therefore natu- 

 rally be the first to be brought beneath its influence. 



