74 THE GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 
the ocean. New layers of marine productions, of sand, gravel, and 
broken mountains, will overwhelm that soil to which we now feel 
such lively attachment; and, finally, new countries, or arrange- 
ments of land, will again arise in due course on those mundane 
sites which, at present, are occupied by civilized Europe, and by 
the northern parts of Asia and America. 
For my own part, I see no moral evil to deplore in these changes. 
Nothing is effected abruptly, and man and animals are gradually 
warned to seek new habitations. The notices are slow, but uner- 
ring ; and the human race will find fresh and renovated countries 
prepared for their subsistence, and abundantly fitted for their en- 
joyment, by these grand operations. 
I have already adduced sufficient evidence that the sea has 
covered the land at different periods; and any one who views the 
interior of our country must be sensible that its swelling hills and 
low vallies, leading to the sea, must have been produced by the 
action of the oceanic waters. Volcanic agency from below has 
also produced many great and important changes in modifying and 
rearranging the surface of the earth. 
We will now endeavour to apply the knowledge we have ob- 
tained to investigate farther the ancient history of the horse. 
Arabia has been frequently described by natural historians, from 
the very superior breed of horses found there from the earliest re- 
corded times, to be the soil that gave birth to the primitive horse. 
I confess that at one period I entertained a similar opinion, and in- 
dulged my fancy-flight in imagining the first pair of horses located 
on some verdant plain in Arabia the Happy, and bearing a strong 
resemblance to the war horse described so emphatically in the 
Book of Job : “ Hast thou given the horse strength 1 hast thou 
clothed his neck with thunder ! Canst thou make him afraid as a 
grasshopper ? The glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in 
the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength : he goeth forth to meet the 
armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted ; neither 
turneth he his back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against 
him, the glittering spear and the shield. He swalloweth the ground 
with fierceness and rage ; neither believeth he that it is the sound 
of the trumpet. He sayeth among the trumpets, Ha, ha ! and he 
smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the 
shoutings.” 
This is a magnificent description of a war charger, — but, splendid 
as it is, it will equally suit the horses harnessed to the war chariot 
of Queen Boadicea, which spread dismay and death in the breasts 
of the Roman legions, when Caesar first invaded the shores of 
Britain. I do not by this remark mean to throw any doubt on the 
superiority of the Arabian breed of horses, but merely introduce it 
to shew that Great Britain also possessed a very superior breed at 
