Cambridge Biological Series ORIGIN AND INFLUENCE OF THE THOROUGHBRED HORSE CAMBRIDGE BIOLOGICAL SERIES, GENERAL EDITOR : ARTHUR E. SHIPLEY, M.A., F.K.S. FELLOW AND TUTOR OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. THE ORIGIN AND INFLUENCE OF THE THOROUGHBRED HORSE By the same Author. THE ORIGIN OF METALLIC CURRENCY AND WEIGHT STANDARDS. New Edition in preparation. "Die epochemachende Untersuchungen von William Eidgeway, ' The Origin of Metallic Currency and Weight Standards.' " Deutsches Rundschau, June 5, 1897. "It is the induction which is the real strength of the present work. The collection of sure facts is so large, and the facts themselves hang so well together, that we cannot help accepting what they point to at, least until we see whether an adversary can make an equally good collection on^the other side. But we do not expect to find this done." Economic Journal, vol. n, p. 704. "One of the most important and brilliantly original works on any archaeological subject which has appeared for many years past." Saturday Review. "A book of profound erudition, and of the first value to everyone interested in the early history of civilization." Scotsman. THE EARLY AGE OF GREECE, Vol. i (Vol. II in the press). "No more lucid piece of argument has been produced for many years. Mr Bidgeway takes no step which is not sure. He trusts neither to prejudice nor to speculation. He admits nothing save facts, and being an eminent anthropologist he does not reason as though Greece were a province set in a vacuum far apart from the civilization of the world." Spectator. " With the main arguments we are fully in accord. The finds both in Greece and elsewhere, on which it is largely based, appear so far as we can test the matter to be accurately stated, and no material evidence seems to have been ignored. In this part we can hardly believe that his position will be seriously questioned We think the legends are most likely to be the battle-ground with his opponents. But they have never been critically examined before in the light of archaeological discoveries, nor has anyone so successfully illustrated them by the way in which historical heroes, like Alexander or Charlemagne, are treated in saga and song ; and when so examined their consistency with themselves and with the finds is indeed remarkable. It is no small confirmation of their value that by following them Mr Eidgeway has been enabled to explain better than any of his predecessors the origin of the Homeric poems." Athenaeum. "Der vorliegende erste Band des auf zwei Bande berechneten Werkes verdient wegen des Inhaltes und wegen der Art der Stoffbehandlung aufmerksame Beachtung An dieser Stelle muss das Hervorgehobene geniigen und wird wenigstens das eine gezeight haben, dass der vor- liegende Band der interessanten Schift, auch schon wegen des reichen Materials in archaologischer und prahistorischer Beziehung, ein sorg- faltiges und eingehendes Studium verdient." Neue Philologische Rund- schau, 1902, pp. 132-5. "Jetzt beginnt er in einem grossen Werke, dessen erster Band vorliegt, die Frage nach Griechenlands Jugendzeit in peinlich sorgfaltiger und ausfiihrlicher Weise zu behandeln, und das Buch diinkt uns so interessant, dass wir in einer kurzen Uebersicht seinen Gedankengang hier wiedergeben wollen." Allgemeine Zeitung, 1901, p. 260. THE ORIGIN AND INFLUENCE OF THE THOROUGHBRED HORSE BY WILLIAM RIDGEWAY, M.A., F.B.A., HON. D.LiTT. DISNEY PROFESSOR OF ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, FELLOW OF GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, SOMETIME PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN QUEEN'S COLLEGE, CORK, HON. MEMBER OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ATHENS. A most absolute and excellent horse." SHAKESPEARE. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS CAMBRIDGE at the University Press 1905 CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, C. F. CLAY, MANAGER. Honircm: FETTER LANE, E.G. laagofo: 50, WELLINGTON STREET. ALSO H. K. LEWIS, 136, GOWER STREET, W.C. ILeipjig: F. A. BROCKHAUS. ^fto Horfe: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Bombag anti Calcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. [All Rights reserved.] TO JAMES COSSAR EWART, M.D., F.R.S., REGIUS PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. 54fiU'g PREFACE. THE present work is an attempt to solve one of the chief problems in the history of the horse, the most important (the ox not excepted) of all the animals domesticated by man. The nature of the inquiry rendered it necessary to treat not only of all the chief breeds of domestic horses known in historical times, but also to take a survey of all the other living Equidae, as well as of the ancestors of the genus. The question of coloration naturally holds a prominent place in the investi- gation, and I have tried to trace historically the origin of the various colours found in domestic horses. At the same time I have endeavoured to indicate, though it must be con- fessed rather cursorily, the influence exercised on the history of the chief nations of the ancient, medieval, and modern world by the possession of horses, and especially by the acquisition of what I venture to term the Libyan horse. I have also tried to point out the lessons of supreme importance to the breeder which can be learned from the contemplation of the injury wrought to breeds of great value by the ill-judged and un- scientific introduction of alien blood, a practice in no small degree due to a lack of historical knowledge, and to a general belief that all our domestic races of horses, like those of tame pigeons, have been obtained solely by artificial breeding from a single wild species. I must add a few words respecting the method of writing zoological names and the transliteration of foreign words. In zoological terminology I have, of course, conformed to the rule Vlll PBEFACE of the editor of the Cambridge Series in which this work appears, but my classical friends will understand my qualms when I have to describe, for instance, Burchell's zebra as Equus burchelli instead of using the usual Latin form, Equus Bur- chelli. I have used the form ' Prej valsky's Horse' as the nearest English equivalent for Equus przewalskyi since the letter-combination Prze has no phonetic significance for the English reader. In Arabic words consistency was impossible, for although I myself use only the vowels a, i and u in trans- literation, e.g., Muhammad instead of Mahomet or Mahomed, in extracts from other writers I had, of course, to preserve faith- fully the forms which each employed according to his fancy. It only remains for me to express my gratitude to the many kind friends who have aided me in various ways : Dr James Cossar Ewart, F.R.S., Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh, has given me much of his time and has read through all my proofs, and twice through those of the first two chapters ; whilst Mr R. I. Pocock, F.Z.S., the Superintendent of the Zoological Society's Garden, Regent's Park, has given me valuable aid by reading the proofs of the chapter on the Living Equidae. Mr A. E. Shipley, F.R.S., Fellow of Christ's College, and University Lecturer in In- vertebrate Zoology, and editor of the Cambridge Biological Series, has also read the proofs and has aided me with various suggestions. Had it not been for their criticism and advice the shortcomings of this book, of which no one can be more sensible than the writer, would have been still more numerous ; but for the many that remain I alone am responsible. To Dr W. L. H. Duckworth, Fellow of Jesus College, University Lecturer in Physical Anthropology, I am indebted for various important references, and above all for having called my attention to a hitherto unpublished head and neck of a quagga in the Elgin Museum, which I figure and describe (pp. 438-9) ; Mr A. W. Howitt, Hon. D.Sc., the well-known Australian ethno- logist, of Metung, Victoria, has supplied me with the valuable account of the feral horses of Eastern Victoria, which I have embodied ; Dr R. S. Conway, Professor of Latin in Manchester University, and late Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, PREFACE IX made for me in Florence the very careful measurements of the chariot from Thebes ; whilst Sir Ernest Clarke, M.A., St John's College, Secretary to the Royal Agricultural Society, has supplied me with several valuable notes which I have embodied, and has also aided me in obtaining the use of blocks and photographs. Dr M. R. James, the Provost of King's College, Cambridge, and Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, pointed out to me the drawings of Stradanus, reproduced in this work. I had the advantage of talking over many points in my book with the late Captain Maurice H. Hayes, the well-known author of The Points of the Horse, etc. Mr G. P. Bidder, M.A., Trinity College, long resident at Naples, and through him Mr E. Neville Rolfe, M.A., H.B.M. Consul for southern Italy, have given me much valuable information respecting the horses of Naples and southern Italy. I am also indebted for very important references or for help in various other ways to the following : Mr A. A. Bevan, M.A., Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic and Fellow of Trinity College; Mr H. M. Chadwick, M.A., Fellow of Clare College; Mr J. G. Frazer, M.A., F.B.A, Hon. D.C.L., Hon. LL.D., Hon. D.Litt., Fellow of Trinity College ; Dr C. S. Myers, Gonville and Caius College ; Rev. Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., D.C.L. ; Rev. T. T. Gray, M.A., Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin ; Mr J. Bass Mullinger, M.A., Librarian of St John's College ; Mr R. C. Bosanquet, M.A., Trinity College, Director of the British School at Athens ; Mr George Coffey, M.A., Keeper of the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy; Mr A. W. Mair, M.A., Professor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh, and Fellow of Gonville and Caius College ; Mr Carl Hagenbeck, of Hamburg (for photographs) ; Mr C. W. Hawes, M.A., Trinity College (for the use of photographs); Dr J. Venn, F.R.S., President of Gonville and Caius College ; Mr J. A. Venn, B.A., Trinity College (for photographs) ; Dr M. M. Hartog, Professor of Natural History in Queen's College, Cork ; Mr Cecil Bendall, M.A., Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Cambridge, late Fellow of Gonville and Caius College; Mr Harold Littledale, M.A., Trinity College, Dublin, Professor of X PREFACE English Literature in University College, Cardiff; Mr Clement Gutch, M.A., Lecturer of St John's College ; Mr E. H. Minns, M.A., Fellow and Librarian of Pembroke College ; Dr A. C. Haddon, F:KS., Fellow of Christ's College, University Lecturer in Ethnology, and late Professor of Zoology in the Royal College of Science, Dublin ; Mr F. W. Green, M.A., Jesus College ; Dr Scharff, the Head of the Department of Natural History in the National Museum of Ireland, and Director of the Zoological Gardens, Dublin ; Dr Cecil H. Smith, Keeper of the Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum ; % Mr A. H. Smith, M.A., Trinity College, the Assistant-Keeper of the same Department; Dr Budge, Christ's College, Keeper of the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, British Museum; Dr Oscar Montelius, Director of the National Museum of Sweden ; Dr Brunchorst, Director of the Bergen Museum ; the Rev. J. Roscoe, C.M.S., Uganda, and Mrs Roscoe; Mr P. W. Sclater, F.R.S., late Superintendent of the Zoological Garden, Regent's Park ; Mr H. Platnauer, Curator of the York Museum ; Mr Gordon Taylor, Curator of the Elgin Museum ; Don Angel Cabrera, Madrid ; Mr W. W. Skeat, M.A., Christ's College; Mr J. Stanley Gardiner, M.A., Fellow and Dean of Gonville and Caius College ; Mr E. C. Quiggin, M.A., Fellow and Lecturer of Gonville and Caius College ; Mr R. C. Punnett, M.A., Fellow of Gonville and Caius College ; Mr Alfred Newton, M.A., F.R.S., Professor of Zoology in the University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Magdalene College; Mr William Bateson, M.A., F.R.S., Fellow and Lecturer of St John's College, Deputy for the Professor of Zoology; Mr J. Graham Kerr, M.A., Professor of Natural History in the University of Glasgow, late Fellow of Christ's College; Mr T. McKenny Hughes, M.A., F.R.S., Professor of Geology in the University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Clare College ; Dr Walter G. Headlam, Fellow and Lecturer of King's College ; Rev. T. J. Pulvertaft, M.A. ; Mr F. A. H. Marshall, M.A., Christ's College; Mr Theodore M. Davies (through Mr Percy E. Newberry) ; my brother-in-law, Mr Arthur Warren Samuels, LL.D., K.C. ; my niece, Miss K. F. Samuels (for photographs); Lt.-Col. Herbert Irwin, PREFACE XI Warwickshire Regiment ; Mr G. E. Low, Foster Place, Dublin (for photographs) ; Mr Alfred J. Smith, Rendlesham, Suffolk ; Mr W. B. Redfern ; and Prof. H. F. Osborn, Hon. D.Sc., Columbia University, U.S.A. For the loan of blocks I have to thank the Department of Agriculture in Ireland (through Mr T. P. Gill), the Council of the Royal Irish Academy, the Council of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, and the Council of the Cambridge / Antiquarian Society ; and for permission to copy illustrations or to obtain electrotypes I am indebted to the Trustees of the British Museum, the Council of the Royal Zoological Society, the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society, the Council of the Shire Horse Society, the Council of the Hellenic Society, Messrs A. J. Holman and Co., and Messrs Longman and Co. WILLIAM RIDGEWAY. FEN DITTON, CAMBRIDGE, Lammas Day, 1905. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE Introduction : The Ancestors of the Equidae . . 1 CHAPTER II. The Existing Equidae 12 CHAPTER III. The Horses of Prehistoric and Historic Times . . 82 CHAPTER IV. The Origin of the Libyan Horse . . . . . 425 CHAPTER V. (SUPPLEMENTARY.) The Development of Equitation 478 ADDENDA 506 INDEX . . . 513 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. FIG. PAGE 1. Hind-leg of Arab of coarse type, with callosity like that of Prejvalsky's Horse . . . . . . . . .13 2. Chestnut on right fore-leg of a Prejvalsky Horse . . . .14 3. Hock Chestnut (right) of a Prejvalsky Horse .... 14 4. Hock Chestnut (right) of Iceland Pony of Cart-horse type . . 14 5. Ergot (Fetlock Wart) on left fore-leg of a Common Donkey . . 15 6. Ergot (Fetlock Wart) on hind-leg of a Common Donkey . . 15 7. Ergot on right fore-leg of a Chapman Zebra 15 8. Ergot on left fore-leg of a Connemara Pony . . . . . 15 9. Ergot on right fore-leg of an Arab 15 10. Ergot on hind-leg of an Arab .15 11. Typical Yellow-dun 'Celtic' Pony: North Iceland ... 17 12. Hind-leg (left) of ' Celtic ' Pony showing no hock callosity . . 19 13. Typical ' Celtic ' Pony : North of Iceland 20 14. Flat-nosed variety of 'Celtic' Pony: Hebrides .... 21 15. Black Hebridean Pony without hock callosities .... 22 16. A Faroe Filly . 23 17. Faroe Pony 25 18. Prejvalsky's Horse 27 19. Young Prejvalsky Horses and their Mongolian foster-mothers . 29 20. The Kiang 44 21. The Kiang 45 22. The Onager 47 23. Assyrians lassoing a Wild Ass 49 24. The Nubian Wild Ass 50 25. The Nubian Wild Ass 51 26. The Somali Wild Ass 52 27. The Somali Wild Ass . 53 28. The Somali Zebra .59 29. The Mountain Zebra 62 30. Head of Grant's Zebra 63 31. Skin of an unborn Foal of Grant's Zebra : Uganda . . . 64 32. Skin of a young Grant's Zebra 65 33. Skin of a full-grown Grant's Zebra : Uganda 67 34. Burchell's Zebra (Grant's variety) 68 35. Burchell's Zebra (Grant's variety) from Kilima Ndjaro ... 69 36. ' Matopo,' Prof. Ewart's Chapman Zebra 70 37. Typical Burchell's Zebra 71 38. The typical Quagga 73 39. Lord Morton's Quagga 77 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XV FIG. PAGE 40. The Daniell Quagga 79 41. A Prehistoric Horse 84 42. Head of Prehistoric Horse : Gourdan 85 43. Miniature Axe : Hallstatt 91 44. Kemains of a Chariot found at Driffield, Yorkshire ... 96 45. Bronze Bits: Ireland 98 46. Thracian Coin showing Ox-cart 106 47. Grave-stone : Mycenae 107 48. Norse Pony from the Isle of Eodo 119 49. Norwegian Ponies near Mundal Glacier 120 50. The last of the old Lofoden Ponies . . . . . . . 121 51. An old Icelandic Horse-fight 123 52. Ancient Scythians taming Horses . . . . . .131 53. A Buriat Horseman 135 54. A Group of Buriats ready for the Kace 137 55. Buriat Women setting forth to Hill Shrine on a Feast-day . . 139 56. The Tangum of Tibet 155 57. Black Arabian of the Imam of Muscat . . . . . . 173 58. A bay Arabian 181 59. The Horse of Anatolia 189 60. The Turk 191 61. Impression from the Signet of Darius Hystaspes .... 193 62. Tiglath Pileser III in his Chariot 195 63. Head of a Horse from the Chariot of Assur-bani-pal . . . 196 64. Assyrian Lion-hunt 197 65. Coin of Aemilius Scaurus 202 66. Coin of Aulus Plotius 203 67. ' Hittite ' Bas-relief showing Lion-hunt 215 68. Seti I in Battle 217 69. Chariot found in a tomb at Thebes 225 70. The Barbary Horse 241 71. The Moorish Horse 242 72. A Libyan Woman on Horseback 243 73. The Dongola Horse 249 7 4. Carthaginian Coins 255 75. The Jennet of Spain 259 76. The Sardinian Horse 275 77. Archaic Metope showing a Quadriga : Selinus .... 277 78. Fragment of sculpture from Tarentum 279 79. Fresco showing a Samnite Warrior : Paestum .... 281 80. The Neapolitan Courser 285 81. Vase from Enkomi, Cyprus 288 82. Vase fragment from Enkomi, Cyprus 289 83. Greek Horsemen from the Parthenon 297 84. Head of the Horse of Selene : Parthenon 299 85. Coin of Potidaea 301 86. Coin of Philip II of Macedon showing a Jockey on a Eace-horse . 302 87. Coin of Philip II of Macedon showing a Horse-soldier . . 303 88. Head of one of the Horses of the Quadriga from the Mausoleum . 305 89. Koman Denarius 308 90. The Lombard Horse 315 91. The Hungarian Horse 319 92. Eoman Contorniates 329 93. The German Horse 336 XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIG. PAGE 94. The Flanders Horse 337 95. The Horse of Cleves 338 96. The Horse of Juliers 339 97. The Friesland Horse 340 98. The Danish Horse 341 99. The East Prussian Horse 343 100. Sleipnir, Odin's Horse 347 101. The English Horse . . . ... . . . . .361 102. King William III on a Great Horse . . . . .367 103. Shire Stallion, Stroxton Tom' 369 104. Typical Suffolk Punch, 'Saturn' . . ... . .375 105. Flying Childers .383 106. The Godolphin Barb . .384 107. The Yorkshire Coach-horse 385 108. A Hackney Mare . . 387 109. Plinth of the Cross at Kells, Co. Meath . . . . .389 110. Irish Horseman: Book of Kells '. . 391 111. Sword of La Tene type in its sheath : Connantre, Marne . . 394 112. Iron Sword, La Tene type, in Bronze Scabbard : Hallstatt . . 394 113. Bronze Shield: Bingen 394 114. Bronze Fibula: Marne 395 115. Alderwood Shield: Ireland 395 116. Bronze Fibula : Ireland . .396 117. Bronze Fibula : Ireland . . 396 118. Bronze Shield: Co. Limerick . .397 119. The 'Donovan Shield: Skibbereen 399 120. Yellow-dun Connemara Pony 403 121. A rich Yellow-dun Connemara Mare and Foal .... 404 122. Light-grey Connemara Pony . 405 123. New Forest Ponies 406 124. Light-grey Connemara Filly 407 125. Connemara Pony: Clifden district 408 126. Connemara Gelding of larger type 409 127. Connemara Pony used as a hunter 410 128. Irish Draught Stallion 411 129. Irish Thoroughbred Stallion 415 130. Irish Hunter Gelding 417 131-3. The Elgin Quagga 438-9 134. The Muscovy Drake ' Hans ' and his hybrid offspring by a white Aylesbury duck 461 135. Chapman's variety of Burchell's Zebra 463 136. A Zebra-pony Hybrid 477 137. Coin of Messana showing Mule-car 489 138. Ancient Irish Eein-ring with ' late Celtic ' ornament . . . 493 139. Ancient Irish Eein-ring 495 140. Medieval Persian Stirrup 499 141. Prick-spurs 500 142. Eowel-spurs 501 143. Old English Horse-shoes 503 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION: THE ANCESTORS OF THE EQUIDAK Multaque turn interiisse animantum saecla necessest nee potuisse propagando procudere prolem. nam quaecunque vides vesci vitalibus auris, aut dolus, aut virtus, aut denique mobilitas est ex ineunte aevo genus id tutata reservans. LUCRETIUS v. 855-9. NEXT to the history of the various branches of the human race there is no more interesting and important subject for man's study than the origin and development of the breeds of domestic horses, the noblest of all the creatures that man has subdued to his will, and the acquisition of which has been, as will be shown presently, one of the chief factors in the rise and supremacy of the great nations of the ancient, medieval, and modern world. It has long been a matter of dispute among naturalists whether all our domestic horses have had a multiple or a single origin. Colonel Hamilton Smith 1 held that they are descended from five primitive and differently coloured stirpes the bay (represented by the tarpan), the white, the black, the dun with a striped back (represented by the horses of the Ukraine), and finally the piebald stock of Tibet. M. Sanson 2 went further and divided the Equides caballines of our actual epoch into eight species (especes) which have severally their 1 "The Horse," Naturalist's Library, Vol. xn. pp. 160 sqq. 2 M. Sanson first published his subdivisions in his " Nouvelle Determination des Especes Chevalines du genre Equus" (6 Dec. 1869), Comptes-Rendus, LXIX. pp. 1204-7; then in Migrations des Animaux Domestiques, p. 9, and in his Traite de Zootechnie (ed. 2), Vol. in. pp. 9105. R. H. 1 -ANCESTORS [CH. own osteological types. The district where each is principally found is denoted by its Latin praenomen : (1) Equus caballus asiaticus, (2) E. c. africanus, (3) E. c. germanicus, (4) E. c. frisius, (5) E. c. belgicus, (6) E. c. britannicus, (7) E. c. hibernicus, (8) E. c. sequanius. Sanson divided all the horses hitherto known as ' Oriental ' or ' Arab ' between his two first species Asiaticus and Afri- canus, as he conceived that they had two separate places of origin denoted by the names which he assigned to them. The Asiaticus he conceived to have originated and been domesticated in central Asia, whilst from the existence of a peculiar breed of black horses, commonly with white feet, known as Dongolawi, from the fact that they are found round Dongola in Nubia, he was led to maintain that this breed had " originated in north- east Africa, probably in Nubia." He declares that there are distinct osteological differences between Asiaticus and Africanus, holding that the former has a flat forehead, and a straight chaffron, which gives its head a rectangular profile, that it has prominent orbits projecting beyond the plane of the forehead, a long head, a large chest, a round barrel, a large rounded croup, and a tail borne far from the body, whilst Africanus has a forehead rounded like the segment of a globe, and the lower part of the chaffron slightly convex, features which give its head a bousque or moutonne look ; the orbits are not salient, the ears are longer and are less divided apart at the base, the body not so capacious, the chest not so large, the sides less curved, the croup more like that of a mule, the tail carried near the body, the thighs always slender, and the legs longer than in Asiaticus, and it differs from the latter in the number of its lumbar vertebrae, and by the absence of hock callosities 1 . Sanson derives ultimately his remaining six classes from his asiaticus ; several of them are known by other names, germanicus as Danish, his frisius as Flemish, whilst his britannicus comprises the Norfolk or Black Horse, the Suffolk Punch, and in France the Boulonnais and Cauchois (Caux), his hibernicus includes all the ponies of the United Kingdom and 1 Op. cit. (ed. 4), Vol. in. p. 52: "Les membres posterieurs sont depourvus de chataignes." l] OF THE EQUIDAE 3 the Breton in France, whilst finally his sequanius is identical with the Percheron so highly esteemed in France. M. Pietrement 1 adopted Sanson's principle of an eightfold subdivision, but carefully restricted the term species to Equus caballus, describing the eight classes as races. But not be- lieving that the argument based on geographical distribution was of itself sufficient he rejected Sanson's africanus, and on the grounds that Sanson acjmitted that his asiaticus originated in central Asia, he assumes that it was primarily domesticated by the Aryans, and accordingly terms it aryanus to distinguish it from what he holds to be the other Oriental race (wrongly regarded as African by Sanson). As Pietrement considers that the latter was domesticated in central Asia by the Mongolian or Tartar-Finnish peoples, and that it was brought thence by the Hyksos into Egypt, he gives it the name of mongolicus. The aryanus and the mongolicus of Pietrement thus corre- spond respectively to the asiaticus and the africanus of Sanson. It will however be observed that Pietrement's nomen- clature is based on several unproved assumptions; first, that the original home of the Aryans was in central Asia, secondly, that the Dongola horse was brought into Africa from Asia some two thousand years before Christ, thirdly, that it was the Hyksos who brought it there, and fourthly, that the Hyksos were Mongols. We shall presently see grave reasons for doubt- ing the validity of the grounds on which M. Pietrement has based his terminology. Darwin 2 rejected not only Hamilton Smith's five stirpes, but also Sanson's E. c. africanus on the ground that the latter involved the assumption " that osteological characters are subject to very little variation, which is certainly a mistake," and he was thus inclined to follow those naturalists who " from the fertility of the most distinct breeds when crossed, look at all the breeds as having descended from a single species," and he held 3 " that it is not probable that each larger breed, which in the course of time has supplanted a previous and smaller 1 Les Chevaux prehistoriques et historiques, pp. 13 sqq. 2 Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, Vol. i. pp. 53-4 (ed. 2). 3 Ibid. Vol. ii. p. 423. 12 4 THE ANCESTORS [CH. breed, was the descendant of a distinct and larger species : it is far more probable that the domestic races of our various animals were gradually improved in different parts of the great European- Asiatic continent, arid thence spread to other countries." He thus left Africa out of account as a possible source for a race of horses. It will be observed that those who hold a single origin for all domestic horses base their belief on " the fertility of the most distinct breeds when crossed." Yet this cannot be regarded as a true criterion, for animals which are admittedly distinct species, such as the dog, the wolf, and the jackal among carnivores, and the common ox, the zebu (Bos gaurus), and the yak (Bos grunniens) among herbivores, freely interbreed and produce fertile offspring. But though Darwin leaned to the belief that all our horses come from a single stock, he carefully pointed out that, " as several species and varieties of the horse existed during the later Tertiary period, and as Rutimeyer found differences in the size and form of the skull in the earliest known domesticated horses, we ought not to feel sure that all our breeds are descended from a single species 1 ." He elsewhere 2 points out that "as the savages of North and South America easily reclaimed the feral horses, so there is no improbability in savages in various quarters of the world having domesticated more than one native species or natural race." Since Darwin wrote it has been generally held that all our domestic horses have had but a single source, whether they be the fine horses of slender build and great speed, of which the Arab is the type, or the heavy cart-horses, whose origin is commonly found in the coarse, thickset horses of Europe and upper Asia, of which the unimproved Mongolian pony is the repre- sentative, or hunters, roadsters, carriage-horses and trappers, which are as everyone knows, the result of a judicious blending of the two first-mentioned classes. Thus M. Sanson 3 now holds that all our domestic breeds had a single origin, and divides recent horses into two groups long-headed and short-headed g 1 Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, Vol. i. p. 53. 2 Ibid. Vol. i. p. 54. 3 Traite de Zootechnie (ed. 4, 1901), pp. 2, 3.' Ij OF THE EQUIDAE 5 each of which consists of several races, while Capt. M. H. Hayes 1 maintains that "no breed of horses possesses any distinctive characteristic which serves to distinguish it from other breeds." Bat on Dec. 2nd, 1902, Prof. J. Cossar Ewart, F.R.S., read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh a paper in which he pointed out the existence in the Western Islands of a variety of horse hitherto unnoticed. A week earlier the present writer had laid before the Cambridge Philosophical Society a summary of the evidence which led him to conclude that the hitherto generally received notion that the Arab horse was the ultimate source of our thoroughbred and half-bred horses had no historical foundation, that the Arabs had only got their fine breed of horses from North Africa at a period later than the Christian era, and that on the other hand (there ^ was the clearest evidence of the existence in Libya of a fine breed of horses for a thousand years before the Arabs ever bred a horse, and finally it was maintained that from this North African stock all the best horses of the world have sprung, and that it is a variety entirely distinct from the clumsy, thickset, slow horses of Europe and Asia. The object of the following pages is to set out at length the evidence for the conclusion just stated, and to trace the important part played by this Libyan horse and its descendants in the history of the world. It was only at a comparatively late epoch in the history of mammals that the ancestors of the horse made their first appearance, for it is not until the Tertiary period that hoofed animals begin to occur. It is among two extinct families of the Perissodactyles the Lophiodontidae and the Palaeotheriidae that we meet what appear to be the earliest ancestral forms of the horses and the tapirs of to-day, though it cannot be affirmed that an unbroken line of descent from any forms yet known can be made out for the existing Equidae. Yet we can at least point to a series of forms, the salient osteological features of which have led to a belief in the relationship of our horses to these primeval Perissodactyles 2 . We may start with certain 1 Points of the Horse (3rd ed., 1904), p. 422. 2 Beddard, Mammalia (1902), pp. 247-8; Flower and (Lydekker, Mammals (1891), p. 380. 6 THE ANCESTORS [CH. forms in the Eocene of both Europe and America, In the Phenacodus of the American Lower Eocene the feet still retain the primal five digits, whilst in the Eocene of both Europe and America occur the diminutive Hyracotherium, which had its fore-limbs four-toed, but its hind three-toed (as is the case with the tapir, which is in many respects the most ancient of existing forms referable to the Perissodactyle order), and also Eohippus belonging to the same sub-family, but which is slightly more primitive, as its hind feet have a vestige of the first digit. Pachynolophus (or Orohippus), found in both Europe and America, shows molars somewhat more advanced towards the equine type. From this last form the Anchitherium found in the Upper Miocene is not far removed in structure; but, though it is a little nearer to the horse in several respects, it is not now considered to be in the direct line of descent, as it is considerably larger than some succeeding forms. Since both Hyracotherium and Pachynolophus occur in both the Old and New Worlds, from them may have sprung the true horses of both hemispheres. But from this point there is now a bifur- cation, for Mesohippus, the next step towards Equus, is as yet only known in America, as is also the case with its successors Miohippus, Desmatippus, and Protohippus. The last-named (found in the Lower Pliocene), and which was about the size of a modern donkey, had three toes on each foot. As Mesohippus has not been discovered in the Old World we are left only with Anchitherium (already described) and Hipparion (which had come from America) in that area. The latter was very widely distributed, occurring not only in North America, but also in Asia, Europe and Africa. Its remains have been recently found in considerable numbers at Pikermi near Athens (a fine specimen from which place is now in the National Museum of Natural History), in the isle of Samos, and in Egypt. In the typical North American and European forms there were three digits, but in the Indian Hipparion antelopinum the lateral digits seem to have disappeared. We have already given reasons for not placing Anchitherium in the direct line of ancestry of the horse, and zoologists now hold that Hipparion must likewise be excluded. It became extinct probably owing to excessive specialization. l] OF THE EQUIDAE 7 Three years ago the American Museum set on foot under the direction of Prof. Henry Fairfield Osborn a special exploration into the fossil history of the horse. " The object was to connect all the links between the Lower Eocene five-toed, and Lower Pleistocene one-toed horses and to ascertain the relations of the latter to the horses, asses, and zebras of Eurasia and Africa. The first great result obtained is the proof of the multiple nature of horse evolution during the American Oligocene and Miocene. Instead of a single series as formerly supposed there are five, one leading to Neohipparion the most specialized antelope- like horse which has ever been found, a second of inter- mediate form probably leading through Protohippus to Equus as Leidy and Marsh supposed, a third leading to the Upper Miocene Hypohippus, a persistently primitive probably forest or swamp-living horse with short crown teeth adapted to browsing rather than grazing, and three spreading toes ; this horse has recently been found in China also. A fourth and fifth line of Oligocene-Miocene horses became early extinct. This poly- phyletic or multiple law," says Prof. Osborn 1 , "is quite in harmony with the multiple origin of the historic and recent races of horses as recently established by Ridgeway and Ewart. The Pliocene horse of America still requires further exploration before we can positively affirm either that all the links to Equus are complete, or that America is indubitably the source of this genus. The Lower Pleistocene of America exhibits a great variety of races ranging in size from horses far more diminutive than the smallest Shetland to those exceeding the very largest modern draught breeds. Yet all these races became extinct, not surviving into the human period, as was the case in South America. The relation of these North American races to those of South America and of Asia and Africa is again a subject requiring further investigation in which it is necessary to exercise the most extreme accuracy." In the recent Equidae each foot consists of a single complex digit, but digits n. and IV. are complete in the embryo and also survive though degraded in the adult, and there is a callosity 1 "Evolution of the Horse," a paper read before the British Association (Section D), Tuesday, Aug. 23, 1904 (Nature, 22 Sep. 1904, p. 520). 8 THE ANCESTORS [CH. (termed castor or chestnut) on the inner side of the fore-leg above the carpus; the tail is furnished with long hair, either at the end or throughout its whole length. The lateral digits sometimes survive to a considerable extent, as was apparently the case with Julius Caesar's favourite charger 1 . Fossil remains of horses are found abundantly in deposits of the most recent geological age in almost every part of America, from Escholtz Bay to Patagonia. According to Sir C. Lyell 2 remains of no less than twelve species referred to seven genera have been discovered in the Pliocene and Pleistocene formations of that country. Recent investigations show that North America in pre-glacial times possessed at least nine perfectly distinct wild species of Equidae. These varied much in size ; thus Equus complicatus of the Southern and middle Western States and E. occidentalis of California were as large as small cart- horses, E. tau of Mexico was extremely small, whilst others, such as E. fraternis of the South-eastern States, were inter- mediate. "Some of the American pre-glacial Equidae were characterised by very large heads and short, strong limbs, some by small heads and slender limbs ; and though the majority conformed to the true horse type, two or three were constructed on the lines of asses and zebras 3 ." Yet no horses, either wild or domesticated, existed in any part of America at the time of the Spanish conquest, which is all the more astonishing having regard to the very favourable conditions of soil and climate as demonstrated by the thousands of horses now ranging the Pampas of South America, all descended from seven stallions and five mares introduced by the Spaniards 4 , whilst the mustangs of Texas, sprung from a like small beginning, prove that North America was no less suited to be the nurse of horses. Dr Munro 5 has ingeniously suggested that a satisfactory 1 Pliny, N. H. vm. 42. 64. 2 Principles of Geology, Vol. n. p. 340 (llth ed.). 3 J. C. Ewart, "The Multiple Origin of Horses and Ponies," Transactions of Highland Society, 1904, p. 2. 4 Azara, Natural History of the Quadrupeds of Paraguay and the River La Plata (Eng. trans.), pp. 4 5. 6 " On the Prehistoric Horses of Europe and their supposed domestication in Palaeolithic Times," Archaeological Journal, Vol. LIX. pp. 112-3. l] OF THE EQUIDAE 9 explanation of the course which led to the extinction of the American horses will be found in the fact that after coming to the end of their evolutionary tether in the attainment of speed the sole means by which they could escape from their enemies they fell an easy prey to one or more of these animals, who meanwhile had succeeded in improving their methods of warfare in the struggle of life. But it is obvious that if the great carnivorae had exter- minated the horses, and thereby brought about their own destruction, they would certainly have eaten up the bisons and tapirs before they themselves had perished of hunger, for it cannot be supposed that these animals escaped because they were fleeter of foot than the Equidae. It may well be that the destruction of these American horses was due not to the continual ravages of mighty carni- vores, but to the insidious inroads of far meaner foes, for we must not forget that there are no feral horses in Paraguay, because an Hippobosca or an Oestrus attacks the umbilical region of young foals, and produces ulcers, which invariably cause death unless human aid is interposed 1 . I do not for a moment suggest that the extinction of all 1 Col. Hamilton Smith, "The Horse," Naturalist's Library, Vol. xn. p. 248, Edinburgh, 1841. Though Azara does not mention this in his Spanish version (from which the English trans, was made), yet (English trans., p. 66) speaking of the wild cattle of Paraguay he says that "from August to January, which is the calving time, the cows are driven in Paraguay twice a week to the rodeo, in order to free them from a certain worm which infests them, more especially the calves, at the umbilicus, and to such an extent that, without this assistance, they would inevitably perish. The same malady occurs in Corrientes and the Pueblos of the Missions : but in Monte Video and Buenos Ayres it is so little known that it demands no particular attention ; nor are the herds during the above-mentioned months collected so frequently as usual, for the pregnant cows might be injured thereby, and many of the young calves would be lost." My friend Prof. Graham Kerr writes as follows: "The fly appears to be the ordinary blow-fly, which lays its eggs in the drying-up end of the severed umbilical cord and on the blood round it. The larvae hatch out in a few hours and cause ulceration and the death of the calf. Estancieros regularly round up the cattle every few days, and dress the calves affected with medicated glycerine. I have not personally seen the maggots on calves, but I have seen them on adult cows." Darwin cites Azara for the statement about the horses, but he used Azara's French edition, and probably Col. Smith did the same, as we shall see later on. 10 THE ANCESTORS [CH. the Equidae on the American continent was due solely to the insect scourge of modern Paraguay. But as it is clear that though lions abounded in South Africa and preyed largely on zebras, they never threatened extermination to the horse family in Africa, whilst on the other hand the tsetse-fly and horse sickness are as deadly to Equus caballus in certain areas of that region as is the insect pest of Paraguay, it seems far more probable that the extinction of the horses of North and South America was due to the inroads of mean and obscure forms of life rather than to the onslaughts of the great flesh-eating monsters of the young world's prime. It is generally admitted that the ancestors of the living Equidae passed from America into the Old World, for before the Ice Age it was perfectly possible for American horses to cross into Asia by land bridges in the vicinity of Behring's Straits ; thence they extended into Europe, and finally reached Africa either from Asia or by the land bridges which then linked Europe to North Africa. "One of the earlier immi- grants, Equus stenonis, has left its remains in Pliocene deposits of Britain, France, Switzerland, Italy, and the north of Africa. While E. stenonis was extending its range into Europe and Africa, two others, E. sivalensis and E. namadicus, were finding their way into India, and yet other species were doubtless settling in Eastern Europe and Central Asia 1 ." Thus, as Africa now contains several species of zebras, so Europe at the Pleistocene period was inhabited by several species of horses. Some palaeontologists believe that the Indian species E. siva- lensis and E. namadicus became extinct, and that E. stenonis gave rise through one variety (E. robustus) to the modern domestic breeds, and by another (E. ligeris) to the Burchell group of zebras. Hipparion and certain prehistoric South American species were characterised by a fossa or depression in front of the orbit for a facial gland (probably similar to the scent gland in the stag), found also in E. stenonis* and its later ally E. quaggoides and in E. sivalensis (cf. p. 1 50). In some modern horses, which have so-called Eastern blood 1 J. C. Ewart, op. cit. p. 3. 2 E. W. Lydekker, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1904), Vol. i. p. 427. l] OF THE EQUIDAE 11 in their veins (for instance the race-horse Bend Or) there seems to be a vestige of the pre-orbital depression 1 . Again, Equus sivalensis was usually characterised by large first pre-molar (wolf) teeth in the upper jaw, whilst large functional first pre- molars are found in some horses of South-eastern Asia (e.g. in Java and Sulu ponies) and in some zebras, as for instance Grevy's zebra and in a zebra of the Burchell type found near Lake Baringo. It is hence held by some that lineal, but somewhat modified descendants of E. sivalensis of the Indian Pliocene period still survive, :nd that E. sivalensis was a lineal de- scendant of Hipparion. But it will be presently found that the horses of Java and Sulu have no pretensions to be regarded as aboriginal. Osseous remains show that horses were widely distributed over Europe in the Pleistocene period, but it has not yet been determined how many species of horses inhabited Europe during and immediately after the Glacial period, nor yet from which of the pre-glacial species prehistoric horses were descended. Bones and teeth from deposits in the south of England seem to indi- cate that during the Pleistocene period several species of horses ranged over Western Europe. The Pleistocene beds of Essex yield bones and teeth of a large-headed, heavily-built horse, which probably sometimes measured over fourteen hands high. From the ' Elephant bed ' at Brighton, portions of a slender- limbed horse have been obtained : and Kent's Cave, near Torquay, has yielded numerous fragments of two varieties or species, which differed somewhat from the Brighton and Essex species. One of these in its build approached the Essex horse, the other the slender-limbed species of the Brighton ' Elephant bed.' Although the latter has hitherto been described as very small, according to Prof. Ewart, if we are to judge from the bones in the British Museum, " it may very well have reached a height of 12'2 or 13 hands." If there were two or more species in the south of England, which then formed part of the Continent, " it is probable that yet other species inhabited South and Middle Europe and the North of Africa 2 ." 1 K. W. Lydekker, loc. cit. 2 J. C. Ewart, op. cit. p. 4. CHAPTEE II. THE EXISTING EQUIDAE. Hark ! I hear horses. Macbeth, m. 8. THE early ancestors of the horse which first crossed from the western hemisphere into Asia have had a much more successful career than their American cousins, for in spite of various great flesh-eating animals which once preyed upon their ancestors in Asia and Europe, and still continue to do so down to our own day in Africa, the genus Equus at this present moment (without including the. probably extinct quagga) comprises at least some fifteen species or subspecies: (1) Equus caballus (the horse) ; (2) E. caballus celticus (the Celtic pony discovered recently by Prof. Ewart); (3) E. przewalskii (Prejvalsky's horse); (4) E. kiang (the kiang) ; (5) E. onager (Indo-Persian wild ass) ; (6) E. hemippus (Syrian wild ass); (7) E. asinus (the African wild ass) ; (8) E. somalicus (the Somali wild ass) ; (9) E. grevyi (Grevy's Imperial or Somali zebra); (10) E. zebra (Mountain zebra); (11) E. crawshayi ; (12) E.foai; (13) E. granti (Grant's zebra); (14) E. chapmani (Chapman's zebra); (15) E. burchelli (Burchell's zebra); (16) E. quagga (the quagga). HORSES. We have seen that in the true Equidae each foot consists of a single complex digit, but with vestiges of the second and fourth digits, and there is a callosity on the inner side of the fore-leg above the carpus. Besides this there is in the common horse (E. caballus) also a callosity on the back and lower surface of each fetlock joint in the centre of the tuft of hair which covers that part, and a callosity on each hind-leg a CH. Il] THE EXISTING EQUTDAE 13 little below the true hock joint and immediately over the cuneiform bone (Figs. 1 4). The callosities near the knee and hock are termed chestnuts or castors, and those under the fetlock ergots. The chestnuts on the fore-legs of all Equidae are more or less oval in form, those of ordinary domestic horses being usually about 2 inches long. The hind chestnuts (which Equus caballus almost alone of the family possesses) are somewhat similar in shape to the fore ones, though a little smaller and narrower (Fig. 1). The ergots in all members of the genus are more or less round (Figs. 5 10), and in ordinary domestic horses are less than a quarter of the size of the chestnuts. As Prof. Ewart has shown, the front chestnuts cor- respond to the wrist pads, the ergots to the middle portion of the trilobed sole pad in the dog and cat. Other zoologists 1 hold that the chestnuts are the re- mains of scent glands, similar to those found in some species of deer and other animals. According to M. Sanson the absence of the hind chest- nuts is of frequent occurrence among the horses and ponies of North Africa, although they are almost invariably present in ordinary breeds : in very rare instances there are no chest- nuts on the fore-legs of domestic horses. Though ergots are generally present, Captain Hayes has "noticed their frequent FIG. 1. Hind leg of Arab of coarse type, with callosity like that of Prejvalsky's horse. 1 Sir W. H. Flower, The Horse, p. 170 (but he held that the ergot on the hinder aspect of the horse's pastern appears to represent one of the pads, which are still functional in the foot of the tapir). Mr E. W. Lydekker, F.E.S. (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1903, pp. 199203) has attempted not "so much to show what the equine callosities represent," but rather "from palaeontological considerations the improbability of their being vestigial foot-pads." 14 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. absence in pure-bred Arab horses and in thoroughbreds." " The nearer a horse approaches the heavy draught type, the thicker is the growth of the callosities on his legs 1 ." We shall presently find (p. 19) that in the typical 'Celtic' pony the hock callosities are wanting, as is not unfrequently the case in North African horses, the front chestnuts are small, whilst Jfefettk , FIG. 2. Chestnut on right fore-leg of a Prejvalsky horse (natural size). FIG. 3. Hock Chestnut (right) of a Prejvalsky horse (natural size}. FIG. 4. Hock Chestnut (right) of Iceland pony of cart-horse type (na- tural size). the ergots have entirely vanished, as in the pure-bred Arabs and thoroughbreds noticed by Capt. Hayes. Through the kindness of Prof. Ewart, I am enabled to figure (full-size), from drawings made from his own animals, examples of chestnuts and ergots in various Equidae (Figs. 1 10). 1 Hayes, Points of the Horse (ed. 3), p. 319. THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 15 FIG. 5. Ergot (fetlock wart) on leftfore- FIG. 6. Ergot (fetlock wart) on hind-leg leg of common donkey (natural size). of common donkey (natural size). FIG. 7. Ergot (fetlock wart) on right FIG. 8. Ergot (fetlock wart) on left fore-leg of a Chapman zebra (natural size}. fore-leg of a Connemara pony (natural size). , *'. FIG. 9. Ergot (fetlock wart) on right FIG. 10. Ergot (fetlock wart) on hind- fore-leg of an Arab (natural size). leg of an Arab (natural size). 16 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. (1) Equus caballus has hitherto been distinguished from the rest of the family by the tail being covered with long hairs from its base to its end, and by having chestnuts on the inner sides of its hind-legs, as well as on its fore-legs. But recent investigations have rendered this statement no longer accurate, as will be made clear when we come to speak of Ewart's Celtic pony, and Prejvalsky's horse. The Equus caballus has a forelock, a longer mane, and shorter ears than its relatives the asses and zebras, whilst in proportion to its size its limbs are longer, its head smaller, and its hoofs broader. A further distinction between the horse and the other Equidae, first pointed out by Tegetmeier and Sutherland 1 , is the length of the period of gestation, which in the horses is eleven months, whilst in the asses and zebras it exceeds twelve months. It is a matter of dispute whether the true Equus caballus survived in a wild state in Europe down into the historical period, for although Pliny 2 declares that the north of Europe produces troops of wild horses, just as Asia and Africa produce wild asses, and Strabo 3 states that wild horses were found in the Alps, and also enumerates them among the wild animals of Spain, it has been maintained that these were not indigenous, but merely the descendants of domesticated horses which had run wild. There are abundant records of the existence of wild horses in upper Europe in not only the early but late Middle Ages 4 . Thus St Boniface was rebuked by Pope Gregory III. (A.D. 732) for permitting his German converts to eat the flesh of wild horses as well as of tame, and wild horses were ap- parently eaten by the monks of St Gallen about A.D. 1000. In a Westphalian document of 1316, the fishing, game, and wild horses of a certain forest are assigned to one Herman, and there seem to have been wild horses in the Vosges in Merovingian times and even at the end of the 16th century. There were wild horses in Pomerania in the 12th century and there were at the same period wild horses in Silesia, from which Duke 1 Horses, Asses, Zebras, Mules, and Mule Breeding, p. 2. 2 N. H. vni. 16. 3 207, 163. 4 Hehn, Cultivated Plants and Domestic Animals, pp. 37-8. II] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 17 Sobeslaus carried away herds of wild mares not a few in A.D. 1132, whilst there is good proof that the woods of Prussia contained wild horses down to the time of the Reformation. FIG. 11. Typical yellow-dun 'Celtic' pony; North Iceland. The Teutonic Knights hunted wild horses and other game chiefly for their skins, and Duke Albert in 1543 sent an order to the commander at Lyck bidding him to take measures for 2 R. H. 18 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. the preservation of the wild horses, whilst far into the 17th century 'the horse was hunted in Poland and Lithuania. It is almost certain that many of these horses were merely feral, but it is quite possible that some of the troops contained a genuine wild element, though greatly modified by being crossed with escaped domestic animals. But, as it will soon be seen that one, if not two genuine wild varieties have survived in eastern Europe and eastern Asia down to our own times, it is probable that troops of genuine wild horses may have lingered in parts of Europe down to a comparatively recent date (cf. p. 348). Naturalists not unreasonably view with suspicion the sup- posed primitive wildness of the tarpan and Prejvalsky's horse, inasmuch as the baguals of South America, the mustangs of North America, the brumbies of Australia, the kumrahs of Nigeria, and the muzins of Tartary are admittedly feral, whilst it is not unlikely that the same holds true of the wild horses of Northern Tibet. (2) E. caballus celticus. Prof. Ewart 1 , in the paper already mentioned, called attention to the existence of a distinct variety of horse, to which he has provisionally given the name of Equus caballus celticus. It is a true pony, and not a dwarf horse ; it has a small head, with prominent eyes, small ears, a heavy mane, slender limbs, small joints, and well formed small hoofs. It has similar characteristics to those Arabs which have no ergots, and at the most only minute hock callosities, but with the essential difference that instead of having long hair up to near the root of the tail, the hair on the upper part of the tail forms a fringe or taillock (Fig. 11). It has been found in Connemara and the north of Ireland, in Barra and other islands of the Outer Hebrides, and seems to have been common at one time in the island of Tiree, where ponies are now extinct, whilst the same characteristics are observed in many of the ponies imported into this country from Iceland and the Faroe Isles, a fact of considerable importance when we come to discuss the history of the horses of the North at a 1 Times, Tuesday, 2 Dec., 1902, p. 10; for a fuller abstract see Nature, Vol. LXVII. (1903), p. 239 ; "The Multiple Origin of Horses and Ponies " (Trans, of Highland Societij, 1904), pp. 19 sqq. THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 19 later stage in this work 1 . Prof. Ewart thinks that there is some evidence of its occurrence in the New Forest, and he holds that it is " conceivable that the Celtic pony in its present form never existed in the East, but that it is a modified descendant of a small horse, which left the ancestral home in Central Asia and reached Europe long before the arrival of neolithic man." He pointed out that the drawings in the Dordogne caves suggest the existence of a small horse that might very well correspond to the Celtic pony, and further, that in Pleistocene deposits bones had been found of two kinds of horses, one a horse with small head, slender limbs, and small teeth, which again suggested the Celtic pony. In the Celtic pony not only are the hock cal- losities wanting (Fig. 12), but the front chestnuts are small, and, still more remarkable, the fetlock callosities (ergots) have entirely vanished : in asses and zebras the ergots are always present, and in some cases still play the part of pads. The Celtic pony is hence not only more specialized further re- moved from the primitive type FlG - 12 - ., , , ., i , in its mane and tail, but also Hind-leg (left) of 'Celtic' pony showing no hock callosity. in having got rid of the fetlock pads (ergots) and the hock (heel) callosities. Capt. Hayes has frequently noticed the same absence of ergots in North African and Arab horses. " Except in size I have been unable to discover any difference between the skeleton and teeth of the Celtic pony and the small horse of the ' Elephant bed ' of the Brighton Pleistocene. 1 Mr F. H. A. Marshall, B.A., Christ's College, Cambridge, has recently noticed a Welsh pony without hock callosities (Nature, 13 Aug. 1904). 22 20 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. In the northern part of Iceland, where the few pure specimens of the Celtic pony survive, only a height of twelve hands (48 inches) is reached under more favourable conditions the height would probably be 50 to 52 inches, the size of some of the ' Elephant bed ' horses and the smaller variety of the desert- bred Arab to which the small slender-limbed occidental pony closely approximates." The Celtic pony learns rapidly what the trainer wishes, and responds with alacrity. " In a few days its education is complete 1 ." FIG. 13. Typical 'Celtic' pony: North Iceland. Ewart regards the pony selected as a type (Fig. 13) as an almost pure representative of a once widely-distributed species. The pony in question proved sterile with stallions belonging to five different breeds, as well as with a Burchell's zebra and a kiang ; but she at once bred when mated with a yellow-dun Connemara- Welsh pony, which closely approximates to the Celtic type, and she has this year been successfully mated with a Hebridean black Celtic pony (Fig. 15). 1 J. C. Ewart, op. cit. p. 25. Il] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 21 In a recent paper, based partly on their own observations in Iceland and the Faroe Islands, Mr F. H. A. Marshall and Mr N. Annandale 1 support Prof. Ewart's doctrine and give some useful details as regards the form, size, and colour of the ponies in those two regions, as well as some interesting historical details, to which we shall refer at a later page (p. 416). Though FIG. 14. Flat-nosed variety of 'Celtic' pony: Hebrides. in recent times some efforts have been made to improve the Iceland ponies by the introduction of Norwegian stallions, it is probable that the majority used for stud purposes are still of 1 " The Horse in Iceland and the Faroes," Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc., Vol. xn. (1903), pp. 300-1. 22 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. pure Icelandic blood 1 . " In the case of the Faroes the Norwegian stallions have only been introduced, apparently, within the last ten or twelve years, and in spite of this admixture, of which it does not appear that Prof. Ewart was aware, the general characters of the majority of the Faroe and FIG. 15. Black Hebridean pony without hock callosities. Icelandic ponies are those of the ' Celtic type ' (Fig. 13). This was made evident by an examination of a number of Faroe ponies 1 " The Horse in Iceland and the Faroes," Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc., Vol. xii. (1903), pp. 298-9. Prof. Ewart doubts "if Norwegian ponies have recently been introduced into Iceland." THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 23 in Thorshavn this summer (1903), for out of eleven individuals only one had large hock callosities, and this animal, though of small size, differed from the others in being exceptionally clumsy in build, with a large head, strongly suggestive of a cart-horse. The remaining ten ponies either had the hock callosities much reduced in size, or, as in the case of two indi- viduals, had no hock callosities. The height of these ponies FIG. 16. A Faroe filly *. varied from about eleven to thirteen hands. A number of Icelandic ponies, averaging about thirteen hands high, were seen on board ship on their way from Reykjavik to Denmark, and of these six were examined and found to have no hock callosities; while another, which had been imported into the Faroes, had the same peculiarity." 1 From a photograph kindly given me by Prof. Ewart. 24 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. " About a dozen Faroe ponies have very recently been imported into this country, and of these fully one-third have no hock callosities, while the others have them very small. All these ponies were characterised by having short hairs in the upper part of the tail. Of two Icelandic ponies, also recently arrived in Scotland, the hock callosities are absent in one and reduced in the other, while the tail characters are similar to those of the Faroe ponies." The authors give an illustration, here reproduced (Fig. 17), of a Faroe pony of a better type, which was stated by a native to " closely resemble the animals which existed in the Faroes before the recent introduction of Norwegian blood." In this animal the ' Celtic ' characters strongly predominate, the shorter hairs in the upper part of the tail being especially noteworthy, as this character is occasionally absent in the Norwegian cross-breeds 1 . "So far," write Messrs Marshall and Annandale 2 , "as we have been able to discover, the chief, if not the only difference between the Icelandic and Faroe breeds, while they remained pure, was that of colour, for while the former was, and still is, typically either light dun, with a dark line down the centre of the back and often with dark transverse stripes on the legs ; the Faroe ponies, according to Landt, a most trustworthy observer, were, at the beginning of last century, generally red, and occasionally black, the skewbalds sometimes seen among them at the present day being possibly descended from Icelandic ancestors." Mr Daniel Brunn 3 , in a very valuable little work on the ponies of Iceland, the Faroes and Greenland, gives numerous illustrations showing the various types and colours of these animals, and according to his statements the Icelandic ponies can hardly now be described as " typically light dun, since there are many skewbalds, chestnuts and bays." These ' Celtic ' ponies of Iceland and the Faroes are, as we shall see below, very different in form from the now extinct ponies of the 1 " The Horse in Iceland," loc. cit. p. 301. Messrs Marshall and Annandale, and the Council of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, have most kindly allowed me to use their block. 2 loc. cit. 3 Hesten i Nordboernes Tjeneste paa Island, Faerfarne og Grftnland, Saertryk af " Didsskrift for Landtfkonomi " (Kjtfbenhavn, 1902). THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 26 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. Lofoden Isles (p. 121, Fig. 50), and from those of the isle of Rodo off the coast of Norway (p. 119, Fig. 48). (3) Prejvalsky's Horse (E. przewalskii Poliakoff) is so called from the fact that a skin was presented to that traveller by the chief magistrate of Zaizan ; the latter had obtained it from Kirghis who hunt wild camels in the deserts of Central Asia. It was first described by Poliakoff in 1881. It has callosities on its hind-legs and its hoofs are like those of Equus cabalius 1 , but it differs from the latter in having a short, erect mane, no forelock, and by the tail, on which the long hairs only begin at the lower third of the dock instead of at the root. The ears are of a moderate size, and Poliakoff maintained that it was a distinct species. Ten years later the brothers Grijimailo found many of these animals in the desert of Dzungaria, and shot three stallions and one mare. Recently the energy of Mr Carl Hagenbeck of Hamburg (commissioned by the Duke of Bedford), has enabled naturalists to study living specimens for themselves. His agents, who employed nearly 2,000 Kirghis for the purpose, captured thirty- two foals (17 stallions, 15 fillies), which were fostered by common Mongolian mares (cf. Fig. 19). Mr Hagenbeck's account of these young animals, accompanied by an illustration, the first taken from a living specimen, was published by Mr Tegetmeier 2 . " The young wild horses were obtained from three districts, and, according to their descent, certain variations in colour are to be distinguished. The districts where they were caught are south of the Mongolian town Kobdo, long. 93 E. (Greenwich). To the west the territory is a large plain, of which the great Altai mountains are the eastern frontiers. The northern and southern frontiers are formed by two rivers, both of which flow from the Altai, the Kui-kuius in the north, the Urungu in the south. The plain is bounded 200 miles from Kobdo by the Tusgul Sea, into which both rivers discharge. The foals in this territory are of the following colours : directly after their birth, the head, the ears, the neck, the 1 The hoofs are long as in 'Arabs,' not broad as in cart-horses. 2 Field, 31 Aug. 1901, p. 391. Mr Hagenbeck also supplied a map showing the localities mentioned. Il] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 27 shoulders, the collar, the back, and the croup are light red, passing into whitish colour. The nose, the throat, the chest, the belly, and the legs are of whitish colour. The white colour blends with the upper colour on the middle of the body. The mane consists of light red-brown hair, the eel-back is marked pink-coloured ; it ends in the tuft of the tail, the curled hairs of which are light red-brown, white, and black. The upper short-haired portion of the tail shows a whitish colour. The FIG. 18. Prejvalsky's horse. lower jaw beard consists of reddish hair, which is about six inches long. The coat is smooth, except the croup, which bears curled hair. There are slightly-marked cross stripes on the withers. The eye has a whitish iris. " The second and middle territory is situated about 200 miles south from Kobdo. The Altai mountains surround this plain. The foals caught here bear light ashy-brown hair on the upper part of the body, marked similar to the former foals. The nose 28 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [OH. is white as well as the under side, just the same as the foals from the west, only the outside of the legs is slightly tinted, and the fetlocks are black. The mane and the spine are a deep brownish colour and the beard also. They also have the cross stripes, and stripes are to be seen in parallel lines at the shoulders. The skin is smooth, except the light curled mane. The eye has a darkish iris. " The third variety of the horses come from the territory of the Zagan-norr Lake only, a small plateau on the southern branch of the Altai mountains, about 100 miles in a south-east direc- tion from Kobdo. The coat of these foals has a pale, full yellowish-brown colour, only interrupted by the white belly hair, and the distinct black bands at the outside of the legs from the black hair of the fetlocks to above the hocks. The nose is whitish. The mane and the curled hair of the tail are black. The spine is an intense red-brown colour. They have also cross stripes and shoulder stripes of a blackish colour. The lower jaw beard is of a reddish colour. All these foals bear a more or less curled coat, which is also to be seen on the legs. The eye is blackish." At the close of 1901 several of the animals secured by Mr Hagenbeck reached this country, and specimens are now in the Zoological Gardens, and in the possession of the Duke of Bedford, the Hon. Walter Rothschild and Professor J. C. Ewart 1 . Since then Mr Hagenbeck has imported a second batch of young Prejvalsky horses, some of which with their Mon- golian foster-mothers are here reproduced (Fig. 19) from a photograph kindly sent me by him. Thus the habitat of this animal, as at present known, is a tolerably confined region, being a quadrangular area bounded on the north by lat. 48, on the south by lat. 46, on the west by long. 84, and on the east by long. 90-1. Mr Hagenbeck informs me that wild horses of another variety are said to exist 600 miles south of Kobdo, that is, somewhere in the great Gobi desert. 1 Tegetmeier, Field, 11 Jan. 1902, p. 68 (with illustration of those in the collection of the Duke of Bedford) ; 8 Mar. 1903, p. 362 (notice of specimens in Regent's Park, and in Mr Walter Eothschild's collection). THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 29 30 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. At the time when Poliakoff's paper appeared zoologists had settled down to a firm belief that no true wild horses existed, or indeed had existed for a very long time, since Sanson and Pietrement had concluded that all primitive wild horses had disappeared in prehistoric times. True it was that Pallas had declared that he had seen wild horses with suberect manes in Tartary, and Moorcroft and the brothers Gerrard, when they penetrated into Independent Tartary and within the borders of China, met with numerous herds of wild horses, scouring along the table-lands some 16,000 feet above the sea, but it had become a matter of faith with many naturalists that all the wild horses of Asia were sprung from the common Russian country horses turned loose for want of fodder during the siege of Azov in 1697. But in both the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there were not wanting those who neither believed that all the known wild horses were genuine nor yet committed themselves to the belief that none but feral horses still survived. Thus Pallas, who had himself travelled in Asiatic Russia, was inclined to the same belief as his predecessor Forster, who was disposed to think that all the wild horses in Asia from the Ukraine to Chinese Tartary were descended from strayed domestic animals ; Pallas l himself thought that all the wild horses from the Volga to the Ural were the progeny of domestic animals, and that all those from the Jaik, Don, and Bokhara were of the Kalmuck and Kirghis breed, remarking that they are mostly fulvous, rufous and Isabella, whilst he noticed that those on the Volga were usually brown, dark-brown, and silver grey, some having white legs and other signs of intermixture. Linnaeus' 2 held that, though the wild horses of the Don were sprung from the horses that had escaped at the siege of Azov, true wild horses survived in Bessarabia and Tartary, whilst Col. Hamilton Smith came to similar conclusions from the information which he himself obtained from Russian officers of experience whom he met in Paris at the time of its occupation by the Allies in 1814. His statements are so important in reference to Prejvalsky's 1 Travels in Russia and Northern Asia, Vol. i. pp. 376-8 (French trans.) ; Vol. vn. pp. 89-92 ; PI. I. (in atlas) shows a tarpan of the feral kind. 2 Sy sterna Naturae, p. 432 (Kerr's trans.). Il] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 31 discovery, or rediscovery, as it may prove to be, that I shall give them in his own words 1 : " Whatever may be the lucu- brations of naturalists in their cabinets it does not appear that the Tahtar or even the Cossack nations have any doubt upon the subject, for they assert that they can distinguish a feral breed from the wild by many tokens ; and naming the former Takja and Muzin, denominate the real wild horse Tarpan and Tarpani. We have had some opportunity of making personal inquiries on wild horses among a considerable number of Cossacks of different parts of Eussia, and among Bashkirs, Kirghis, and Kalmucks, and with a sufficient recollection of the statements of Pallas, and Buffon's information obtained from M. Sanchez, to direct the questions to most of the points at issue. From the answers of Russian officers of this irregular cavalry, who spoke French or German, we drew the general conclusion of their decided belief in a true wild and untameable species of horse 2 , and in herds that were of mixed origin. Those most acquainted with the nomad life, and in particular an orderly Cossack attached to a Tahtar chief as Russian interpreter, furnished us with the substance of the following notice. The Tarpani form herds of several hundred, subdivided into smaller troops, each headed by a stallion ; they are not found unmixed, excepting towards the borders of China; they prefer wide, open, elevated steppes, and always proceed in lines or files, usually with the head to windward, moving slowly forward while grazing the stallions leading and occasionally going round their own troops ; young stallions are often at some distance, and single, because they are expelled by the older until they can form a troop of young mares of their own ; their heads are seldom observed to be down for any length of time : they utter now and then a kind of snort, with a low neigh, somewhat like a horse expecting its oats, but yet distinguishable by the voice from any domestic species, ex- cepting the woolly Kalmuck breed. These animals are found in the greatest purity on the lake Karakoum, south of the lake of Aral, and the Syrdaria, near Kusneh, and on the banks 1 "The Horse" (Naturalises Libranj, Vol. xn.), pp. 160-5. 2 Cf. Pallas, Travels (French trans.), Vol. v. p. 378. 32 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. of the river Tom, in the territory of the Kalkas, the Mongolian deserts, and the solitudes of the Gobi : within the Russian frontier there are, however, some adulterated herds in the vicinity of the fixed settlements, distinguishable by the variety of their colours and the selection of residence less remote from human habitation. Tarpans are not larger than ordinary mules, their colour invariably tan, Isabella, or mouse, being all shades of the same livery, and only varying in depth by the growth or decrease of a whitish surcoat, longer than the hair, increasing from midsummer and shedding in May ; during the cold season it is long, heavy, and soft, lying so close as to feel like a bear's fur, and then is entirely grizzled ; in summer much falls away, leaving only a certain quantity on the back and loins ; the head is small, the forehead greatly arched, the ears far back, either long or short, the eyes small and malig- nant, the chin and muzzle beset with bristles, the neck rather thin, crested with a thick, rugged mane, which like the tail is black, as also the pasterns, which are long ; the hoofs are narrow, high, and rather pointed ; the tail, descending only to the hocks, is furnished with coarse and rather curly or wavy hairs close up to the crupper ; the croup is as high as the withers; the voice of the Tarpan is loud, and shriller than that of the domestic horse ; and their action, standing, and general appearance, resemble somewhat that of vicious mules. " The feral horses, we were told, form likewise in herds, but have no regular order of proceeding ; they take to flight more indiscriminately, and were simply called Muzin. They may be known by their disorderly mode of feeding, their desire to entice domestic mares to join them, by their colours being browner, sometimes having white legs, and being often silvery grey ; their heads are larger and their necks shorter ; but their winter coat is nearly as heavy as that of the wild, and there is always a certain number of expelled Tarpan stallions among them ; but they are more in search of cover and watery places, the wild herds being less in want of drink and more unwilling to encounter water, being even said not to be able to swim ; while the Muzin will cross considerable rivers." Il] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 33 I have given this long extract because the account which it contains of the habitat, the colour, the appearance and habits of the true wild Tarpan, and the respects in which it differed from the feral or intermixed herds has a most important bearing on our present discussion. It is to be carefully noted that the Kirghis and Cossacks from whom Hamilton Smith obtained his information respecting the true wild Tarpan, maintained that the pure wild horses were only to be found in that very region where Prejvalsky obtained the skin of one killed by the Kirghis camel-hunters, where the brothers Grijimailo shot their specimens, and where the Kirghis have captured the numerous foals imported by Mr Hagenbeck. It is further to be remarked that the young wild horses obtained by Mr Hagenbeck differ in colour ac- cording to the three different localities from whence they were procured, and that the foals from the western district have their heads, necks, ears, shoulders, back and croup a light red, passing into whitish colour, the nose, the chest, the belly and the legs being of a whitish colour, whilst the mane is light red- brown, the eel-back is pink, ending in the tuft of the tail, the curled hairs of which are light red-brown, white and black, whilst the upper short-haired portion of the tail shows a whitish colour. The foals further east have light ashy-brown hair on the upper part of the body, the nose and under side are white, just the same as the foals from the west, only the outside of the legs being slightly tinted, whilst the fetlocks are black. The mane and spine are a deep brownish colour, and the beard also. The western foals have a whitish iris, the more eastern have a darkish iris. The foals from the most easterly district (Zagan-norr Lake) have a coat of a full yellowish-brown colour, only interrupted by the white belly hair and the distinct black bands at the outside of the legs from the black hair of the fetlocks to above the hock. The nose is white, the mane and the curled hair of the tail are black, and the spine is an intense red-brown colour, the lower jaw beard is of a reddish colour. All these foals bear a more or less curled coat, which is also to be seen on the legs ; the eye is blackish. Let us now compare these descriptions with R. H. 3 34 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. that given by Smith of the true wild Tarpans which nearly a century ago were declared " not to be found unmixed except towards the borders of China," and which were then found in their greatest purity on the lake Karakoum, south of the Sea of Aral and the Syrdaria near Kusneh and in the Gobi desert, whilst those within the Russian frontiers of that time were adulterated and distinguished by the variety of their colour from the pure herds further east. The true Tarpans " are not larger than ordinary mules, their colour invariably tan, Isabella, or mouse, being all shades of the same livery." Now this would describe very well Mr Hagenbeck's foals from the two most easterly districts, but does not agree with the red heads, necks, backs, and croups of those from the western area. Again, the true Tarpan had a small head, the forehead greatly arched (which we shall SOOD see to be a characteristic of at least some of the Prejvalsky horses), " the neck crested with a thick, rugged mane, which like the tail is black, as also the pasterns." Now this description does not at all agree with the Prejvalsky foals from the west, for the mane is a light red- brown, and the curled hairs of the tail are light red-brown, white and black, whilst the legs are white, but it tallies quite well with the foals from the second district, which are light ashy-brown coloured instead of red on the head and back, have black fetlocks and the outside of the legs slightly tinted, and have the mane and spine of a deep brownish colour, and the beard also, thus coming much closer to the description of the pure Tarpan, with its black fetlocks and legs; while the foals from the eastern district, i.e., closest to China, which have a coat of a full yellowish-brown colour, and have not only black fetlocks, but also distinct black bands on the outside of the legs to above the hock, exactly correspond with the picture given us of the unadulterated Tarpan. From these considerations it would appear that (1) Prej- valsky's horse is nothing more than the Tarpan of the older writers ; (2) that if pure Tarpans still survive they are those of the Zagan-norr Lake, and (3) that the divergence in colour of these animals which characterizes those found in the middle district, and in a still greater degree those of the most westerly Il] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 35 area (especially in the white colour of their legs), is to be ascribed to their being mixed with feral horses rather than to any variation due to environment or any other natural cause. Sanson and Pietrement viewed with suspicion Prejvalsky's discovery, and Pietrement placed the animal under the same sub- species of Equus with Equus caballus. In this country Dr Sclater took the same view as Poliakoff, whilst Sir W. Flower thought that it might be an accidental hybrid between a Kiang and a Mongolian or some other kind of horse. Flower's caution was quite justifiable at a time when only a single skin was known, although it seems not very likely that such accidental unions as he postulated would occur between different species of Equidae in a state of nature, in view of the well-known objection of the herds of half-wild horses in the Caucasus to intermix in any way. Yet, though many specimens both living and dead, which have since come to hand, render it very im- probable that Prejvalsky's horse is a mule, the theory has retained its hold upon some naturalists down to the present time, who, however, have made no attempt to test the theory by experiment. It is to the indefatigable energy and enthusiasm of Pro- fessor Cossar Ewart, who has done more than any living man to advance our knowledge of the Equidae, that we owe the experiments which seem likely to settle the question finally. It is best to let him speak for himself 1 : " With the help of Lord Arthur Cecil I succeeded early in 1902 in securing a male wild Asiatic ass 2 and a couple of Mongolian pony mares one a yellow dun, the other a chestnut. 'Jacob/ the wild ass, was mated with the dun Mongol mare, with a brownish- yellow Exmoor pony, and with a bay Shetland-Welsh pony. The chestnut Mongol pony was put to a light grey Connemara stallion. Of the four mares referred to three have already (June) foaled, namely the Exmoor and the two Mongolian ponies. The Exmoor having foaled first, her hybrid may be first considered. It may be mentioned that the Exmoor pony 1 " The Wild Horse " (Equus przewalskii Poliakoff), Proc. Royal Soc. of . Edinburgh, 1903, pp. 460-8. - This animal, now in the Zoological Garden, Eegent's Park, is an onager indicus ( = hemionus indicus, cf. p. 43). 3 2 36 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. had in 1900 and again in 1901 a zebra hybrid, the sire being the Burchell zebra ( Matopo ' (Fig. 36) used in my telegony experiments. In the case of her Kiang hybrid the period of gestation was 335 days (one day short of what is regarded as the normal time), but she carried her 1900 zebra hybrid 357 days, three weeks beyond the normal time. The Exmoor zebra hybrids are as nearly as possible intermediate between a zebra and a pony ; the Kiang hybrid, on the other hand, might almost pass for a pure-bred wild ass. In Mendelian terms the Exmoor pony proved recessive, the wild ass dominant. In zebra hybrids the ground colour has invariably been darker than in the zebra parent; but the Kiang hybrid is decidedly lighter in colour than her wild sire, while in make she strongly suggests an Onager the wild ass so often associated with the Runn of Cutch. Alike in make and colour the Kiang hybrid differs from a young Prejvalsky foal." This comparison Pro- fessor Ewart was enabled to make by means of his hybrid foal with the skin of a very young Prejvalsky foal (for which he was indebted to Mr Carl Hagenbeck). " I have never seen a new-born wild horse ; but if one may judge from the conformation of the hocks, from the coarse legs, big joints, and large head of the yearlings to their close resemblance to dwarf cart-horse foals it may be assumed they are neither characterized by unusual agility nor fleetness. The Kiang hybrid, on the other hand, looks as if built for speed, and almost from the moment of its birth has by its energy and vivacity been a source of considerable anxiety to its by no means placid Exmoor dam. When four days old it walked over twenty miles ; on the fifth day instead of resting it was unusually active, as if anxious to make up for the enforced idleness of the previous evening. In the hybrid the joints are small, and the legs long and slender, and covered with short, close-lying hair. In the wild horse the joints are large, and the ' bone ' is round as in heavy horses. " As to its colour it may especially be mentioned that the hybrid has more white around the eyes than the wild horse, but is of a darker tint along the back and sides and over the . hind-quarters. Too much importance, however, should not be Il] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 37 attached to differences in colour; for though the two hybrid foals, which have already arrived, closely agree in their colora- tion, subsequent foals may differ considerably, and it is well known that young wild horses from the western portion of the Great Altai mountains differ in tint from those found further east. "Of more importance , than the coat-colour is the nature of the hair. A Prejvalsky foal has a woolly coat not unlike that of an Iceland foal. In the hybrid, the hair is short and fine and only slightly wavy over the hind-quarters. It thus differs but little from a thoroughbred or Arab foal. " The mane and the tail of the hybrid are exactly what one would expect in a mule ; the dorsal band, 75 mm. wide over the croup in the sire, has in the hybrid a nearly uniform width of 12 mm. from its origin at the withers until it loses itself halfway down the tail. The tail, which differs but little from that of a pony foal, is of a lighter colour than the short, upright mane, while the dorsal band is of a reddish-brown hue. In the wild horse the dorsal band is sometimes very narrow (under 5 mm.) and indistinct. In the Kiang sire there are pale, but quite distinct stripes above and below the hocks, and small faint spots over the hind -quarters vestiges apparently of ancestral markings ; but in the hybrid there are neither in- dications of stripes across the hocks or withers, nor spots on the quarters. In having no indications of bars on the legs, or faint stripes across the shoulders, the hybrid differs from Prejvalsky colts ; it also differs in having a longer flank feather and in the facial whorl being well below the level of the eyes. As in the Kiang and some of the wild horses, the under surface of the body and the inner aspect of the limbs are nearly white. " In the hybrid the front chestnuts (wrist callosities) are smooth and just above the level of the skin; but instead of being roughly pear-shaped, as in the Kiang, they are somewhat shield-shaped, as in the Onager. In the wild horse the front chestnuts are elongated. In the Exmoor dam the hind chest- nuts (hock callosities) are 27 mm. in length and 10 mm. wide. In the sire there is a minute callosity inside the right hock. In the hybrid the hind chestnuts are completely absent. In 38 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. the absence of hock callosities the hybrid differs from the wild horse, in which they are relatively longer than Clydesdales, Shires, and other heavy breeds of horses. In the hybrid, as in the sire and dam, there are smooth, rounded fetlock callosities (ergots) on both fore and hind limbs. " In the wild horses the hoof is highly specialized, the 'heels' being bent inwards (contracted) to take a vice-like grip of the frog. In the hybrid the hoof closely resembles that of the pony dam ; it is shorter than in the Kiang, and less contracted at the * heels ' than in the wild horse. The Kiang hybrid further differs from a young wild horse in the lips and muzzle, the nostrils and ears, and in the form of the head and hind- quarters. The wild horse has a coarse, heavy head, with the lower lip (as is often the case in large-headed horses and in Arabs with large hock callosities) projecting beyond the upper. The nostrils in their outline resemble those of the domestic horse, while the long, pointed ears generally project obliquely outwards, as in many heavy horses and in the Melbourne strain of thoroughbreds. Further, in the wild horse the forehead is convex from above downwards, as well from side to side, hence Prejvalsky's horse is sometimes said to be ram-headed. In the hybrid the muzzle is fine as in Arabs, the lower lip is decidedly shorter than the prominent upper lip, the nostrils are narrow as in the Kiang : and even at birth the forehead was less rounded than is commonly the case in ordinary foals. The ears of the hybrid, though relatively shorter and narrower than in the Kiang, have, as in the Kiang, incurved dark-tinted tips, and they are usually carried erect or slightly inclined towards the middle line. In the wild horse the croup is nearly straight and the tail is set on high up as in many desert Arabs. In the hybrid the croup slopes as in the Kiang and in many ponies, with the result that the root of the tail is on a decidedly lower level than the highest part of the hind-quarters. Further, in the young wild horses I have seen the heels (points of the hocks) almost touch each other, as in many Clydesdales, and the hocks are distinctly bent. In the hybrid the hocks are as straight as in well-bred foals, and the heels are kept well apart in walking. Another Il] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 39 difference of considerable importance is, that while the wild horse neighs, the hybrid makes a peculiar barking sound remotely suggestive of the rasping call of the Kiang. " The dun Mongol pony's hybrid arrived five weeks before its time, and, though perfect in every way, was short-lived. Only in one respect did this hybrid differ from the one already described. In the Ex moor hybrid the hock callosities are entirely absent ; in the Mongol hybrid the right hock callosity is completely wanting, but the left one is represented by a small, slightly hardened patch of skin, sparsely covered with short white hair. In zebra hybrids out of cross-bred mares the hock callosities are usually fairly large, while in hybrids out of well-bred pony mares the hock callosities are invariably absent. The Exmoor 1 pony, though not as pure as the Hebri- dean and other ponies without callosities, has undoubtedly a strong dash of true pony blood; the Mongol pony is as certainly saturated with what, for want of a better term, may be called cart-horse blood." Prof. Ewart thus sums up the results of his experiment : " From what has been said, it follows that a Kiang-Mongol pony hybrid differs from Prejvalsky's horse (1) in having the merest vestiges of hock callosities ; (2) in not neighing like a horse ; (3) in having finer limbs and joints and less specialized hoofs ; (4) in the form of the head, in the lips, muzzle, and ears; (5) in the dorsal band ; and (6) in the absence even at birth of any suggestion of shoulder stripes and of bars on the legs." After this experiment it does not seem likely that zoologists will continue to hold that Prejvalsky horses are the offspring of Kiangs and feral Mongolian ponies 2 . But as some naturalists had maintained that Prejvalsky horses in nowise differed essentially from an ordinary horse and held that the colts brought from Central Asia were the progeny of escaped feral Mongol ponies, and as others again asserted that they failed to discover any difference between the 1 The Exmoor ponies are said to have derived some good blood from a famous stallion Katerfelto. 2 As these pages are passing through the press the Prejvalsky horses belong- ing to the Duke of Bedford have themselves triumphantly refuted the charge of their being merely mules by having this year (1904) produced offspring. 40 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. young wild horses in the London Zoological Gardens and Iceland ponies of a like age, Prof. Ewart again resorted to the experimental method. To test the first of these assertions he mated his chestnut Mongol pony with a young Connemara stallion; to test the second he purchased an Iceland mare in foal to an Iceland stallion. " The chestnut Mongol mare produced a foal the image of herself. The foal, it is hardly necessary to say, decidedly differs from the Prejvalsky colts recently imported from Central Asia by Mr Hagenbeck, and it decidedly differs from the wild ass hybrids described above. The Iceland foal, notwithstanding the upright mane and the woolly coat, for a time of a nearly uniform white colour, could never be mis- taken for a wild horse, and the older it gets the difference will become accentuated." "If the Prejvalsky horse is neither a wild ass-pony mule nor a feral Mongolian pony, and if moreover it is fertile (and its fertility can hardly be questioned), I fail to see how we can escape from the conclusion that it is as deserving as, say, the Kiang to be regarded as a distinct species 1 ." It will be obvious that in view of the facts that the Prejvalsky horses from the two western districts agree in the colour of their legs with the adulterated herds of Tarpans described by Hamilton Smith, while they differ essentially in colour from that of the true Tarpan, and that on the other hand the Prejvalsky horses from the easternmost district correspond accurately to the description of the genuine Tarpan, it would be unwise to maintain that all the Prejvalsky horses imported by Mr Hagenbeck are genuine wild animals unmixed with feral blood, though in view of the evidence which I have set forth one is justified in holding that the Prejvalsky horses from the Zagan-norr Lake are possibly perfectly genuine, and if not absolutely pure from all admixture, at least so little tainted that they practically give us a true picture of the primitive wild stock. Indeed, if they are impregnated with the blood of feral horses, their resemblance to the ass in the absence of the forelock, the upright mane, 1 op. cit., pp. 467-8. Il] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 41 and the character of the tail render it all the more certain that there was a primitive variety of horse which had these characteristics so strongly marked that they cannot be easily blurred by crossing with horses of the ordinary domestic type. Quite recently Dr Salensky 1 has urged strongly that Equus przewalsMi is a true variety of Equus. He gives the charac- teristics of the Prejvalsky horse as the considerable size of the head, the want of a forelock, the upright mane, the back and shoulder stripes, the characteristic form of the tail, which in some particulars resembles that of the koulan, the size of the ears, which are smaller than in the ass or koulan, and the coloration of the rump, the lower parts of the body, and the striping on the legs, and he holds that the examination of the skull and skeleton leads us, as do the external marks, to the conclusion that Prejvalsky's horse represents a special type, which forms a peculiar race of the sub-species of Equus standing next to Equus caballus. In comparing Equus prze- walskii to other horses he considers that the Tarpan comes first in importance, a view obviously correct in face of the considerations which have been urged above. He starts by citing Gmelin's notice of the Tarpan, the earliest in modern times at least (in his Reise durch Russland). That traveller had the opportunity of seeing them at Bobrowsk (gov. Woronesh), and he describes them as mouse-coloured " with short and crisp marie " (mit kurzer und kraushaariger Mdhne) and says that their legs were black from the knee to the hoof, the head disproportionately thick. The ears sometimes long as in the ass, and hanging, the tail always shorter than in domestic horses, being sometimes well furnished, sometimes sparsely. But Salensky relies chiefly on the official description of a Tarpan captured in 1866 in the Zagradoff steppe on the property of Prince Kotschubei (gov. Cherson) and which was still in the Zoological Gardens at Moscow in 1884. This animal had a forelock but had no callosities on its hind-legs. It was a dark mouse-colour, the legs from hocks and knees down to the pasterns being very black, whilst it had a mane 1 Equus przewalskii (Comptes-Kendus of Imperial Kussian Academy, 1902), from which my illustration of Prejvalsky's horse (Fig. 18) is taken. 42 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. 48 cm. long hanging down on the left side of the neck. Un- fortunately no minute study was made of its tail, but, as far as can be seen from a photograph, the tail resembled that of Prejvalsky's horse. There are in existence two Tarpan skeletons, one at St Petersburg, the other at Moscow. On the ground of the skull measurements Czerski came to the con- clusion that the Tarpan has all the marks of the group of Oriental horses, being connected on the one side with the Arabian, on the other with the Scottish race to which the ponies belong. The skull comes very near to Equus przewal- skii, although it does not agree with any fully developed skulls of this kind. The number of lumbar vertebrae agree in both Tarpan and Prejvalsky horse, as both have five, but this does not amount to much, as the same occurs in other horses, whilst there are asses with six such vertebrae. The most genuine re- semblance between the Tarpan and the Prejvalsky horse is the black colour of the legs below the knees, a feature very persistent (says Salensky) in the Prejvalsky horse 1 , and which separates it from hybrid asses, in which the legs are always half or wholly white. But Salensky points out that there are some essential differences between the Tarpan and Prejvalsky horse; these are the presence of a forelock in the Tarpan, a longer mane falling down at the side, and a tail more like that of a horse. " All these marks indicate that the Tarpan is a type more specialized towards the horse side than is Equus przewal- skii. Too much stress cannot be laid on the absence of the hock callosities in the only known Tarpan, for such a feature is well known among true horses. The Prejvalsky horse represents a more universal form between the horses and the asses, and this leads to the assumption that more than any other kind of the genus Equus it comes nearest to the common stem-form of horses, asses, and half-asses." When the reader bears in mind the evidence obtained by Colonel Hamilton Smith in 1814 that there were no pure tarpans within the Russian frontiers he will at once see that the tarpans described by Gmelin as having sometimes long, some- times short ears, and that the Moscow tarpan with its long hanging mane (in which it differed from the tarpans observed by 1 But this is disproved by the facts cited on pp. 27 and 32. Il] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 43 Gmelin and Pallas), with its forelock and its horse-like tail, were not genuine wild tarpans, but belonged to the mixed herds of eastern Russia. We must therefore reject Salensky's view that the Moscow tarpan represents a variety of Equus distinct from Prejvalsky's horse, by being more specialized towards the side of the horse. The hypothesis that it was a cross between the true tarpan and a feral horse will likewise account for Czerski's conclusions that it approaches the Arab on the one side and the British ponies on the other, for, as has been already pointed out, Arab horses sometimes lack the hock callosities. We shall presently find that mouse-colour the hue of the Moscow tarpan when found in horses is an indication that crossing has taken place. Later on in this investigation it will be shown that mouse-colour and dark mouse-colour in horses are a sure indication of an intermixture of breeds. We may therefore conclude that whilst the tarpan of eastern Asia and the Prejvalsky horse with black legs from Zagan-norr Lake are identical, we must hold that the tarpans of eastern Europe and western Asia have probably been largely crossed with escaped domestic animals for at least two centuries, and probably much longer. To the three kinds of horses which have been just set forth above I shall venture to add a fourth Equus caballus libycus. ASSES. Side by side with Prejvalsky horses the brothers Grijimailo found two varieties of wild asses in the desert of Dzungaria. The wild asses of Asia fall into a group distinct from those of Africa; the older zoologists divided them into E. kiang, E. onager, and E. hemippus, which were regarded by some as distinct species, but by others as merely races of the same species, the Equus hemionus of Pallas. The best modern authorities now make at least five subdivisions 1 , E. hemionus, E. hemionus kiang Moorcroft, E. onager, E. onager indicus, and E. onager hemippus, whilst of course there may be other races as yet unidentified. All have a dorsal band, but no shoulder 1 Dr W. T. Blanford, F.R.S. (Indian Mammalia, p. 470, 1891) holds that all are simply local races of the same species (E. hemionus}. 44 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. stripe, while their ears are a little shorter than those of the Abyssinian ass. (4) The Dzeggetai (E. hemionus). Mr Lydekker has described a wild ass 1 obtained in Kobdo north-west of the Gobi Desert, now in the possession of the Duke of Bedford. In its make and action " as well as in the general type of coloration, this wild ass agrees essentially with the wild ass of Ladak and Tibet. Both in the winter and summer coats it lacks, however, FIG. 20. The Kiang 2 . the distinctly rufous-chestnut tint so characteristic of the latter, while it is further characterized by the much less marked contrast between the light and dark areas of the coat." The light areas on the muzzle, buttocks, legs, and under parts being ' Isabella '-coloured 3 instead of pure white, and thus much less sharply differentiated from the fawn of the rest of the body. 1 P. Z. S., 1904, p. 431 (with Plate); cf. Pallas (vn. 92) for Mongol dshigguetei. 2 From a photograph by the Duchess of Bedford. 3 i.e. the colour of the soiled linen of Isabella of Castile. n] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 45 " The general colour is pale sandy fawn, with the tips of the ears, mane, and dorsal stripe (which is continued down the tail), brown, and there seems to be but little difference in this respect between the summer and winter coats. The dorsal stripe is narrow as in the kiang, and is thus distinct from that of the ghor-kar and onager, which is broader and bordered with white." Mr Lydekker regards this animal " as the true Equus hemionus of Pallas, which came from Mongolia, and is known FIG. 21. The Kiang 1 . to the natives as chigetai (dzeggetai). It is certainly entitled to be regarded as subspecifically distinct from the kiang of Tibet and Ladak, and the latter should be known as Equm hemionus kiang (Moorcroft)." (5) The Kiang (E. hemionus kiang) lives in the upper Indus valley, Tibet, and Mongolia, seldom at a lower altitude than 10,000 feet. It (Figs. 20, 21) differs from the onager 1 This illustration is from a photograph (copyright) of a kiang formerly in the Zoological Garden, Eegent's Park, by Mr L. Medland, F.Z.S., well known for his photographs of living animals. 46 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. in being larger, exceeding 13 hands, and by the narrowness of its dorsal stripe compared with that of the latter animal. Its hind-quarters are much more developed in length and strength. In colour it is rufous-bay, whilst its voice is said to differ from the strident bray of the onager. (6, 7, 8) The Onager (E. onager), the Onager In- dicus, arid the Hemippus (E. onager hemippus} differ so slightly in habit 1 that they may be described together. These animals are found on all the great plains of Asia, Chinese Tartary, Tibet, the Panjab, Afghanistan, Western India, Balu- chistan, Persia, and Syria, It is called koulan by the Kirghis, ghuran or ghur by the Baiuchis, ghor-khur in Hindi, ghour or kherdecht in Persian, in all of which a common element may be recognized. Zoologists now discriminate between E. onager indicus (which is found in North-western India and Baluchistan), E. onager (found in Persia and Turkestan), and E. onager hemippus (found in Syria), whilst it seems probable that the onager of Turkestan 2 differs in some respects from that of Persia. The onager indicus is not so dark in colour as the kiang, whilst the typical onager (Fig. 22) "is very white, and in fact might be described as a white animal with a yellowish blotch on the side, another on the neck, and some yellow on the head 3 ." They ape usually found in herds of from four to forty, and in spring the mares and foals sometimes congregate in still larger numbers. The ears (Fig. 22) are large, the hair of the tail is short at the base, but grows gradually longer towards the end, which is of a black colour, whilst the mane is erect. The dorsal stripe is dark brown, sometimes with a white edging, and varying in breadth, but normally broader than that of the kiang. Some specimens show a cross stripe on the shoulder, and sometimes the legs show faint rufous bars. It varies in height from 11 to 12 hands. It has been supposed to outstrip in speed the fleetest horses, a notion 1 Blandford, Indian Mammalia, p. 470. 2 According to Pallas (vn. 92), the koulan of Upper Asia is brownish-yellow with brown dorsal stripe and two bars on legs. 3 I am indebted for this accurate information to Mr K. I. Pocock, F.Z.S., Superintendent of the Zoological Garden, Eegent's Park. n] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 47 apparently as unfounded as the belief that it is incapable of being domesticated. The groundlessness of the former has been demonstrated by the capture of these animals in Cutch by sportsmen mounted on Arabs, Walers (horses from New South Wales), and country breds 1 , whilst the latter is shown to be erroneous by the fact that some of the Indians in the army of Xerxes drove chariots drawn by 'wild asses 2 .' FIG. 22. The Onager 3 . From this it is clear that the peoples of western Hindustan, who did not possess horses, had made the wild ass obedient to the yoke. In Carmania (included in modern Persia), a region bounded by the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf on the south, and by 1 Tegetmeier, Horses, Asses, etc., pp. 23-5. 2 Herod, vn. 86, fjXavvov 8 K^XTJTCIS Kai dp/j-ara' u?r6 3 TotT)ye'ia'6ai TTJS dye\rjs, rts peon-epos U>P r&v 7rt6\a>p 7ri TWO, ^Xeictp dvaj3fi, TOP av rbv , /cai viroKti\f/as iri Bvfj.ovj> avdp&v 6'rt TrXeicrrajv ^x at P v atyuao'i, /cat $va ye OLVT&V Bdrwi'a rpicrlv e0e?7$ avdpacrw OTrXo/Aa^Tycrat rrj avrrj fyu.epa dvayKaaas, ^Tretra dwoda.vbvTa virb TOV reXeirratou irepicpavei ra0f e'r^o-e. Liddell and Scott's Lex., s.v., wrongly explains i-mrbTiypis as a large kind of tiger on the analogy of such forms as itnroff\ivov y etc., in which the prefix gives the sense of hugeness (cf. /torse-leech, the use of ]8ov- in /3otfXi/xos, and that of hasti, * elephant,' in Sanskrit). The true analogues of 'nrir6Ti.ypis are such compounds as 'nriroKtvravpos (which does not mean a huge Centaur, but a creature, half-horse, half-centaur, thus distinguish- ing the later Centaurs of semi-equine shape from the early Centaurs, who were a wholly human tribe of Mount Pelion), and the famous iiriraXeKTpvtiv (' horse- cock') of Aeschylus, which certainly was not a huge cock, but a creature half-horse, half-cock, just as his rpaytXcupos was half-goat, half-stag. 2 Penycuik Experiments, p. 10. This is rendered all the more probable by the fact that in Koman times not only did the elephants of Abyssinia and Somaliland furnish much ivory, but Strabo describes a rhinoceros from the latter region, which he himself saw either at Alexandria or Eome. 56 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. this animal was not, as has been supposed 1 , the Common or Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra) of South Africa, but rather one of the species still to be found in Somaliland and Shoa. But it is possible that the Romans may have obtained the zebra from a region much less remote than either Abyssinia or Somaliland, for though in modern times no wild asses or zebras are known in that part of North Africa which lies between the Nile and the Atlantic and to the north of Atlas, there is good evidence that this has not always been the case. Herodotus 2 includes amongst the wild animals of Libya 'asses without horns' in contradistinction to 'asses with horns 3 .' The horned asses were probably some species of antelope, whilst in the 'hornless' kind we may recognize without hesitation some wild species of Equidae. This is rendered fairly certain by the fact that there is excellent evidence for the existence of zebras west of the Nile in medieval times. A statement of El Masudi, the famous Arab historian and geographer (flourished about 950 A.D.), cited in a cosmography 4 compiled by Muhammad ben Ahmed ben Ayas, a Circassian (who probably lived at the beginning of the sixteenth century), renders it clear that zebras were found west of the Nile. The passage runs as follows : "The external oasis comprises an ancient town built by a Coptic king named Boudssya, one of the children of the people of Qoft. El Masoudy informs us that this oasis lies between Egypt and the Said in the territory of Assouan: it is the first province of Nubia. This country is independent and isolated. It belongs to no other. It affords dry dates and dry grapes. It nourishes small wild asses (zebras) striped black and white in extraordinary manner. They are never mounted and if transported without the country, they only live a short time." As there are no oases on the east side of the Nile, it would seem almost certain that the district here indicated as in the territory of Assouan and in the first province of Nubia is the 1 Flower and Lydekker, Mammals, p. 385. 2 iv. 193. 3 iv. 191. 4 Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits de la Bibliotheque Imperiale et autres Bibliotheques, Tome vin. pp. 5, 19 (Paris, 1810). Il] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 57 Great Oasis. Though Nubia extends on both sides of the Nile in modern times, Strabo 1 and other ancient geographers ex- pressly make it part of Libya, the name given to the region west of the Nile, just as Ethiopia was applied to the region on the eastern side. This passage strongly corroborates the evidence of Herodotus that in the fifth century B.C. there were wild asses in the region lying west of the Nile. As we have just seen, the African wild ass when found in Somaliland shows zebra-like markings on its legs, and as this ass is found on the east side of the Nile in modern Nubia it may be that it had managed to get across the barrier of the Nile. On the other hand, the Arabs must have been familiar with the various kinds of Abyssinian ass, and therefore the mere occurrence of stripes on the legs of the wild animals of the oasis would not have called for special remark. It is more likely therefore that the wild asses of the oasis were a distinct species striped black on white like the Somaliland zebra, but of a smaller size, or else some variety of the Chapman-Burchell group of zebras, to which we shall presently come as we keep advancing southwards. It is therefore quite possible that the Hippotigris exhibited at Rome in the time of Caracalla may have been brought from the Great Oasis or some other part of what was called Libya by the ancients the vast region lying between the Nile and the Atlantic. Up to recently three types of zebras were generally re- cognized. From the minute study of the ever-growing material made by Mr R. I. Pocock 2 and Prof. Ewart 3 we are led to con- clude " that though there are three distinct types of zebras, it cannot be maintained any longer that all three types can be readily distinguished from each other by their marking." These three classes are (1) the GreVy, (2) the Burchell, and (3) the Mountain or ' Common ' Zebra. (11) The Grevy Zebra or Somali Zebra (Equus grevyi), found in the mountains of Somaliland and in Shoa, first became 1 776. 2 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, Vol. xx. (1897), pp. 3352. 3 Penycuik Experiments (1899), p. x. 58 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. known 1 to modern Europe by a living specimen sent to M. Grevy, then President of the French Republic, in 1882 by King Menelik of Abyssinia. It was first shot in Somaliland by Capt. Swayne and Col. A. Paget in 1893 2 . Swayne saw about 200 in all : they were in small droves of about half-a-dozen on low plateau covered with thorn bush and glades of 'durr' grass. There were none in the open grass plains of Haud ; Durhi (about 300 miles from Berberah) being their northern limit. This splendid animal (Fig. 28 3 ) stands about 15 hands high. The comparison of skins obtained later by Mr Tegetmeier (through Mr Carl Hagenbeck) and others, and various living specimens since brought to Europe (including three in the Regent's Park), shows that there is a considerable variation in the marking of this species. Thus in the specimen from Shoa sent by King Menelik there is a broad white space between the dorsal band and the narrow transverse stripes at each side of the croup, while in the specimen from Somaliland these narrow stripes almost reach the dorsal band, as in the 'gridiron' mark- ing, characteristic (vide infra, p. 62) of the Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra) of South Africa. The ground colour is white or brown, very finely decorated all over with numerous delicate and intensely black or brown stripes, forming a pattern quite different from those of other known species 4 . The stripes on the forehead fall into a number of round arches, a feature which helps to distinguish this species from the Burchell group 5 . The muzzle sometimes is ' mealy ' coloured, while the nostril patches are of a bright tan colour; the ears are long, but in being very wide they differ from the ears of both asses and horses. 1 But Job Ludolphus, Historia Aethiopica, 1681, summarized what had been written by the Jesuits concerning the Abyssinian zebra, and in his Commentarius (1691) he added more. Hamilton Smith (p. 321) knew Ludolphus' statement, cited by Mr E. Bid well (Field, 1899), whilst the extracts are given at length by Mr H. Scherren (Field, 4 March, 1905). 2 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1894, p. 320 (Swayne); ibid. 1893, p. 473 (Paget). 3 Fig. 28 is from a photograph kindly given me by Mr Carl Hagenbeck. 4 Flower and Lydekker, op. cit., p. 387; Tegetmeier, op. cit., pp. 43-5; B. I. Pocock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Vol. xx. (1897), pp. 48 sqq. The Somali race (berberemis, Pocock) of E. grevyi has ground colour pale brown or ochre with chocolate stripes. Both races were known to Ludolphus (op. cit.), and a speci- men with brown stripes had reached Constantinople. 5 Ewart, Penycuik Experiments, p. 76. THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 59 Although in other respects it stands closer to the ass than to the horse, in having the hoofs rounded in front it resembles the horse, but in having long heels and a large frog it agrees with the African asses, whilst the chestnuts are small 1 . It thus differs essentially from the following group. The Burchell Zebra (Equus burchelli). As we advance FIG. 28. The Somali Zebra. southwards this zebra or group of zebras is first met with in Equatorial Africa. It is named after the traveller Burchell, who was the first in modern times at least to call attention to it, having met it near the Orange River in southern Bechuana- land. Yet from Pigafetta's 2 description of the first zebra known 1 Pocock, loc. cit. ; Hayes, Points of the Horse, p. 667, fig. 628 (for sole of foot). 2 A Eeport of the Kingdome of Congo a Kegion of Africa, Drawn out of the writings and discourses of Odoardo Lopez a Portingall, by Philippe Pigafetta, Translated out of Italian by Abraham Hartwell (London, 1597), p. 73. The original was published at Eome by Bartolomeo Graffi, 1591. A Dutch trans- 60 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. to modern Europe, that found by the Portuguese after they had established themselves on the coast of Congo and Angola, that animal seems to have been one of the varieties of E. bur- chelli, and not the Mountain Zebra (E. zebra). " There breedeth likewise in this Countrey another Creature, which they call a Zebra, commonly founde also in certaine Pro- vinces of Barbary and Africa : which although it be altogether made like a great Mule, yet is not a Mule indeed, for it beareth young ones. It hath a most singular skinne, and peculiar from all other creatures. For from the ridge of the chine downe towards the bellie, it is straked with rowes of three colours, blacke, white, and browne Bay, about the breadth of three fingers a peece 1 , and so meet againe together in a circle, every rowe, with his owne colour. So that the necke, and the head ; and the Mane (which is not great) and the eares, and all the legges are so interchaunged with these colours, and in such manner and order, as without all faile, if the first strake beginne with white, then followeth the second with blacke, and in the thirde place the Bay: and so another course beginning in white endeth still in Bay. And this rule is generally and infallibly observed over all the body. The tayle is like the tayle of a Mule, of a Morell colour, but yet it is well coloured, and hath a glistring glosse. The feet like the feet of a Mule, and so are the hooffes. But touching the rest of her carriage and qualities, she is very lusty and pleasaunt as a horse : and specially in going, and in running she is so light and so swift that it is admirable. In so much as in Portingale and in Castile also, it is commonly used (as it were for a proverbe) As swift as a Zebra, when they will signifie an exceeding quickeness. These creatures are all wilde, they breede every lation by Martin Everart was issued at Amsterdam, 1596. The brothers De Bry issued a German translation at Frankfurt in 1597, and a Latin version in 1598. This Latin version is only an abbreviation. The latest English version is that of Margaret Hutchinson (London, 1881) with a bibliography. 1 Hartwell's version seems correct, and the Latin version coincides with it : tribus enim diversis coloribus, nigro, albo, et spadiceo, qui per lineas tres digitos latas, corpus a dorso versus ventrem hemicycli in modum ambiunt, per totum corpus distinctum est. On the other hand Miss Hutchinson translates "These large stripes are three fingers' length from each other, and meet in a circle, every row with its own colour." Il] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 61 yeare, and are there in such aboundance that they are in- numerable. If they were made tame, they woulde serve to runne and to drawe for the warres, and for many other good uses, as well as the best horses that are." In the same chapter we learn that Lopez (from whose writings Pigafetta compiled his own work) had a tame zebra, which was eventually killed by a leopard. The breadth of the stripes, the fact that they were of three colours, and finally the docility of the animal characteristics of the Burchell rather than of the Mountain Zebra (E. zebra), as will be immediately shown render it probable that the animal described by Lopez belonged to the former rather than to the latter species. It is doubtful whether Burchell's zebra can be subdivided into species or sub-species, though Dr Matschie 1 makes four species E. antiquorum, E. burchelli, E. chapmani and E. boehmi ; and E. burchelli granti 2 and E. burchelli selousi have been made into sub-species by some, though there is ho evi- dence that they are more than local races. It is best therefore for the present to treat these and Crawshay's and Chapman's zebras as simply local races, some of which are now found in colour at least to link this type certainly to the Mountain Zebra and even in some respects to the Somali species. The Burchell group is distinguished from the last-named species by having fewer and much broader stripes, which are disposed in a pattern quite distinct on both body and head, the markings on the forehead taking the form of pointed instead of rounded arches 3 (Fig. 36) except in Crawshay's zebra, where they are round. Prof. Ewart has shown that there is " now no link wanting in the chain (if the striping alone is considered) that has at one end the common mountain zebra (Fig. 29), with a 'grid- iron' over the hind-quarters, and legs barred to the hoofs, 1 Zool. Garten, xxxv. Hefte 2 and 3 ; Proc. Zool. Soc. 1895, p. 690 (where Mr Sclater holds that Matschie's species are only "four different climatic forms"). 2 Hamilton Smith, The Horse, p. 321. The name zebra is the Portuguese adaptation of a native name. According to Ludolphus it is the negro form of the Abyssinian zeuru of Lobo and the Galla zeora or zecora. 3 Ewart, Penycuik Experiments, p. 76. 62 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. and the true Burchell zebra, with perfectly white legs and scarcely a vestige of transverse stripes across either croup or loins" (Fig. 37), whilst "from the true Burchell zebra it is but a step to the better marked specimens of the now lost, if not extinct, quagga " (Fig. 38) : let us therefore pass on for the moment to the Mountain Zebra, and then return to the Burchell group. (12) The Mountain or Common Zebra (Equus zebra} was formerly extremely common in the mountainous parts of Cape Colony and Natal, but it has now become nearly extinct FIG. 29. Mountain Zebra. in that area, though up to the beginning of the late war there was a fine herd near Cradock 1 . It was commonly called the ' wild pard ' by the Dutch of Cape Colony. A local race of this species is still to be found in Angola 2 (E. zebra penricei, Thomas), whilst another race or sub-species (E. z. hartmanni, 1 From private information which I have received since the conclusion of the war, I learn that the Cradock zebras, or at least some of them, still survive. 2 Mr Pocock holds that E. zebra penricei and E. z. hartmanni are very dis- tinct from the typical E. zebra, the ground colour being brownish and the black stripes only about as wide as the light spaces, whilst E. z. penricei and E. z. hartmanni are probably distinguishable from each other. n] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 63 Matschie) still survives in considerable numbers in German West Africa. The Mountain Zebra more nearly resembles the ass than Burchell's zebra, for its hoofs are narrow, it has a more tufted tail, a shorter mane, a thicker neck and longer ears (7-^ inches) ; it has large and very broad chestnuts on the fore- legs ; it is not so large as Burchell's zebra, as it stands only about 12 hands high. Its general ground colour 1 is white, but the stripes are black and broader than the intervening spaces FIG. 30. Head of Grant's Zebra. (being not so close as in the Somali zebra but closer than in Burchell's). The body stripes are all nearly perpendicular, whilst the legs are covered with horizontal bands down to the hoofs (Fig. 29). This zebra has a very narrow dorsal band, the hair of which is reversed from the croup forwards, a peculiarity only found in this species 2 . But the most distinc- tive feature in its marking is the 'gridiron' a number of 1 Except in the Angola and German S. W. Africa races (cf. p. 62). 2 This fact was first pointed out by Mr B. I. Pocock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Vol. xx. (1897), p. 306. 64 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. transverse stripes running across the top of its loins, croup and base of tail. Owing to the body stripes not being con- tinued round the belly the under parts are commonly white. Many specimens show a rudimentary or vestigial dewlap, and some would regard such as a distinct variety. This animal seems never to have inhabited plains like its congeners, keep- ing always to mountain districts. Ward's Zebra 1 , found near Naevashi and the Uganda railway, in its long ears, narrow hoofs FIG. 31. Skin of an unborn foal of Grant's Zebra; Uganda 2 . and ' gridiron ' comes close to E. zebra, whilst E. foai 3 (north bank of the Zambesi) which in some respects approaches E. zebra and E. grevyi, comes nearest to Crawshay's race of E. burchelii. (13) The Burchell Group. Let us now return to this group, which is found from the lakes of Equatorial Africa down 1 Lately described by Prof. Ewart (see Addenda). 2 The illustration is from a skin belonging to my friend Mrs J. Koscoe, Cambridge. 3 See Addenda. II] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 65 to the Transvaal and Orange River, south of which it seems never to have ranged. (14) Chapman's Zebra (Equus burchelli chap mani), fast described by Mr Layard in 1865, is found throughout all the FIG. 32. Skin of young Grant's Zebra 1 . vast area extending from Masailand (between the Victoria Nyanza and the east coast) down to the locality where it was 1 The illustration is from a block kindly lent me by Prof. Ewart. R. H. 5 66 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. first met by Chapman, in South Africa, about 200 miles inland from Walwich Bay 1 between the Botletle and the Zambesi. This variety is only distinguished from Burchell's zebra by having its legs striped instead of plain (Fig. 36). But Mr T. E. Buckley 2 writing of Chapman's zebra says that " out of five of these animals shot in one herd there were individuals showing variation of colour and marking from the yellow and chocolate stripes to the pure black and white, the stripes in some cases ceasing above the hock and in others being con- tinued distinctly down to the hoof. The true Burchell zebra (Equus burchelli typicus) was first discovered by Burchell near the Orange River in southern Bechuanaland. It is still to be met with along the northern and eastern borders of the Transvaal, in Kama's country, and up to lately it still sur- vived in great numbers in the neighbourhood of the Pungwe River. Its general colouring is pale yellowish -brown, the stripes being dark brown, or nearly black. There is always a longitudinal stripe along the under side, and the dorsal stripe is defined by a white line over the haunches, and there are not any stripes proceeding from it at right angles as in Crawshay's zebras (infra) ; whilst in all the Somali Zebras stripes proceed at right angles from the withers to the root of the tail, in all Burchell zebras there are three or more transverse stripes proceeding from the dorsal band behind the withers ; nor has it the cross stripes on the croup which are so marked a feature of the Mountain Zebra (Fig. 29), but it has intermediate or ' shadow ' stripes on the neck, trunk, and hind-quarters. The stripes on its forehead form a series of arches which are pointed instead of being rounded as in the Somali species. It differs from the Mountain Zebra (p. 63) by its greater height (ranging from 13 to 13*2 hands), by the greater length and thickness of its mane, by its bushy and more horse-like tail, and by the smaller size 1 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865, pp. 417 sqq. (letter from Layard and "Notes on a new variety of Quagga observed on the elevated flats between the Botletle and Zambesi rivers during the late journey of J. Chapman and P. Baines" with a block showing the Chapman variety). Mr Selous met it in Matabeleland (P. Z. S. 1883, p. 32), but the Matabele zebra is regarded as a distinct sub- species (E. selousi) by Mr K. I. Pocock (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 1897, p. 306). Tegetmeier, Horses, Asses, Zebras, pp. 51-2. 2 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1876, p. 282 ("Distribution of South African Mammals"). THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 67 of its ears (6 instead of 7 in.), and by the much smaller size of the callosities on its forelegs. The distinct markings on the legs of Chapman's variety (Fig. 36) are entirely absent in the typical Burchell zebra. This animal is called dauw by the Boers, who also frequently FIG. 33. Skin of a full-grown Grant's Zebra; Uganda 1 . call it quagga. The typical Burchell zebra was also termed the Bonte Quagga by Cornwallis Harris 2 , and. Mr Lydekker 3 1 The illustration is from a skin in my own possession, the gift of my friend the Rev. J. Boscoe, well known for his ethnological studies in Uganda. 2 Portraits of the Game and Wild Animals of South Africa, Part i. (London, 1840). Harris used the term Burchell's Zebra both in the text and on the plate (p. 48) of his Wild Sports of Southern Africa (London, 1841). 3 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1904, p. 428 n. 52 68 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. prefers the latter name. Mr Pocock 1 regards the Burchell zebra or Bonte Quagga and Equus quagga as the same species, but to this point we shall presently revert. (15) Crawshay's 2 Zebra (Equus burchelli var. crawshayi], a variety found in the highlands of Nyassaland, west of Lake Nyassa, is held by Prof. Ewart 3 to bridge over the supposed gap between the Burchell and the Mountain Zebra, and also Fm. 34. Burchell's Zebra (Grant's Variety). shows in its colouring at least one point of contact with the Somali species. It is about 13'2 hands high, and in the general disposition of its stripes closely resembles Chapman's 1 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 7, Vol. x. (1902), p. 306 ; ibid. 1 Nov. 1904. 2 E. Crawshay, Proc. of Zoolog. Soc., 1895, p. 688. Mr Crawshay procured his specimen in the Henga country three days S.W. of Deep Bay, Lake Nyassa. 3 Penycuik Experiments, p. 10. Il] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 69 zebra, but the dark stripes upon the haunches are about the same breadth as, or are slightly wider than, the intervening light spaces, and it shows no intermediate 'shadow' stripes whatever; the spot above the nostrils is bright tan colour; the stripes of the body are almost pure black (in this respect resembling both the Grevy and Mountain Zebras), whilst the ground colour varies from nearly pure white (as in the Grevy species) to nearly pale fawn, and there are several indistinct FIG. 35. Burchell's Zebra (Grant's Variety), from Kilima Ndjaro 1 . stripes across the croup suggestive of the ' gridiron ' of the Mountain Zebra, the root of the tail having spots rather than stripes, and there are long black hairs at the tip of the tail, "and the stripes on the forehead are often arched, as in the Somali Zebra 2 ." 1 From a photograph kindly sent me by Mr Carl Hagenbeck. 2 Hayes, op. cit., pp. 664-5 (who cites De Winton). 70 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. (16) Grant's Zebra 1 (Equus burchelli var. granti) is a variety (Figs. 30-5) of the Burchell Zebra, closely resembling Chapman's, from which it only differs (1) by the dark bands on the legs being more sharply defined, (2) by the white spaces on neck and cheeks being broader, (3) by its having no 'shadow' stripes. It is found in British East Africa and German East Africa. FIG. 36. 'Matopo,' Prof. Ewart's Chapman Zebra. (17) The Quagga or Quacha (Equus quag go), so-called from its neigh, is now probably as extinct as the Moa and the Dodo, although it is not very long since living specimens were in European collections. Down to the middle of the last century 1 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1883 ("Notes on the zebra met with by the Speke and Grant Expedition in Eastern Africa," by Col. J. A. Grant, F.E.S.), p. 175, with woodcut of head, p. 176. My illustration (Fig. 30) is from an electrotype of the block just mentioned, which the Council of the Zoological Society has kindly permitted me to have made. n] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 71 it roamed in immense herds over the plains of Cape Colony, the Orange River Colony, and part of Griqualand West, but it appears never to have been found north of the Vaal River. It closely resembled Burchell's zebra, being more like the horse than the ass, though like some North-African horses and Celtic ponies it had no chestnuts on the hind legs. It approached the horse in colour and character of the tail more Typical Burchell Zebra. than any other of the striped Equidae. The ground colour of the upper parts of the body was light reddish- brown or bay, the under surface of the body, the legs and the tail were nearly white. The head, neck, and front of the body were marked with dark brown stripes, which are commonly said to fade away gradually behind the shoulders, the hinder part of the body, save for a broad dorsal stripe, and the legs being free from marks 1 , but according to Dr Noack 2 the transverse 1 Tegetraeier, op. cit. pp. 62-3. 2 "Das Quagga," in Zool. Garten, 1893, p. 289. 72 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. stripes reached back as far as the buttocks; they were however completely absent from the legs. The first description of the quagga is that given by G. Edwards 1 in 1758: "For size and shape it is much like the last described (i.e. the Mountain Zebra). To speak of its general colour (exclusive of its stripes, which are all black), the head, neck, upper part of the body, and thighs, are of a bright- bay colour : its belly, legs, and the end of the tail are white : on the joints of the legs it has such corns as we see in horses : the hoofs are blackish : the head is striped a little different from the last described (Mountain Zebra) : the mane is black and white : the ears are of a bay colour : it is a little white in the forehead : it hath several broad stripes round the neck, which become narrow on its under side : it hath a black list along the ridge of the back, and part of the tail, and another along the middle of the belly ; the stripes on the body proceed from the list on the back, and some of them end in forks on the sides of the belly, others in single points, and these have some longish spots between them. The hinder part of the body is spotted in a more confused, irregular manner. The two sides of this, as well as the last described, were marked very uniformly. The noise it made was much different from that of an ass, resembling more the confused barking of a mastiff dog 2 ." 1 Gleanings of Natural History (London, 1758), p. 29, PI. 223. (Cited by Mr Pocock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1 Nov., 1904.) My illustration is a reduced facsimile of the plate from the drawing made by G. Edwards himself "from the living animal belonging to his Koyal Highness the Prince of Wales," in 1751. The legend under the plate is Zebra femina, sive Asina sylvestris Africana, the animal being considered the female of the Mountain Zebra, figured on Plate 27 of the same work and labelled Zebra mas, sive Asinus sylvestris Africanus, the latter being drawn from a stuffed skin. It was believed that the quagga was the female of the Mountain Zebra. Edwards states that he " never saw a skin brought over agreeing with this, which makes it a much greater curiosity than the male. I suppose the skins of the female are not counted so beautiful as those of the male, for which reason they are not brought to us. The female hath not till now been figured or described." 2 On the other hand, Thomas Pringle, the well-known poet of South Africa, in his poem " Afar in the Desert," describes it thus : " Afar in the desert I love to ride, With the silent bush boy alone by my side ; THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 73 Here is the description of a quagga as given by Sir W. Cornwallis Harris, who had abundant opportunities of studying (1836-37) the quagga, the Burchell Zebra, and the Mountain Zebra in their native haunts. " The true zebra is exclusively confined to mountainous regions, from which it rarely, if ever, descends : but the extensive plains of Southern Africa abound with two distinct species of the same genus, the quagga, and FIG. 38. The typical Quagga. O'er the brown Karroo, where the bleating cry Of the springbok's fawn sounds plaintively, And the timorous quagga 's shrill whistling neigh Is heard by the fountain at twilight grey, Where the zebra wantonly tosses his mane, With wild hoofs scouring the desolate plain." Pringle adds in a note " The cry of the quagga (pronounced quagha, or quacha) is very different from either that of the horse or ass, and I have endeavoured to express its peculiar character in the above line." (Pringle's lines and note are cited by Mr Tegetmeier, Horses, Asses, Zebras, p. 62.) It is quite possible that the discrepancy between the descriptions of Edwards and Pringle may be due to Pringle's using quagga in the common Boer fashion to describe the Burchell Zebra. 74 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. the striped quagga, or Burchell's Zebra. These differ little from each other in point of shape or size, both having the tail and ears of the horse, whilst the zebra has those of the ass. Of a pale red colour, the quagga is faintly striped only on the head and neck, but Burchell's Zebra is adorned over every part of the body with broad black bands, which beautifully contrast with the plain yellow-brown. The gnoo and the common quagga, delighting in the same situations, not unfrequently herd to- gether, but I have seldom seen Burchell's Zebra unaccompanied by groups of the brindled gnoo, an animal differing materially from its brother of the same genus, from which, though scarcely less ungainly, it is readily distinguishable at a great distance by its black mane and tail, more elevated withers and clumsier action 1 ." Much controversy rages round the quagga, and is likely to continue, since the scantiness of the available data and the hopelessness of obtaining much more precludes the possibility of certainty in conclusions. Mr Pocock has pointed out that the current descriptions of the quagga are made up by blend- ing together animals of different types, and Mr Pocock and Mr Lydekker have suggested that the quaggas figured by Edwards 2 (Fig. 38), by Harris 3 , and Hamilton Smith 4 , may be sub-specifically distinct from the one photographed by York and the specimens preserved in various museums ; and Mr Lydekker has proposed names for two new sub-species E. quagga greyi (the British Museum, Amsterdam, Tring, and Edinburgh speci- men), and E. quagga lorenzi (the Vienna specimen). Mr Pocock thinks that Lord Morton's famous quagga stallion known only from a drawing (Fig. 39) belonged probably to the Quagga greyi sub-species 5 . Mr Lydekker is now very doubtful whether the division into races is justifiable, although it is possible that the Vienna specimen may be distinct, and " despite certain differ- ences in regard to the width and backward extension of the 1 The Wild Sports of Southern Africa (London, 1841), p. 48. 2 Gleanings of Natural History (London, 1758), p. 29, PI. 223. 3 Sir W. Cornwallis Harris, The Game Animals of South Africa (1840), PL n. 4 Horses (PL xxiv). 5 The Elgin quagga's head, here first published (pp. 436-8, Figs. 131-3), seems to come closest to this category. . Il] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 75 stripes, and also the relative proportions of the white and fawn areas," he is "disposed to regard the quagga, as figured by Edwards, Harris, and Smith, as representing the same type of animal." He believes that the difference between the stuffed quaggas and the figures taken from living animals or fresh skins is entirely due to fading or inaccurate drawing. Mr Pocock 1 not only adheres to the subdivision given above, but adds a third sub-species E. quagga danielli (Fig. 40) which, although "known only from figures and descriptions, is the best marked of the four, and the one that is perhaps the most interesting in the matter of coloration to students of the equine family." The head, neck, and upper part of the shoulders and of the hind-quarters were chestnut, the head being normally striped, the muzzle being black, the neck having sepia-brown stripes much narrower than the intervening areas, tapering and wavy inferiorly and sometimes bifurcating, but falling short of the middle line of the throat. The mane was white with narrow stripes, about thirteen in number, from behind the ear. There were a few stripes on the withers like those on the neck, and not reaching half-way down on the shoulder. Behind the withers there were also a few similar short stripes, but the posterior half of the body and the hind- quarters were neither striped nor spotted. Between the principal stripes on the neck and withers there were here and there a few narrow detached stripes ; the lower half of the shoulder, of the body, and of the hind-quarters as well as the legs were white with a narrow dark rim above the hoof and a dark tuft at the back of the fetlock. The white tail was equine in character, the long hairs extending to the root. In its markings the Vienna quagga comes nearest of all existing specimens or representa- tions to the Burchell Zebra. Mr Pocock has argued with considerable force that the Burchell Zebras and the quaggas of Cape Colony are only sub- 1 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1 Nov., 1904 (with plate), reduced facsimile of the drawing from life in Samuel DanielPs African Scenery (1804-8), No. 15. (The types are said to be drawn from life.) My figure is a still more reduced fac- simile from the same drawing. I have been enabled to give this figure and that of the typical quagga (Fig. 38) by the kindness of Mr Pocock. 76 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. specifically distinct, and he includes all the varieties of the Burchell group as well as the true quaggas under the species Equus quagga. On the other hand, Mr Lydekker supports the older view that the Burchell Zebra and the quagga are specifically distinct, on the grounds that (1) the pattern on the forehead of the quagga forms a shorter and more regular diamond than in the Bonte Quagga, and that in the former the centre of the diamond is a pale stripe with four or five dark stripes on either side of it, whereas in all Bonte Quaggas or Burchell's Zebras the diamond is made up of from five to nine stripes, the middle line being black with from two to four stripes on each side: and (2) that quaggas may be distinguished from Burchell's Zebras (Grant's, Crawshay's, Chapman's, and the typical Burchell's), by the presence on the skull in front of the orbit of a depression claimed to be the remains of a pit which in the case of more archaic forms lodged a facial gland. Mr Pocock replies by showing that Mr Lydekker's first proposition " is not in all cases true either of the ' quaggas ' or the ' Burchell's Zebras '," and against Mr Lydekker's second ob- jection he urges that the depression noted in two quagga skulls " belongs to the category of characters likely to appear sporadi- cally as atavisms," and he maintains that " such characters are of doubtful value as a basis for the formation of natural groups'"' ; he points out that Mr Lydekker has not cited a single skull of a true Burchell Zebra, and shows that " although the skulls of the female Grant's Zebras [in the British Museum] have practically no trace of the depression, it is very perceptible both to eye and touch in the skull of the stallion." These questions therefore still remain sub judice, but it is manifest that whether the Burchell's Zebras and the quaggas of Cape Colony were specifically or sub-specifically distinct, the relation- ship between them was extremely close. The testimony of most competent observers is unanimous in stating that the quagga was the best adapted for domestication of the striped Equidae, as is proved by the fact that the colonists not unfrequently kept tame quaggas to run with their herds of horses, since the watchfulness of the former was a n] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 77 powerful means of protecting its civilized congeners from the attacks of lions. Its extinction therefore is all the more deplorable, and indeed no words can fitly characterize the stupidity of the Dutch and English colonists, who, though dependent for locomotion on horses and oxen, and frequently living in areas rendered deadly to domestic horses and cattle by the ravages of the tsetse-fly arid horse-sickness, the latter of which wrought such terrible havoc amongst the horses of the British army in the recent campaigns against the Boers, and FIG. 39. Lord Morton's Quagga 1 . though they had in the quagga, to all intents and purposes, a native horse, immune from the attacks of the pests so deadly to European horses, and able to thrive on the unkindly herbage of the veldt, thought only of its extermination ; and though the settlers had in Burchell's Zebra at their doors an animal, which, 1 The illustration is from the block which Prof. Ewart had made from Agasse's drawing (Penycuik Exper., p. 65), and which he has most kindly lent to me. 78 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. if not quite so docile as the quagga, nevertheless enjoyed a similar immunity from the native horse-pests, it was not until 1892 that any effort was made to domesticate this fine animal. At the Agricultural Show held in Pretoria in April of that year the distinguished Irishman, Capt. M. H. Hayes, "broke in a zebra, which belonged to Mr Ziervogel, quiet to ride after about half-an-hour's handling without having to throw him down, tie him head to tail, or to resort to any of the other heroic methods of the horse-tamer." Capt. Hayes having thus shown the ease with which the Burchell Zebra could be utilized, the Boers seem to have at once caught at the idea. Mr Harod Stephens, writing from Pretoria in the following December, stated that the coaching firm of Messrs Zeedesberg had some two months previously [October] purchased eight half- grown zebras from a hunter named Groblaar, who "caught them in a wild state between four and five months ago [i.e. in July or August] by riding after and lassoing them." "During the last month they have been in training for harness, with the result that four of them are perfectly quiet and well-trained, and the remaining four partially trained." "They pull very well and are very willing, and never jib a vice which is very prevalent in the horses of this country 1 ." The Germans in East Africa, learning wisdom from the folly of the Boers and English in South Africa, are now utilizing the Grant Zebras in Kilima Ndjaro 2 , and I learri from Prof. Ewart that the same wise policy is being carried out in British East Africa, where in addition zebra hybrids are bred. The survey of the Equidae shows that the tendency to stripes is least in the northern latitudes where the genus first made its appearance in Asia, that this tendency gradually increases as we advance southwards, that it reaches its maximum in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of Africa, and that it shows a tendency to disappear in Chapman's Zebra (Fig. 36) of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, and to a still greater 1 Tegetmeier, Horses, Asses, Zebras, p. 56. 2 The Field, 1901. I learn from Mr C. W. Hobley, Sub-commissioner in Brit. E. Africa, that the domesticated zebras both there and in German E. Africa at first suffered greatly from the ravages of an obscure form of life, but a remedy has now been found, and their utilization is proceeding successfully. n] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 79 degree in the quagga (whose geographical range seems always to have been south of the Vaal River), the stripes on the hind-quarters breaking up into spots (Fig. 38), which in turn disappear (Fig. 39), whilst by the diffusion of colour from the stripes the upper parts become a bay colour, the stripes only surviving from the head to the middle of the back (Fig. 40). To this question I shall return (p. 437) when I shall describe and figure a new specimen of the quagga (Figs. 131-3). FIG. 40. The Daniell Quagga. Now it will be admitted that the Equidae, as a whole or in part, are either gradually divesting themselves of stripes or gradually putting them on, unless it be contended that a separate act of creation has taken place in the case of each species or variety. If as a whole they are in process of getting rid of the marking of a many-striped ancestor, it is clear that the Equidae of Asia and Europe have succeeded in doing this to a far greater degree than their brethren in Africa, to which continent the zebras are confined. On the other hand, if the Equidae, either as a whole or only certain species, are gradually assuming stripes (a less likely hypothesis), it is plain that those 80 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. of Africa have far outstripped their congeners of the northern latitudes. From these considerations it follows that the presence of manifold stripes all over the body in any member of the genus Equus is a strong indication that it has been long domiciled in Africa, where its progenitors for protective or other purposes either retained and modified the gaudy coat of a common ancestor of all the Equidae, or else put on stripings differing in different species and varieties according to the nature of their environment. That in either alter- native such modifications have taken place as I assume, on African soil, is rendered highly probable by Prof. Ewart's careful study of the markings of the zebras, from which he has been led to conclude that the Somali Zebra represents the oldest type, ''that the plan of marking in the common zebra might be easily derived by a modification of the stripes in the Somali Zebra, and that by further modifications in the same direction the various patterns presented by the stripes in the Crawshayi, Chapmani, and Burchelli types of zebras might also be obtained. I do not wish it to be inferred that the Burchell Zebras have been derived from the common zebras, but simply that the ancestors of the Burchell Zebras once upon a time more or less resembled in their markings the common zebra of to-day, and that their still more remote ancestors probably resembled in their markings the Somali Zebra 1 ." But it by no means follows that the peculiar markings of the Somali Zebra represent the original livery of the common ancestors of horses, asses and zebras, for we are not more justified in making such an assumption than zoologists five-and-thirty years ago before the discovery of the Somali Zebra would have been warranted in assuming that as the markings of BurchelPs Zebra and the quagga could be derived from those of the Moun- tain Zebra, the latter therefore represented in its striping the livery of the common ancestor of all the Equidae. Moreover, the GreVy Zebra from Shoa differs in the transverse stripes of the croup, and in its coloration (p. 59), from that from Somaliland. In other words, since it is highly probable that much modification has taken place in the stripings of the 1 Penycuik Experiments, p. 90. Il] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 81 Equidae on African soil, it must not be assumed that the disposition of stripes in the Grevy Zebra is original, and not as in the case of the other species the result of modification due to environment. Again, we have seen (p. 12) that the presence or absence of hock callosities has been taken as one of the chief means of differentiating Equus caballus from the asses and zebras, and though zoologists are at variance regarding the primal use of these excrescences, they are agreed in holding them to be survivals from a remote ancestor. It is therefore to be carefully noted, that whilst the hock callosities are present in Prejvalsky's horse, and are especially of large size in domestic horses of heavy breed, they are not unfrequently absent in North African horses (and always absent in pure, and frequently in half-bred 4 Celtic ' ponies of the British Isles, the Faroes, and Iceland), they are completely wanting in all the asses and zebras, or in other words, in the wild Equidae of Africa (although the wild ass of central Asia occasionally shows a vestige, p. 37). Finally, the true Prejvalsky horse and true tarpan have their fetlocks and lower portion of the leg always black, whereas the asses and zebras have their legs either white or covered with dark and white stripes. It therefore follows that any one of the Equidae which shows stripings all over its body and face, white and black bands on the lower parts of the legs, and does not possess hock callosities has a very strong primd facie claim to be considered African in origin. R. H. CHAPTER III. THE HOESES OF PREHISTORIC AND HISTORIC TIMES. They buried the dark chief they freed Beside the grave his battle steed ; And swift an arrow cleaved its way To his stern heart ! One piercing neigh Arose, and on the dead man's plain The rider grasps his steed again. LONGFELLOW, The Minnisink. LET us now return to Equus caballus. There is evidence that in the later Palaeolithic time two varieties at least existed in western Europe. Owen held that the ossiferous caves and post-Pliocene deposits of Europe indicate two species, of which one (Equus caballus) was as large as a middle-sized horse of the present day, whilst the other (E. plicidens) was about the size of a large donkey, but differing from the first-mentioned as well as from the modern horse in the more complex foliation of the enamel on its molar teeth, and he held that the fossil horse had a larger head than the domesticated race. On the other hand, Cuvier and others maintained that no difference can be detected between the fossil horses of the Quaternary times and Equus caballus save such as can be explained by the difference in size of the animals compared. We have seen that the Pleistocene beds of Essex yield bones and teeth of a large-headed, heavily- built horse, which probably sometimes measured fully 14 hands, whilst from the 'Elephant bed' at Brighton portions of a slender-limbed horse have been obtained. It is not improbable that at the same period horses of a diminutive size inhabited CH. Ill] PREHISTORIC AND HISTORIC HORSES 83 Ireland, for not long since a lower jaw was found 1 in the marl below the peat near Athlone, co. Galway, which is but twelve and a quarter inches long and four inches at the widest part, and must therefore have belonged to an extremely small race. But as the jaw may have only sunk from the peat into the upper portion of the marl, it is not impossible that the bone may belong to a more recent period. During the Quaternary period wild horses were abundant in Europe and formed an important part of the food supply of Palaeolithic man and various wild animals such as the hyaena. Their remains have been found in the Kirkdale Cave, Yorkshire, and Kent's Cavern, near Torquay, which in addition to many bones of horses, hyaenas, and other animals contains much evidence of human habitation. These early men have left us at least one picture of the horse, which they hunted and ate. In one of the caves of the Creswell Crags, on the borders of Derbyshire and Nottingham, was found a small fragment of rib with its polished surface ornamented with the incised figure of a horse 2 ; the head with its eyes, mouth, and nostrils, is admirably drawn, and a series of fine oblique lines, stopping at the bend of the back, are supposed to prove that the animal was hog-maned, but these lines may have simply been the primitive artist's way of indicating the mane, whether hogged or flowing. Prof. Boyd Dawkins has shown in his tables of the Pleistocene animals living to the north of the Alps and the Pyrenees that the remains of the horse were found in thirty-one out of the forty stations tabulated ; and Dr. Munro has pointed out that the horse was one of the most common animals among the , cave-fauna of Belgium, both during the mammoth and reindeer periods. From this it is clear that the horse must have been very common in Belgium. No less common was the horse in France. The station of Solutre, near Macon (Saone-et-Loire), partially excavated by MM. Ferry, Arcelin, Ducrost, Lortet, and others, has revealed a great abundance of implements of flint 1 I am indebted to my friend Dr Scharff, of the National Museum, Dublin, for this information. 2 Boyd Dawkins, Early Man in Britain, p. 184, Fig. 53. 62 84 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. and reindeer horn, and quantities of broken bones, chiefly those of the horse and the reindeer, which had plainly been used as food. On the south side of the settlement piled-up bones of horses formed a sort of protecting wall. The estimate of the number of animals represented by these relics varies from two thousand to one hundred thousand, but it is very difficult to make a just calculation, for the bones were so broken in extracting the marrow, that it was with difficulty a complete skeleton could be constructed for the museum at Lyons. According to M. Toussaint the horse of Solutre was of low stature, the average height being from 1*36 m. (13'2 hands) to 1'38 m. (13'3 hands). The lower jaws were highly developed, FIG. 41. A Prehistoric Horse. and the teeth were so large that they might readily be taken as belonging to animals of a much greater size. The large size of the head 1 in proportion to the rest of the body harmonizes remarkably with the engraved figures of horses found in some of the Dordogne caves. " The bones of the limbs were strong, with large articulations, prominent muscular attachments, and broad hoofs 2 ." It is noteworthy that in the leg the metacarpal and metatarsal vestigial bones were not united to the main bone, as is usually the case with modern 1 It is worth noting that the head and teeth in one of the varieties of Prejvalsky's horse are relatively very large (J. C. E.). 2 Munro, Arch. Jour. Vol. LIX. pp. 114 sqq. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 85 horses, a fact which supplies an intermediate link between the latter and the Hipparion. The investigations of MM. Lartet and Christy in the caves of the Vezere (Dordogne) have revealed bones of the Equus caballus in great abundance, for in the list of animals whose bones were found in greatest numbers in the caves of La Madelaine, Laugerie, and Les Eyzies, Equus caballus heads the list, followed by Sus scrofa, Cervus tarandus, C. elaphus, C. capreolus, the Irish elk, and various others 1 . Of seven bone- yielding caves of Vezere all save one supplied remains of the Fm. 42. Head of Prehistoric Horse: Gourdan. horse 2 . At the famous rock- shelter of Cro-Magnon the bones of the horse were more numerous than those of any other animal, and M. Lartet 3 rightly inferred that it must have formed the chief food of its primitive inhabitants. It is clear then that during the Reindeer period the horse was found in considerable numbers in south-western France. 1 Lartet and Christy, Reliquiae Aquitanicae, p. 172; cf. Mimro, op. cit., p. 116. 2 Lartet and Christy, op. cit., p. 181. 3 Lartet, op. cit., p. 94. 86 THE HOESES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. But the Dordogne caves have furnished us with another class of evidence of the highest importance in the shape of a large series of representations of animals engraved on frag- ments of bone, ivory, or stone, or occasionally carved out of bone or reindeer horn 1 . It is needless to observe that the animals pourtrayed are those with which the artists were them- selves familiar. Similar drawings and carvings have since been discovered in a number of other caves in France and Switzer- land, " the whole now culminating in a collection of over 300 specimens illustrating the social life of the period, more especially animals and hunting scenes, the former being pour- trayed with singular fidelity and artistic skill 2 ." In the series of portraits the horse figures prominently, especially on the storied reindeer horns and bones from La Madelaine, "all of which unmistakably represent big-headed (cf. Figs. 41-2) animals, with the exception of one or two which show a small head, sharp muzzle, and long ears 3 ." Mr Conrad Merk discovered in the Kesslerloch cave near Schaffhausen a piece of reindeer horn engraved with the outline of a horse, apparently small-headed : " the well-formed head rather long, with small ears the upright mane, the graceful, well-formed body, the elegant arid light-formed feet, and especially the remarkably thin tail, reaching nearly to the ground, represent without doubt a young, well-bred animal." " This Kesslerloch horse," remarks Dr Munro, " must have been a very different animal from the clumsy, rough pony, with its shaggy tail and big ugly-looking head, figured on bones and horns from La Madelaine." These indications of the possible existence of at least two kinds of horses during the Reindeer period have lately gained further support by the discovery of engravings of a large size and of coloured paintings of various animals, on the walls of some newly explored caves in southern France, especially those of Combarelles and Font-de-Gaune, Gommune of Tayac, Dordogne, and not far from the well-known station of Les Eyzies. 1 Reliquiae Aquitanicae, p. 16, B. PI. u. ; Munro, op. cit., p. 117. 2 Munro, loc. cit., PI. i, Fig. 1. 3 EeL Aquit., B. Pll. n, vi-vn, ix-x, xix-xx, xxiv, and xxx-xxxi. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 87 As early as 1875 slight traces of this style of decoration had come to light in the cave of Altamira, near Santander, in N.E. Spain. Later on better examples were revealed in the caves of Chabot (Gard), La Mouth e (Dordogne), and Pair-non-Pair (Gironde), in all of which figures of equine animals occurred along with those of other animals regarded as characteristic gf the Palaeolithic period. The cave of La Mouthe, explored with signal success by M. E. Riviere, extends for about 260 metres, and on the walls of its inner recess are drawings clearly representing the bison, reindeer, goat, mammoth, and two Equidae. These horses were cut on a panel 128 m. from the entrance. One represents an animal with a small head, slender neck, and well-formed fore- quarters, " but the posterior part is heavy and altogether out of proportion," while the other had a stout neck, a long head directed almost vertically and a hairy chin. "Whatever may have been the defects of the artists, the originals of these two drawings must have been very different animals." Yet one cannot help wondering whether it may not be that it is the fore-part and not the hind-quarters of the first animal which is out of proportion. The cave had been occupied by man both in the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods, the two strata being separated by a layer of stalagmite of varying thickness. The Neolithic debris con- tained bones of horse, stag, a small-sized ox and other animals. But two caves surpassing in importance those hitherto explored were discovered by MM. Capitan and Breuil in 1901, at Combarelles and Font-de-Gaune. It is noteworthy that whilst the former is adorned with engravings cut more or less deeply by Palaeolithic man, the other is decorated with paintings in ochre. and black, or sometimes only in one colour, forming real silhouettes of the animals thus depicted. The painted figures at Font-de-Gaune number 77, comprising forty- nine aurochs, eleven indeterminate animals, four reindeer, one stag, two mammoths, three antelopes, two horses, three geometrical and two scalariform signs. The cave at Combarelles extends for 234 m. The engravings begin about 118 m. from the entrance, and are continued on 88 THE HOUSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. both sides with only slight intervals for 100 m. Many of the designs are covered with a film of stalagmite. Sometimes the incised lines are emphasised by thin bands of black paint. The figures represent animals in various attitudes in a style and manner of execution resembling those of La Madelaine and other later Palaeolithic settlements. 109 animals have been distinctly made out, whilst 19 have not been identified, and a human face is marked as doubtful. There are 23 whole drawings, and many heads of Equidae. In spite of their evident difficulty in identifying a considerable number of the figures, the explorers hold that these are accurate documents of great palaeontological value. They con- sider that there are at least two species of horses distinguishable among the forty figures already deciphered. " On peut nettement distinguer au moins deux especes tres differentes. Les uns sont de gros chevaux, a criniere ordinaire- ment droite, a queue tres fournie, a grosse tete et nez busque avec levres tres fortes. D'autres sont beaucoup plus elances, plus fins ; la tete est petite, la criniere, egalement droite et courte, arrive jusqu'a sur la tete qui est notablement plus petite, le nez parait bien plus droit, que chez les pre- cedents, enfin la queue est implantee tantot plus bas, tantot au contraire plus haut, comme celle des bovides ; elle est glabre, souvent terminee par un touffe de poils." If we can rely on the faithfulness of the artists, we have here evidence for the existence in Europe in Palaeolithic times of a small, light-built horse, as well as a stout-built animal with a bushy tail and a large head. But, as the artists of Com- barelles delineated both the breeds alike with a short, erect mane, and as the historical evidence shows that the large-headed horses of the later period which may be held to represent the large-headed animals of Solutre, had very thick, long manes, we must hesitate before accepting as " precise documents for palaeontology " the cave engravings. It is probable that the Combarelles artists simply represented horses' manes in a con- ventional fashion by a number of straight lines. Moreover, it must be borne carefully in mind, that, whilst there is abundant evidence for the large-headed animal in the Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 89 remains of Solutre and elsewhere, we have few osseous data for the existence of the supposed small-headed type. Not only have the recent discoveries in caves of the late Palaeolithic period led to the suggestion that at least two distinct species of Equidae were known to their occupants a thing in itself not at all improbable but to the further theory that man had already subdued the horse to his will. The evidence furnished by the bone-caves of Belgium and Britain led to the conclusion that man hunted the horse like any other animal for purposes of food. The general scarcity of vertebrae of the horse in cave deposits seems to indicate that the hunter took away the more detachable portions to his home, but left the carcase on the field, a method followed in the case of all big game 1 . Both man and the hyaena alike broke the bones of the horse which formed their prey, but their methods differed ; the former smashed them with hammer- stones, the latter crushed them in his teeth. Further, in the bones broken by men the spongy and cartilaginous portions were not removed, " thus presenting a marked contrast to those gnawed by hyaenas or by the dogs of the 'kitchen-midden' people of Denmark." M. Dupont 2 inferred from the frequency with which certain caudal vertebrae of the horse were met with in the caves of Belgium that the hunters were in the habit of cutting off and bringing home the tails of their horses as trophies, like the brush of the fox in modern days. Later on we shall see some reason for conjecturing that these tails may have been prized as ornaments. The masses of bones of the horse and the reindeer found at Solutre 3 , already mentioned, led us to infer that the horse was habitually hunted and eaten for food. But M. Toussaint main- tained that the horse-bones were those of domestic animals, basing his opinion on the fact that the bones showed few old or young animals, being usually those of horses from five to seven years old. But M. Pietrement 4 retorted the argument, show- 1 Munro, op. cit., pp. 123-4. 2 Dupont, Les Temps Prehistoriques en Belgique, p. 173 (cited by Munro). 3 Pietrement, Les Chevaux dans les Temps Prehistoriques et Historiques, pp. 86-96. 4 Op. cit., p. 96. 90 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. ing that the fact relied on by M. Toussaint was a cogent proof that the bones were those of wild animals, because in a troop of wild horses it is always the most vigorous adults which occupy the post of danger in the rear, and are therefore more liable to be killed. He argued that if these animals were simply kept to be slaughtered it was not necessary to keep them for seven years, for they would have been full grown and better fitted when three or four years old : "Les chevaux de Solutre" ne pouvaient etre que des chevaux sauvages, ou bien des animaux utilises comme moteurs pendant quelques annees avant d'etre sacrifies pour I'alimentation ; on ne peut hesiter a admettre que c'etaient des chevaux sauvages qui ont ete chasses, tues et mange's par 1'homme quaternaire de la localite." MM. Capitan and Breuil have given a fresh start to the domestication theory from certain characters and markings observed by them on some of the engravings of horses in the cave of Combarelles. Let them speak for themselves l : "Plusieurs des equides figure's presentent des caracteres de domestication tres nets. Le grand equide reproduit (Fig. 4), porte sur le dos, comme on le voit facilement, une large couverture avec ornaments en forme de dents. Un autre porte egalement une couverture tres nettement representee. II en est autour du museau desquels il semble qu'il existe une corde ; enfin un des trois petits chevaux du groupe ci-dessus (Fig. 5) indique porte ainsi qu'on peut le voir sur la figure, qui reproduit la tete de cet animal au tiers de grandeur naturelle (Fig. 3) un chevetre indique avec une precision telle qu'il n'y a pas d'erreur possible. Enfin deux animaux portent sur le milieu du corps des signes nettement traces; sur le flanc d'un cheval il existe un signe en losange, et un autre animal, qui semble avoir des cornes, porte sur le flanc trois signes qui ont un aspect alphabetiforme (Fig. 5). "II est impossible de ne pas rapprocher cette particularite des figurations grecques archai'ques de chevaux portant un nom grave sur les fesses. "II parait bien vraisemblable qu'il s'agit sur nos betes de 1 Revue de VEcole d'Anthropologie, 1902, p. 39 ; Munro, op. cit., pp. 126-7. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 91 marques de proprie'te ou de marques de tribus comme les Wasms en usage chez tous les nomades de Sud algerien." Dr Munro has shown a wise hesitancy in accepting this conclusion. He rightly points out that if the horse had been employed for riding, "we would undoubtedly ere now have had a representation of the fact, either among the varied assortment of objects in the Palaeolithic art gallery, or among the scenes of animal life so fortuitously brought to light in the caves of Combarelles, La Mouthe, and others." He would explain the supposed bridle and covering on the back of the horse by the hypothesis that the hunter after trapping the wild horse brought him home, being able to cow him completely in a short time, and that the supposed horse-cover "may be nothing more than the skin coat of the hunter thrown over the back of the animal when led home by means of a halter made of thongs or withies, to be there slaughtered." But it must be pointed out, that even if the markings on the animals are not accidental, they may very, well be purely conventional, such as those to be found on numerous objects in the early Iron age of central Europe and in the geometrical period of Greece. We have many representations of horses, dogs, and cows 1 , decorated with circles (Fig. 43), and other de- signs, which the artist had never seen on any animal. So Dutch potters commonly decorated their Delft cows and horses by scattering little flowers all over them. As M. S. Reinach holds' 2 , the cave pictures may be due to the desire of the primeval hunters to employ magic in capturing their prey. It is by no means clear that man had tamed the steed in Neolithic times, and from the evidence derived from the British barrows it would appear that there is no authentic case of such 1 So on a late Mycenean vase from Enkomi in Cyprus a cow is pourtrayed, the body of which is covered with conventional patterns, which plainly were never seen in nature. 2 L'Anthropologie, 1903, pp. 257-66. Fm 43 Miniature Axe . Hallstatt. 92 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. remains being found in any long barrows. "The bones of the horse," says Prof. Rolleston 1 , " are both durable and conspicuous, and it is difficult to think that if the Neolithic man had used the animal either for purposes of food or for those of carriage, as his predecessors and successors did, we should not have come upon abundant and unambiguous evidence of such use." Lord Avebury has shown that of the 28 cases given by Mr Bateman in which the bones and teeth of horses occurred, " nine were in tumuli which had been previously opened, and in one case no body was found. Of the remaining 18 five were tumuli containing iron, and seven were accompanied with bronze. In one more case, that of the 'Liffs,' it is doubtful whether the barrow had not been disturbed. Of the remaining six tumuli, two contained beautiful drinking vessels of a very well-marked type, certainly in use during the Bronze age, if not peculiar to it; and in both these instances, as well as in a third, the interment was accompanied by burnt human bones, sug- gestive of dreadful rites." Out of 297 interments only 63 contained metal, or about 21 per cent., while out of the 18 barrows with horses' remains, twelve, or about 66 per cent., certainly belonged to the age of metals. Later on I shall offer an argument to show that the use of the horse by man in the British Isles cannot be placed before the end of the Bronze or the beginning of the Iron age. This would be completely in accord with the view commonly held that the primeval horses of Britain whose bones are found in the caves became extinct, and that the horse was reintroduced from the Continent at no long time before the dawn of history. Passing to the Continent we find that there is but scant evidence of the horse in Neolithic times in the Swiss Lake- dwellings, for though Rutimeyer 2 held that the horse had been domesticated by the Swiss Lake-dwellers in the Neolithic period, he himself contrasts the extreme paucity of the remains of that animal in the oldest settlements such as Wangen, Moosseedorf, Robenhausen, and Wauwyl, as compared with their abundance in the Bronze age stations. It is generally 1 Greenwell, British Barrows, p. 736. 2 Die Fauna der Pfahlbauten in der Schweiz (1861), p. 122. in] AND HISTORIC TIMES 93 held that the domestic horse was employed by the Lake- dwellers from the Bronze age, and beyond doubt bronze bits, bronze trappings, and even a bronze wheel and other chariot- fittings have been discovered. Thus a bronze bit completely preserved was found at Moeringen, and a perfect specimen of another made of two tines of stag-horn with a transverse mouth-piece of bone was found at Corcelettes, while many fragments of both kinds, especially side-pieces made of horn, have been obtained from various sites 1 . But even Moeringen and Auvernier, where these bits make their appearance, belong to the latest Bronze period, and remains undoubtedly of the Iron age, such as a La Tene sword, have been found at least at the former. It must be carefully borne in mind that long after iron had come into use for cutting weapons, bronze, horn, bone and stone continued to be used, bronze being especially adapted for horse-bits and horse-trappings and for fittings for chariots. The Swiss horse was small, as is proved by the bits made of bronze and stag-horn, which have been found at Moeringen and Auvernier. These bits are only three-and-a-half inches wide. Various Swiss sites have yielded great numbers of antiquities of the later Iron age (commonly called the La Tene period, from the fact that this peculiar class of antiquities first became known at the Pile-settlement of La Tene on Lake Neuchatel). The weapons and ornaments are similar to- those found on the battle-fields where Caesar overthrew the Helvetians. From the osseous remains of horses found on sites of the La Tene period it is clear that the horses of the Helvetians were of. slender build. According to Dr Marek 2 the La Tene horse agrees in its fundamental characters, size excepted, with the Oriental races of horses, whose typical representative is the ' Arab.' This Helveto-Gallic horse, as he terms it, was 135 141 cm. (13 P 2 14 hands) at the withers, and it thus occupies an intermediate position between Arabs and ponies. But it is important to bear in mind that the finest type of Arab is 1 Munro, Lake-dwellings of Europe, pp. 28, 524, etc. Fig. 191 shows various horse-bits. 2 J. Marek, "Das helvetisch-gallische Pferd " (Abhandl. Schweiz. palaeontol. Gesellschaft, Vol. xxv. 1898); Scharff, R. I. A. Proc. Vol. xxv. Sec. C. 94 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. rarely over 13'2 hands. On a later page (321) these La Tene horses will be identified with a breed well known in north- western Italy and south-western France in the first century B.C., whose descendants still survive in Provence, and it will be shown that this race is Libyan in origin. The Sigynnae, who were the only tribe of all those to the north of the Danube whose name is known to Herodotus 1 , "had horses with shaggy hair, five fingers long, all over their bodies, and which were small and flat-nosed, and incapable of carrying men, but which when yoked under a chariot were very swift, in consequence of which the natives drove in chariots." This description of the appearance of the little horses of the Sigynnae of central Europe agrees very well with the skeletons found near Macon. The simous shape of the head tallies well with the ugly-shaped skull and powerful jaws of the bone deposits. We can hardly believe that we have here horses such as those whose bits have been found in the later Lake- dwellings of Switzerland. The depth of their hair forcibly recalls the description of the winter coats of the tarpan, of Prejvalsky's horse, and the Iceland ponies already cited, though it has to be borne in mind that the last-named ponies have often very small heads. Unluckily Herodotus does not give us any information respecting the colour of these little horses, but we shall pre- sently adduce evidence which will render it probable that they were dun-coloured. The reason assigned by Herodotus for the practice of the Sigynnae clearly explains why most early peoples yoked the horse to a car long before they ever habitually practised riding 2 . It was apparently the same reason which induced the Britons of Caesar's time to continue the use of chariots, although by that date they had been given up for war by the 1 v. 9, Tous 5e ITTTTOUJ avruv elvou \aatovs airav TO (rcD^ct, e?ri ir&re da.KTV\ovs rb (Bddos TU>V rpLX&v, ff/j.iKpovs 8 Kai cri/Ltofts /ecu ddvvdrovs dvdpas $peiv t fevyvvfjit- vovs d UTT' a/3/iara elvat d^vrdrovs' dp^a.Trj\a.r^i.v de irpbs raura roi)s eirixwpiovs. 2 W. Ridgeway, "Why was the Horse driven before he was ridden?" Academy, Jan. 3rd, 1890, p. 14. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 95 Celts and other inhabitants of Gaul, whose chief strength lay in their horsemen (equites). It will presently be shown that this change in the method of using the horse on the Continent was due not solely to the development in size of the indigenous animal, but to the fact that by the middle of the second century B.C. the Gauls had procured from southern Europe horses of a size fa,r superior to their own and better adapted for riding. Dio Cassius, when speaking of the Caledonians and Maeatae, two chief tribes of northern Britain, says that they "went to war on chariots, as their horses were small and fleet 1 ." Since the countiy which these tribes inhabited would have been much more easily traversed by men on horseback than by wheeled vehicles, it is clear that they used chariots because their ponies, which, in part at least, may be represented by the ' Celtic' ponies of to-day, were too small to carry a full-grown man for any considerable time or distance. The statement of Dio Cassius concerning the practice of the tribes of northern Britain is completely confirmed by the discovery of the remains of a considerable number of chariots in Yorkshire barrows. In one (Fig. 44) of the sixteen tumuli known as Danes' Graves, situated in the parish of Driffield, Mr J. R. Mortimer 2 and Canon Green well, in 1897, discovered the remains of two adult bodies (Fig. 44), the iron tires of two wheels and other pieces of iron belonging to a chariot, two iron snaffle-bits, and several rings and ornaments of bronze belonging to the horse- trappings, though not a single bone of a horse was found. The wheels had apparently been taken from the axle. The tires measure respectively 2 ft. 6f in. and 2 ft. 5J in. in diameter, both being If in. broad and $ in. in thickness. The iron hoops for the naves likewise survived, being 5 in. in diameter (inside), | in. wide, and nearly a quarter of an inch thick 3 . 1 Dio Cassius, LXXVI. 12 (ex Xiphilini epit.), Sr/aareuoiTcu 5e eiri re d/3/tdrwj', 'ITTTTOVS ^xoires /ZIK/)OI)S KO.I raxe?s, xai irefroi 5 eivi KT\. 2 Ann. Report of the Yorkshire Philosophical Soc. for 1897, pp. 3-4. 3 Ibid., p. 10. The Yorkshire Philosophical Society have most kindly lent me the block for Fig. 44. c. FIG. 44. Eemains of a Chariot found at Driffield, Yorkshire. CH. Ill] PREHISTORIC AND HISTORIC HORSES 97 In a group of over 200 small barrows closely resembling the Danes' Graves, which once existed at Arras near Market Weighton, the remains of three chariots were found 1 . The fragments of another chariot discovered in one of the barrows at Hessleskew, were presented to the Museum of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society (which possesses also the relics from Arras and Danes' Graves), by the Rev. E. W. Stillingfleet in 1865 2 . The evidence derived from the finds at Silchester and along the Roman wall confirms the statement of Dio Cassius respect- ing the small size of the British horse. There can therefore be little doubt that the cause which led the Sigynnae to drive in chariots had induced Britons to follow the same custom, even in a country beset with forests and morasses, and where it is obvious that riding on horseback, as in medieval times, would have been much more convenient than driving in chariots, had horses of sufficient size been available. The Belgic tribes of Britain at the time of Caesar's invasion used both horsemen and chariots, for on learning of Caesar's 3 intended landing, "they sent forward cavalry and charioteers, which formed their chief arm in warfare." Caesar describes elsewhere the value of the war-chariots, and their method of handling them. " At ' the first onset they drove the cars in all directions, hurled their javelins, and by the din and clatter of horses and wheels commonly threw the ranks of the enemy into disorder, and making their way amongst the squadrons of the enemy's cavalry they leaped down from their chariots and fought on foot. The charioteers then little by little withdrew out of the fight and placed their chariots in such a way that if they were hard pressed by the enemy they could readily retreat to their own side. Thus in battle they afforded the mobility of cavalry, and the steadiness of infantry. 1 Oliver, History of Sever ley, p. 4 (footnote), cited by Mr Mortimer, loc. cit. 2 For information about all these finds I am indebted to my friend Canon Greenwell, and also to Mr Platnauer, the curator of the Museum of the Yorkshire Philosophical Soc., York, who (through my friend and former pupil, Mr C. Gutch) most kindly supplied me with photographs of the Arras and Hessleskew remains. An elaborate monograph by Canon Greenwell on all the chariot-burials found in England will appear very shortly in Archaeologia. 3 B. G. iv. 24. R. H. 98 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. Daily practice enabled them to pull up their horses when in full speed on a slope or steep declivity, to check or to turn them in a narrow space, to run out on the pole and stand on the yoke, and to get nimbly back again into the chariot 1 ." This statement, confirmed by other ancient writers 2 , puts it beyond doubt that it was not lack of intrepidity or agility that induced the Britons to drive their horses instead of mounting on their backs, and also shows that their cars were not scythed. The evidence just offered for the diminutive size of the Irish horse combined with the fact that in the oldest Irish epics the horse is not ridden, for Cuchulainn and Queen Medhbh are always represented as fighting in chariots, renders it highly FIG. 45. Bronze Bits: Ireland 3 . probable that here also the use of the chariot in a country singularly difficult for vehicles was due at least in part to the smallness of the steeds. It is not unlikely, that as the domesticated horse was intro- duced into Britain, so also was he brought into Ireland at no very remote date, for all the bits and trappings hitherto known belong to the Iron age in that country, where as I have elsewhere argued iron found its way at a comparatively late 1 B. G. iv. 33. 2 Juvenal, iv. 126. 3 The larger and more richly decorated bit is one of a pair found along with a pair of the well-known spur-shaped objects, on the hard turf bottom of a bog at Atymon, co. Mayo, in 1891. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 99 epoch. The bronze bits here shown (Fig. 45), each being one of pairs in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, belong beyond doubt to the late Celtic period, as is demonstrated by the beautiful ornament on one of the bits and its fellow, as well as on the pair of mysterious pieces of trapping, found at the same time, one of which is figured on a later page. It has been urged that ot was easier to learn to drive than to ride. But is this true ? Under modern conditions it may be so, when a person's first essay in driving is made on some old and steady animal tightly embraced in harness and shafts. But when primitive man first subdued the little wild horse, was it easier for him to learn to drive two of these animals, when simply attached by means of a yoke and pole, with free play for their heels, their first instinct being to kick to pieces the rattling, creaking wheels and axle, which formed the primi- tive car, or to learn to sit firmly on his back l ? The South American Indians found no difficulty in acquiring the latter art when they obtained the horse from the Spaniards. As the Britons were famous for their intrepidity in running out and standing on the chariot pole, and as we shall presently see, Odysseus and Diomedes had no hesitation in getting on the backs of Thracian steeds, it is clear that it was not from fear that either Achean or Briton drove habitually in a chariot instead of riding on horseback. But though mounted men formed the chief weapon of the Gauls in their death-struggle against the Romans, it is clear from both literary and monumental evidence that at no long time previously had the chariot been in universal use among all the Celts of Gaul and north Italy. Thus Diodorus 2 makes it plain that down to a late date they, like the Homeric Acheans, had regularly gone to war in two-horse chariots, containing each a warrior and a charioteer: the former first hurled spears called saunia at the foe, and then dismounted to finish the combat at close quarters with the sword, the latter being doubtless of that type known as La Tene (Fig. 111). The opening of many tumuli in Champagne has brought to light 1 W. Eidgeway, Academy, 1890, p. 91. 2 v. 29. 72 100 THE HOUSES OF PKEHISTORIC [CH. the remains of Gaulish chieftains, who were interred, seated on their chariots, the horses and trappings being buried along with them. These interments, as is proved by the swords and fibulae of the La Tene 1 type, cannot be earlier than 400 B.C. and are probably to be set at least a century or two later 2 . This evidence is completely corroborated by that of Livy 3 , who narrates that in the great battle fought at Sen tin um in Etruria (292 B.C.), in the third Samnite War, when the Romans under Fabius Maximus and Decius Mus overthrew the com- bined Samnites and Gauls, the latter had a thousand chariots (esseda) and cars (carri), the charge of which completely routed the Roman cavalry, and would have decided the battle in favour of the allies, had not Decius Mus, following the example of his father at the battle of Vesuvius in the Latin War, dedi- cated himself and the enemy's host to the infernal gods, and by this act of devotion gave fresh courage to his legionaries to make a stand which led to ultimate victory. It is therefore clear that when the Gauls entered Italy at the end of the fifth or the beginning of the fourth century B.C., they like the Sigynnae on the north side of the Danube were drivers of chariots and not yet riders of horses. How then did it come to pass that though the Gauls of north Italy are still using chariots in 292 B.C., yet by Caesar's day the peoples of Gaul had universally discarded the war- chariot and were employing cavalry alone ? Fortunately suf- ficient evidence has survived from antiquity to enable us to trace the way in which this important change was effected. I am now going to show that the Gauls of north Italy had taken to horseback by the latter part of the third century B.C., and probably much earlier, that the Transalpine Gauls had fully adopted the same practice by the middle of the second century B.C., whilst even the Belgic tribes of the Continent had 1 Ridgeway, Early Age of Greece, Vol. i. p. 410. 2 Morel, La Champagne Souterraine, p. 23, Pll. i. x. etc. 3 x. 28-30, "Essedis carrisque superstans armatus hostis ingenti sonitu equorum rotarumque advenit, et insolitos eius tumultus Romanoruin conterruit equos." Ill] AND HISTORIC T'iMEiS \ 101 discarded the chariot by Caesar's time, though their kinsfolk who had crossed into south-eastern Britain still retained it in use side by side with cavalry. Later on it will be shown that the Celts of Noricum and the Danube had begun to ride on horseback in the early Iron age, though retaining the use of the chariot, and that by the beginning of the thiyd century B.C. the Celtic tribes of this region had developed a highly organised cavalry system. Furthermore, it will be shown that this change from chariot- eering to riding went pari passu with the importation of superior horses from the Mediterranean area into the Upper Balkan and into the countries beyond the Alps. When Hannibal arrived in north Italy (B.C. 218) he first came into contact with the Romans in the cavalry engagement on the Ticinus (Ticino). Here his Numidian horsemen, who rode without either bridle or saddle, and his Spanish cavalry who used bridles, at once proved their superiority not only to the Gallic horsemen, whom Scipio 1 had placed with his javelin- throwers in his front line, but also to the cavalry of the Romans and the best of their Italian allies which were superior to that of his Gallic auxiliaries. In the year 170 B.C. envoys arrived in Rome from Cinci- bulus, a king of the Gauls. One of the king's brothers addressed the Senate and complained that C. Cassius, one of the consuls of the previous year, had ravaged the lands of the Alpine peoples, who were in alliance with Rome, and had carried thousands of persons into slavery. At the same time envoys came also from the Garni, the Istri, and lapodes with similar complaints. As Cassius was absent in command of an army in Macedonia, the Senate could not take any immediate action, but wishing to appease the anger of the injured tribes they not only sent commissioners to examine on the spot into the charges brought against Cassius, but also loaded the Gaulish envoys with presents, especially the two brothers of Cincibulus. It was decreed that they should be given two torques made out of five pounds of gold, five vases made out of 20 pounds of 1 Livy, xxi. 46, " Scipio iaculatores et Gallos equites in fronte locat ; Komanos sociorumque quod roboris fuit, in subsidiis." 102 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. silver, two caparisoned horses (equi phalerati) with their grooms, cavalry armature, and cloaks, and gifts of apparel for the members of their retinue, bond as well as free. These were the voluntary gifts of the Senate. But at their own request each of the two brothers was granted the right of buying ten horses, and permission to export them out of Italy 1 . Twenty stallions brought back by the Gallic chieftains to their home beyond the Alps would in a very few years produce a great effect on the quality of the little indigenous horses, even if no fresh blood was imported. But Caesar himself, in a passage shortly to be fully cited, points out that the Gauls were always importing foreign horses and paying very long prices for them. But as Caesar contrasts the excellence of the Gallic horses with those of the German, it follows that the horses imported by the Gauls must have been brought from the countries lying south of the Alps and Pyrenees. It is very significant that on the series of silver Gaulish coins, the earliest of which may be dated from about 150 B.C., and which from the first commonly display native types and not imitations of Greek or Roman issues, a horseman is one of the most favourite types, whilst practically the chariot nowhere appears, although it forms the regular type on the reverse of the gold coins imitated from the gold stater of Philip II. of Macedon, which bore on one side the head of Apollo, on the other a two-horse chariot 2 . It would appear that by Caesar's time the Belgic tribes, who occupied all the region bounded by the Marne, the Seine and the Rhine, had given up the use of chariots, although their brethren who had crossed into south-eastern Britain continued to employ them in warfare, for Caesar does not refer to the use of war-chariots by the former in any of his campaigns against them. Probably by his time they had obtained horses of a kind fully suited for cavalry, and had therefore given up the use of the chariot in war; their relations in Britain, though able to put a considerable number of mounted men into the field, 1 Livy, XLIII. 5, " Ilia petentibus data, ut denorum equorum eis commercinm esset, educendique ex Italia potestas fieret." 2 Eidgeway, Origin of Metallic Currency, p. 90. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 103 still retained the war-chariot, whilst with the original tribes of the interior, who had none but very small horses, the chariot apparently still reigned supreme. The monuments of northern Italy demonstrate likewise that though the horse was in use in Italy from the beginning of the Iron age, as is proved by the discovery of bronze horse- bits associated with remains of that period both at Este and Bologna, the chariot was still employed by the Umbrians, though the art of riding on horseback was becoming known. At Sesto Calende, near the point where the Ticino issues from the southern extremity of Lake Maggiore, was found a tomb of the Iron age. It contained a helmet made of plates of bronze rivetted together, two bronze greaves, a very short sword, a lance-head, arrow-heads, two horse-bits, two iron circles (the tires of the chariot-wheels), two large hollow objects, and other pieces of iron belonging to the chariot. The horse-bits are bronze mounted in iron. There was also a bronze bucket ornamented with horsemen, footmen, stags, birds, and dotted circles, and dotted lines. This bucket is one of a class well known in the region lying on both sides of the head of the Adriatic, and may be assigned to the sixth or seventh century B.C. ; from its evidence we may infer that the peoples of those regions had learned to ride the horse at a period much earlier than the tribes beyond the Alps, a conclusion in complete harmony with the evidence of Herodotus respecting the Sigynnae. To the question of the development of riding in Italy we shall presently return. The evidence here stated makes it clear that the Umbrian tribes who had passed down into Italy in the Bronze age and had subdued or driven back into the mountains the aboriginal Ligurians, employed the horse and the chariot from the early Iron age onwards, and that when the Celts, the close kinsmen of the Umbrians, crossed the Alps at a later date, they too came as a chariot-driving and not as a horse-riding folk. We have seen, that though by Caesar's time the Gauls were well- supplied with cavalry, and the war-chariot was virtually extinct. yet they never abandoned its use until they had obtained a superior breed of horses from the southern side of the Alps. 104 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. The Veneti, who lived at the head of the Adriatic, and who have left their name in Venice, had a peculiarly good breed of horses at an early date, or to speak more accurately one family among them owned this valuable possession. These horses were branded with a representation of a wolf. "They were remarkable," says Strabo 1 , "more for speed than for beauty." According to the story the breed had its origin thus : A man notorious for the readiness with which he became surety for others happened to fall in with some hunters who had a wolf in their nets. They asked him in jest if he would go bail for the wolf on condition that he would become responsible for all the damage the beast had done. He agreed, and the wolf being set free at once went and drove a herd of unbranded horses to the steading of his benefactor; he accepted the gift and branded them with a representation of a wolf. His descendants kept both breed and brand, and in order to retain the pure strain in their own hands made it a rule never to part with a mare. The statement that these horses were more remarkable for speed than for beauty would of itself suggest that they were only an improved breed of the little horses of central Europe. This is actually confirmed by ancient testimony, for Aelian 2 when describing under the name of Lycospades the horses called Lycophori by Strabo, speaks of them as in appearance thickset and short, and also with flat noses. Dionysius, the despot of Syracuse (B.C. 405-367), got some of the Venetian breed for his stud, in consequence of which Venetian colts became known in Greece and the breed long enjoyed a high repute 3 . But by Strabo's time it had died out and the Veneti had given up altogether the breeding of horses 4 . There was a shrine in their land said to be dedicated to Diomedes, in which white horses were sacrificed to the hero 5 . White horses, such as those bred by the Veneti, were held in great esteem in Sicily, and it is highly probable that the famous four- horse chariot drawn by white horses in which Dionysiijs regularly rode was horsed by the imported Venetian 1 215. 2 H. A. xvi. 24, TTJV o\f/iv fyovo-i (rweo-Tpafj.fji.frav /cat j3paxeiai>, t 3 Strabo, 215. 4 Id. 211. 5 Id. 215. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 105 steeds and their progeny. This practice, which was not fol- lowed by either Hiero or his son Gelon, was revived by the foolish Hieronymus, who clad in purple and wearing a diadem used to drive forth from the palace in a quadriga drawn by white horses, like a second Dionysius 1 . White horses were apparently in favour with the Sicilian aristocrats at the close of the fifth century B.C. According to Diodorus Siculus 2 , Exaenetus of Agrigentum, on returning home after his victory with his chariot at the Olympic games in 412 B.C., was brought into the town escorted by 300 bigae drawn by white horses. The statement that white horses were sacrificed by the Illyrian Yeneti in a shrine called after Diomedes by the Greeks has every stamp of truth, for we know that it was a general practice amongst the Illyrians to sacrifice horses to a deity identified with Cronus by the Greeks. Moreover, we shall presently see that white horses were held in special esteem by the tribes of Germany, and we shall find that the sacrifice of horses was a characteristic of the religion of the Teutonic and Scandinavian peoples. The value set on white horses by the Sicilian Greeks and by various other peoples both ancient and modern was due not to any superiority in speed or other qualities, but rather to the sanctity attached to animals of a white colour, as for instance to white elephants in Further India, and to white asses in Persia. At the dawn of history all the peoples of the Balkan penin- sula like those of the Italian seem to have kept horses, but they all appear to have used the chariot and never mounted the steed. The Upper Balkan was occupied almost wholly by the closely related Illyrian and Thracian tribes on whom the fair-haired people known as Celts to the Greek writers of the classical period, were constantly pressing down. These Celts were distinguished from the indigenous tribes, not only by their xanthochrous complexion, but by the fact that whilst all the Illyrian and Thracian tribes tattooed, the Celts never followed this custom. The Thracians tattooed themselves with figures of animals such as deer, which were probably their 1 Livy, xxiv. 5. 2 xra. 82. 106 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. tribal badges, or even totems. The wolf-brand used to mark the horses of the Veneti was probably the badge or perhaps totem of the clan which owned them. -u Though the Thracians were using oxen for draught (Fig. 46) in the sixth century B.C., and though by that time the riding of horses must have been very familiar to them from their Greek neighbours on the south and the Scythians on the east, yet it seems certain that two-horse chariots continued to be used by certain peoples in Thrace down to late times. On the hills FIG. 46. Thracian coin showing X . C art which surround the valley of the Kritchma, the last affluent of the Maritza (ancient Hebrus) before the latter reaches Philippopolis, there are many large tumuli, which have been partially explored during the last fifty years 1 . In a pit close to the most remark- able of these, called Doukhova Moghila (" The Barrow of the Spirit"), in 1851 the brothers Shkorpil found the remains of a chariot and a pair of horses. Ten years later a peasant found the remains of another chariot and pair of horses close to the same spot. MM. Gueroff and Berti commenced working at this spot, and at a point nearer to the tumulus they found a body in an upright position, the skull broken, and with an arrow-head still sticking in one of the ribs. Horses and chariots had been placed in trenches running east and west and had then been covered with earth. They found various objects in iron, bronze ornaments for the bridles, iron bits with bronze attachment, and bronze statuettes for ornamenting the body of the car, consisting of horses, bears sitting-up, a Poseidon, and two plaques bearing in low-relief horses' heads incrusted with silver. In 1877-8 the Russians quartered at Philippopolis excavated at the same spot and were said to have found a chariot as well as a silver disc, a silver cup, and a three-legged table. In 1888 sixteen pits were opened and according to MM. Shkorpil each grave 1 Georges Seure, "Voyage en Thrace," Bull, de Correspondence Hellenique, Vol. xxv. (1901), pp. 156 sqq., Figs. 1123. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 107 contained the bones of two or four horses of a small breed (Equus caballus minor, Linn.), but it does not appear that more than four or eight chariots were discovered. In 1898 M. Dobrusky found near the old workings the fittings of iron and bronze belonging to a chariot and various human skeletons. In 1899 * ^S2^.^M^r^S^\^^I^iM^ FIG. 47. Grave-stone, Mycenae. 1900 M. Seure made further explorations and discovered a chariot, which he has described with admirable minuteness, and the remains of horses of a small size. M. Seure would refer this interment to the fourth century A.D., and would assign it to a settlement of Scythians in Thrace, on the ground that the 108 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. Thracians did not bury slaves and horses with their chiefs, whilst the Scythians did both. But there is nothing in the ancient statements 1 respecting the Thracian funeral customs to hinder us from believing that the Thracians might occasionally so honour a great chief inasmuch as concubines were regularly put to death and all kinds of victims were offered. On the other hand, as the Scythians did not use chariots in the time of Herodotus, it is most unlikely that they would have resumed their use in the centuries after Christ, when all other peoples had taken to horseback. The monuments of the Bronze age of Greece, commonly termed the Mycenean period, furnish the earliest evidence of the use of chariots and horses in that country. These monuments are the relics of the Pelasgians, who were the indigenous people of Greece, and also the close congeners of the Illyrians and Thracians; and the grave-stones of the acropolis of Mycenae, on three of which are sculptured in low relief a man driving a two-horse chariot with four-spoked wheels (Fig. 47), may be placed in the fourteenth century B.C. The Homeric poems furnish us with very copious evidence from at least 1000 B.C. respecting the method of employing horses, their breeding, their management, and their colours, not only for Greece itself, but also for Thrace and Asia Minor. We shall first examine the evidence for Thrace. That the Thracians used chariots in war is shown by the episode of the slaying of Rhesus the Thracian king and twelve of his best men. Dolon, the Trojan spy, when captured by Odysseus and Diomede, said that if they desire "to steal into the throng of the Trojans, lo, there be those Thracians, new-comers, at the furthest point apart from the rest, and among them their king Rhesus, son of Eioneus. His be the fairest horses that ever I beheld, and the greatest, whiter than snow, and for speed like the winds. And his chariot is fashioned well with gold and silver, and golden is his armour that he brought with him, marvellous, a wonder to behold 2 ." 1 Herod, v. 4 ; Pomponius Mela, n. 2, 18 ; Solinus, x. 28. 2 II. x. 433 sqq. (Lang, Leaf, Myers). Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 109 " Then the twain went forth through the arms, and the black blood, and quickly they came to the company of Thracian men. Now they were slumbering, foredone with toil, but their goodly weapons lay by them on the ground, all orderly, in three rows, and by each man his pair of steeds. And Rhesus slept in the midst, and beside him his swift horses were bound with thongs to the topmost rim of the chariot V Then Diomede fell to slaying the sleeping Thracians 2 , "but whom- soever he drew near and smote with the sword, him did Odysseus of the many counsels seize by the foot from behind arid drag him out of the way, with this design in his heart, that the fair-maned horses might lightly issue forth, and not tremble in spirit, when they trod over the dead ; for they were not yet used to dead men." Then when Diomede is slaying Rhesus himself, "meanwhile the harcly Odysseus loosed the whole-hoofed horses, and bound them together with thongs, and drave them out of the press, smiting them with his bow, since he had not taken thought to lift the shining whip with his hands from the well-dight chariot. Diomede pondered, whether he should take the chariot where lay the fair-dight armour, and drag it out by the pole, or lift it upon high, and so bear it forth," but yielding to the monition of Athena he "swiftly sprang upon the steeds, and Odysseus smote them with his bow, and they sped to the swift ships of the Acheans." When they had come thither Nestor was the first to hear them, and when they had leaped down to earth the old man asked them whether they had won the horses by stealing into the press of Trojans, or had some god given them to them. " Wondrous like," said he, "are they to the rays of the sun. But never yet saw I such horses, nor deemed of such 3 ." Plainly then the white horses of the Veneti to which we have just referred were no new feature in the countries south of the Danube, but it is clear from the words put in the mouths of both Nestor and the Trojan Dolon that white horses were unknown both in Greece and on the Asiatic side of the Aegean. 1 II. x. 469 sqq. a II. x. 480 sqq. 3 II. x. 543 sqq. 110 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. This inference is fully borne out by the evidence touching the colour of horses supplied by the poems themselves. The Iliad and the Odyssey, which present us with immortal pictures of the fair-haired Acheans, who in the early Iron age became the masters of the Pelasgians of upper Greece and the Peloponnesus, represent those heroes as breeders and drivers of horses. The warrior goes to battle in a two-horse chariot with his charioteer beside him, as was the practice of the Celts of Gaul down to the century before Christ. We have also clear evidence respecting the type and colour of their horses. The evidence of the Iliad amply suffices to show that the horses bred and used by the Acheans were almost uniformly dun-coloured, for the epithet xanthos, commonly applied to them, was used by the Greeks to describe the colour of gold and golden-coloured hair. In two passages at least this epithet is applied generically to Achean horses. Achilles when he rejects in scorn the gifts proffered by Agamemnon, exclaims, " Kine and goodly flocks are to be had for the lifting, and tripods and yellow-dun (xanthos) horses can be bought ; but to bring back man's life neither harrying nor earning avail eth when once it hath passed the barrier of his lips 1 ." Again, 'Nestor relates how once he headed a foray into the land of the Eleans the land in which Pelops and the Acheans had especially established themselves " and a prey exceeding abun- dant did we drive together out of the plain, fifty herds of kine, and as many flocks of sheep, and as many droves of swine, and as many wide flocks of goats, and yellow-dun (xanthos) horses a hundred and fifty, all mares, and many with their foals at their feet 2 ." The horses of Achilles which had been given to his father Peleus by Poseidon himself were named Xanthos (Dun) and Balios (Dapple), " swift horses that flew as swift as the winds, the horses that the harpy Podarge bare to the West W T ind, as she grazed on the meadow by the stream of OceanusV Here we have the earliest reference to the belief so common in classical times that the fleetest horse came from the West 1 II. ix. 407 sqq. 2 II. xi. 680 sqq. 3 II. xvi. 149 sqq. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 111 and that in that region the mares became impregnated by the west wind, an aetiological myth to explain the swiftness of steeds, who rivalled in speed the strong west wind from the Atlantic. As balios is regularly applied to deer and to the lynx 1 , there can be no doubt that when it is used of horses it means dappled, and accordingly Achilles' steed was a dappled-dun. These famous steeds had very heavy manes. After the slaying of Patroclus they kept " apart from the battle weeping, since first they were aware that their charioteer was fallen in the dust beneath the hands of man-slaying Hector. They stood unmoved abasing their heads unto the earth. Hot tears flowed from their eyes to the ground as they mourned in sorrow for their charioteer, and their rich manes were soiled as they drooped from beneath the yoke-cushion on both sides beneath the yoke 2 ." Again, when at the funeral games of Patroclus Achilles lays down prizes for the chariot-race, he says that if in some other's honour the Acheans were holding games he himself would compete : " but verily I will abide, I and my whole-hoofed horses, so glorious a charioteer have they lost, and one so kind, who on their manes full often poured smooth oil, when he had washed them in clear water. For him they stand and mourn, and their manes are trailing on the ground, and there stand they with sorrow at their hearts 3 ." In the horses of Achilles, with their long, heavy manes, one dun-coloured, the other dappled-dun, we can recognize the same breed of horses as those used by the Sigynnae of central Europe in the fifth century B.C., and this identification will gain further confirmation from colour and other arguments as our investi- gation proceeds. As the poet seems carefully to note any peculiarity of colouring in horses, such as those of Rhesus already described, and those of Aeneas to be discussed later on, 1 Eur. Hec. 90, Ale. 579. 2 II. xvn. 437 sqq. : VK.lii'fya.vTf Kaprjara' ddupva 5 iv La Kara (SXetyapuv xa/^Sis pte irapa II. xxin. 283 sq., o#5ti' 5e a<$x.v x a ' LTaL 112 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. it is natural to suppose that the horses used by the different heroes in the chariot-race were of the ordinary dun colour, unless it is otherwise stated. The evidence of Homer renders it certain that horses were bred all over Greece in the early Iron age. We have just seen that the Eleans kept mares in large numbers, and we are told that the horses of Nestor, driven by Antilochus in the chariot-race, were bred by the old chief himself at Pylus 1 , whilst it is probable that horses were bred in ' horse-pasturing ' Argolis. Thus Aethe 2 (Blazer), Agamemnon's mare, which Menelaus drove in the chariot-race along with his own horse Podargus 3 (Swift-foot), had been given to the former by his vassal, Echepolus of Sicyon, as a fee in lieu of following his lord to Troy. Not only were horses largely bred in Homeric Greece, but the ass played a familiar part in the life of the people, as is clear from a famous simile in the Iliad : " And as when an ass passing along by a cornfield, hath overmastered the boys that be with him, a lazy ass, round whose ribs full many a cudgel hath been broken, and he maketh his way into the deep corn and croppeth it, while the boys smite him with cudgels, and feeble is their force, though with might and main they drive him forth when he hath had his fill of fodder, even so did the great-hearted Trojans and their allies, called from many lands, smite great Ajax, son of Telamon, with darts on the centre of his shield and ever followed after him 4 ." No doubt the ass was of the Nubian species, which had been domesticated at a very early period, and, as we shall see, had been commonly used from very remote times in Egypt, from whence it probably had made its way into Greece. As both horses and asses were thus commonly kept, it was but natural that the breeding of mules should be carried 1 II. xxin. 303. 2 II. xxin. 295. 3 II. xxin. 295 (cf. II. vin. 185, where it is the name of Hector's horse). It probably means 'swift-foot' not 'white-foot,' since it is used of the harpy Podarge (II. xvi. 150, xix. 400). 4 II. xi. 558. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 113 on, although from the circumstance that two different terms are used for mules hemionos (' half-ass ') and oureus it might naturally be inferred that these hybrids were both true mules (the offspring of a mare by a male ass), and jennets (the off- spring of a she-ass and a male horse), but this apparently was not the case, since both terms are applied to the same animals 1 , and it seems certain that hemionos was a true mule and not a jennet, since the second prize in the chariot-race was a mare in foal with a mule (hemionos) 2 . Mules played a leading part in agriculture and the other ordinary avocations of life, being regularly employed for drawing waggons 3 , for hauling timber 4 and for ploughing, and preferred for the last-named purpose to oxen 5 . Leaving aside for the moment the Homeric evidence touching horses in Asia Minor let us return to the regions lying north of the Illyrians and Thracians. We have already described the little, large-headed, shaggy horses of the people who lived on the north of the Danube in the time of Herodotus. We shall now show that down to the time of Julius Caesar's campaigns in Gaul this same small ugly breed of horses was the only one possessed by the tribes of Germany, for although in Caesar's time the Germans used horses for riding, his descrip- tion shows that these native horses were of a very inferior kind. " They admit traders into their country rather because they want persons to purchase what they themselves have captured in war than .through any desire to buy imported wares. Moreover, foreign horses, in which the Gauls take special delight and for which they pay large sums, the Germans do not employ, but their own native-born horses, which are bad and ugly, they train to endure the severest toil by daily exercise. In cavalry actions they frequently jump off their horses and fight on foot, and they train their horses to remain where they stand, and if need arise they betake themselves 1 Of. II. xxin. 115 with 121, and xxiv, 702 with 716. 2 II. xxni. 265-6: tirirov ^BtjKev e&re dS/^TTji', /3/>^0os TjfJ.iovov Kvtovaav. 3 II. vn. 332, xvii. 742, xx!V. 702. 4 II. xxm. 121. 8 II. x. 352. R. H. 8 114 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. back to their horses with all speed. Nothing, according to their standard, is more disgraceful or a greater mark of laziness than to use a saddle, and no matter how few in number they may be, they boldly attack any number of cavalry furnished with saddles 1 ." The method of fighting here described is identical with that of the peoples who used chariots, for the latter, as we have seen, regularly descended from their chariots and fought on foot, the charioteers keeping the chariot in readiness close at hand. The Germans had simplified this method of warfare by using their ponies as mere vehicles and not as war-horses ; they dismounted from their horses as others did from their chariots, and leaving their horses to await them, as the others did their chariots, they fought on foot. Thus they were mounted infantry rather than true cavalry. However, by the time of Tacitus we shall find that one tribe of Germans possessed a true cavalry finely organised. It is not improbable that the Germans had once used chariots, but had abandoned the use in warfare in favour of the system of rough-riding, which they may have learned from the peoples who lay east of them, such as the Sarmatians and Scythians. The description of these small, ugly, native German horses makes it clear that they were the old small European horse with a big head, of the same breed as those of the Sigynnae. That the horse had been domesticated and used by some of the Germans from a remote antiquity is rendered clear by various circumstances, foremost amongst which is the fact that, according to Tacitus 2 , divination from horses was accounted the surest mode of foretelling the future. " It is peculiar to this people to seek omens and monitions from horses. Kept at the public expense, in these same woods and groves, are white horses, pure from the taint of earthly labour ; these are yoked to a sacred 'chariot (currus) and accompanied by the priest and the king, or chief of the tribe, who note their neighings and snortings. No species of divination is more trusted, not only by the people and by the nobility, but also by the priests, who 1 B. G. iv. 2. 2 Germania, 10. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 115 regard themselves the ministers of the gods, and the horses as acquainted with their will." We shall presently find that the ancient Persians had very similar beliefs and practices concern- ing white horses to those held by their Germanic kinsmen. But in the interval between Caesar and the date when Tacitus wrote his account of Germany, one German tribe had developed a cavalry organization of so high a quality as to call forth the warm admiration of the latter writer. This was the tribe called Tencteri by Tacitus, Tenchtheri by Caesar. In Caesar's day this tribe, being hard pressed by the Suevi, had made their way to where the Menapii occupied both banks of the Lower Rhine. The Menapii on the eastern side hastily removed to the western bank, taking with them all their boats. The Tencteri, thus baffled, pretended to return whence they had come, and the Menapii of the east bank recrossed the river to their homes, thinking that all was now safe. But the Tencteri suddenly returned by a long night march accom- plished on horseback, slew the Menapii, seized their boats, and were thus enabled to cross the Rhine 1 . In the time of Tacitus the Tencteri were dwelling on the west bank of the Rhine, near the Chatti and Usipii. The historian states that the Tencteri, " besides the more usual military distinctions, particularly excel in the organization of cavalry, and the Chatti are not more famous for their foot- soldiers than are the Tencteri for their horsemen. What their forefathers originated, posterity maintains. This supplies sport to the children, rivalry to their youths ; even the aged keep it up. Horses are bequeathed along with the slaves, the dwelling- house, and the usual rights of inheritance ; they go to the son, not to the eldest, as does the other property, but to the most warlike and courageous 2 ." Tacitus is probably also referring to this people when he says that the bridegroom brought such gifts as oxen, a caparisoned horse, a shield, a lance, and a sword 3 . Occasionally the horse was burned along with his master on the funeral pyre 4 . It will be noted that the Tencteri had crossed the Rhine 1 Caesar, B. G. iv. 4. 2 Germ. 32. 3 Ib. 18. 4 Ib. 27. 82 116 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. and had thus got into immediate contact with the Gauls, who had already, from at least the beginning of the second century B.C. (p. 101), been importing good horses and their caparisons at great cost from beyond the Alps, and thus continually improving their native strains. It has also to be remembered that from s B.C. 150 the Gauls had practically abandoned the chariot and become essentially a nation of knights, as Caesar found them in his campaigns. These circumstances render it highly probable that the reason why the Tencteri surpassed in horses the rest of the Germans was the fact that their geographical position gave them special facilities for improving their own indigenous horses with which they had reached the Rhine and surprised the Menapii in a night march, in Caesar's day, as already described. The evidence hitherto adduced respecting the use of the horse by the Germans referred only to the tribes of western and central Germany, with whom the classical peoples first came into contact. Tacitus, however, furnishes us with some invaluable information respecting the tribes of eastern Germany, whilst for the north-east we can draw upon native sources. We learn from the former 1 that Vannius, who had become King of the Suevi by the help of Drusus, though well supplied with native infantry, had to rely for cavalry entirely on the neighbouring Sarmatian tribe of lazyges, whose strength, as the same writer 2 tells us elsewhere, consisted solely in horse- men. From the fortunate circumstance that Pausanias 3 , who wrote in the second half of the second century of our era, chanced to see a Sarmatian corselet in the sanctuary of Aescu- lapius at Athens, the historian was led to give us a vivid picture of the Sarmatians, their mode of life, their arms, and method of warfare. " Here, among other things, is dedicated a Sarmatian corselet : anyone who looks at it will say that the barbarians are not less skilful craftsmen than the Greeks, for 1 Ann. xii. 29-30, "ipsi propria manus pedites, eques e Sarmatis lazygibus erat." 2 Hist. in. 5, " vim equitum, qua sola valent, offerebant." 3 i. 21. 5-7 (Frazer's trans. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 117 the Sarmatians neither dig nor import iron, being the most isolated of the barbarous peoples in these regions. But their ingenuity has supplied the defect. Their spears are tipped with bone instead of iron, their bows and arrows are of the cornel-tree, and the barbs of the arrows are of bone. They throw ropes round the enemies whom they fall in with ; then wheeling their horses' round they upset their foes entangled in the ropes. They make their corselets in the following way. Every man breeds many mares, for the land is not divided up into private lots, and it produces nothing but wild forest ; for the people are nomads. These mares they not only employ in war, but also sacrifice to their local gods, and, moreover, use them as food. They collect the hoofs, clean them, and split them till they resemble the scales of a dragon. Anyone who has not seen a dragon has at least seen a green fir-cone. Well, the fabric which they make out of the hoofs may not be inaptly likened to the clefts on a fir-cone. In these pieces they bore holes, and having stitched them together with the sinews of horses and oxen, they use them as corselets, which are inferior to Greek breast- plates neither in elegance nor strength, for they are both sword-proof and arrow-proof. Linen corselets, on the other hand, are not so serviceable in battle, for they yield to the thrust of iron ; but they are useful to huntsmen, for the teeth of leopards and lions break off short in them." According to Grunau 1 the East Prussians acquired horses and a knowledge of arrow-shooting from the Masuren, a people who lived in what is now Poland, in the district round Warsaw, + and whose name still survives in the dance called ' mazurka.' The same writer also mentions a sacrifice of white horses 2 , and we are told that white horses are to be kept for the gods. Moreover, a sacred shield described by Grunau 3 is represented as supported by two white horses. The last statement naturally reminds the reader of the white horse in the arms of Hanover 4 . The evidence of Grunau concerning the acquisition of horses and a knowledge of arrow-shooting from the Masuren, who were almost certainly a Sarmatian tribe, taken along with 1 Tract, in. 5, 1. 2 Tract, n. 3, 8. 3 Tract, n. 5, 1. 4 The cream-white horses used by our king on state occasions are descended from white horses formerly kept in the royal stables at Hanover. 118 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. that of Tacitus at a far earlier period, indicates clearly that the peoples of eastern Germany learned to ride the horse, if they did not also obtain him, from the nomad tribes of ancient Russia. There are no early remains of the horse in Scandinavia, and he only appears in Denmark in the Bronze age, and then he is of small size. The northern mythology indeed indicates that it was only at a late epoch that the horse was either driven or ridden, since Thor, the oldest and greatest of the Northern divinities, is never represented as driving in a chariot or riding on horseback, but always as going on foot. On the other hand, the later members of the Pantheon, such as Odin (Fig. 100), are represented as riding on horseback, and to their horses we shall presently refer. Though in the time of Tacitus 1 the Swedes (Suiones) are renowned for ships and sea-craft, we hear nothing of horses or horsemen, yet if like the Tencteri they had been noted for the possession and employment of such animals the historian would probably have made some reference to it. But in the sixth century the Swedes had become famous for the excellence of their steeds, since they are likened in this respect by Jornandes 2 (circ. A.D. 550) to the Thuringians. As the Swedes at that time supplied the Roman markets with costly furs, which passed south along the ancient trade-routes through the tribes of Germany, they had not only the opportunity, but also ample means of purchasing horses from upper Europe and the south. And he adds that they were noted for the sable furs which they wore and also exported. Adhils, the Swedish king, was a great lover and breeder of horses 3 . In the great battle between the gods, the Vanir (Freyr and lerdth) rode through the Eisir (Thor and Odin), but, as Freyr is a Swedish god, and as already mentioned, Thor always journeys and fights 1 Germania, 44. 2 Historia de origine Gothorum, c. 3 (p. 82, ed. 1611): "alia vero gens ibi moratur Suethans, quae velut Thuringi, equis utuntur eximiis ; hi quoque sunt qui in usus Eomanorum Saphirinas pelles, commercio interveniente, per alias innumeras gentes transmittunt. famosi pellium decora nigredine hi, quum inopes vivunt, ditissime vestiuntur." 3 Ynglinga Saga, ch. 33. He had the best horses of his time and owned Hrafn, once Ali's, from which sprang another Hrafn given to king Gothgestr. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 119 on foot, whilst Odin never rides except on his mysterious steed, eight-legged Sleipnir, it would appear not improbable that the Swedes were riders of horses before the Norse, and that therefore they, like the Prussians, had got them from the tribes of western Russia, such as the Sarmatians, who, as I have already shown, possessed admirable cavalry from at least the beginning of the Christian era. It is therefore not FIG. 48. Norse Pony from the Isle of Kodo. improbable that the Norse derived their horses in great part, if not altogether, from Sweden. Otherwise they must have derived them from Germany, for we have already noticed (pp. 23-4) the sharp contrast between the ' Celtic ' ponies of Iceland and the Faroes and those of a clumsier build, with large heads, and large hock callosities, which are almost cer- tainly to be ascribed to the introduction of Norwegian blood In either case then it is probable that the original stock of horses in Norway and Sweden, whether derived from Russia or 120 THE HOUSES OF PREHISTOBIC [CH. from central Europe, was the old heavy-built, large-headed European Asiatic type found at Solutre. In the ponies of the Isle of Rodo, which lies off the coast of Norway considerably to the south of the Lofoden group, we have probably the best living examples 1 of the ancient race (Fig. 48). The earliest information concerning the colour of the horses of Scandinavia is contained in Beowulf, supposed to have been FIG. 49. Norwegian Ponies, near Mundal Glacier. composed in the eighth century. In it we read of fallow (i.e. dun-coloured) 2 , of 'apple-fallow' (i.e. dapple-dun) 3 , and white horses 4 . From the dun horses described in Beowulf are probably descended the Norwegian ponies of modern times, which are 1 I am indebted (through my friend Dr Venn, F.K.S.) to Dr Brunchorst, Director of the Bergen Museum, for the loan of the photographs from which this and the Lofoden pony are taken. 2 1. 856, fealwe mearas ; for colour meant by fealwe, cf. 917 (fealwe straete), 951 (fealone flod). 3 1. 1266, oeppel-fealuwe mearas. 4 1. 856, mearum ridan on blancum. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 121 usually dun-coloured (Fig. 49 J ), those from remote districts, such as the pony from Rodo (Fig. 48), being probably the most typical representatives of those of earlier times, for it is certain that the ordinary Norwegian ponies of to-day have been much improved by superior blood from the south. The white horses of Beowulf were in some respects probably well repre- sented down to our own times by the white ponies of the FIG. 50. The last of the old Lofoden ponies (in its summer coat). Lofoden Isles, which became extinct in 1897. I figure here (Fig. 50) the last of these in its summer coat from a photo- graph taken before it was shot in order to be preserved in the Bergen Museum. Gylfinnung gives the names of the gods' horses, which were eleven in number: Heimdal's horse was Gulltoppr (' Gold- topped/ i.e. golden-maned ?), whilst Odin's famous eight-legged steed (Fig. 100) Sleipnir (the offspring of Loki when he turned 1 From a photograph taken in 1904 by my friend Mr J. A. Venn, Trinity College, Cambridge. 122 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. himself into a mare, and a smith's magic-working stallion) was gratt at bit, " grey in aspect or complexion." As the cult of Odin had made its way up northwards from central Europe, and never formed the popular religion of Norway, the fact that Odin is represented as riding on a grey horse, whilst the older Thor always fares on foot, makes it likely that horses of a certain kind had made their way into the North from central Europe. It is also to be remarked that whilst Sleipnir is grey, Heimdal's horse is evidently a chestnut or yellow-dun. We shall presently see that the grey colour of Sleipnir is a valuable indication of the importation of Libyan blood into Upper Europe. From the horses' names given in the appendix to Sijmon's Edda we can learn something of the colours of the horses of a later date. Ali's horse was named Hrafn (' Raven '), Actie's steed was called Grar (' Grey '), whilst other horses are named Soti ('Sooty'), Goelfaxi ('Golden-haired/ i.e. dun), Silfrentopr' (' Silver- topped/ i.e. silver-maned ?). In addition to the dun, grey, and white horses of the earlier x period, we now find black horses making their appearance. The Icelandic sagas furnish some useful evidence concerning the horses used by the early Norse settlers in Iceland, who were especially addicted to the pastime of horse-fighting (an amusement practised in modern Siam), and who, until their conversion to Christianity by the simple but effective methods of Thangbrand, the militant missionary sent by King Olaf of Norway in 997, regularly ate horse-flesh on certain occasions. In the sasra of Burnt NjaL the scene of which is laid in O J ' the tenth century, there are constant allusions to horses and riding, but no description is given of these animals, unless they are of an exceptional kind. " Starkad had a good horse of chestnut hue, and it was thought that no horse was his match in fight " ; Gunnar of Lithend had a brown 1 , and on the great fight between these two stallions and its sequel the development of the tragedy depends. " Now men ride to the horse-fight, and a very great crowd was gathered together. 1 Burnt Njal, LVII-LVIII. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 123 124 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. Gunnar and his friends were there, and Starkad and his sons, ' and they said to Gunnar that now they would lead the horses together/ Gunnar said that was well. Skarphedinn said, ' Wilt thou that I drive thy horse, kinsman Gunnar V ' I will not have that,' says Gunnar. ' It would not be amiss, though,' says Skarphedinn ; ' we are hot-headed on both sides.' ' Ye would say or do little/ says Gunnar, 'on both sides before a quarrel would spring up ; but with me it will take longer, though it will be all the same in the end/ After that the horses were led together ; Gunnar busked him to drive his horse, but Skarphedinn led him out. Gunnar was in a red kirtle, and had about his loins a broad belt, and a riding-rod in his hand (see Fig. 51). Then the horses ran at one another, and bit each other long (cf. Fig. 51), so that there was no need for anyone to touch them, and that was the greatest sport. Then Thorgeir and Kol made up their minds that they would push their horse forward just as the horses rushed together, and see if Gunnar would fall before him. Now the horses ran at one another again, and both Thorgeir and Kol ran alongside their horse's flank. Gunnar pushed his horse against them, and what happened in a trice was this, that Thorgeir and his brother fall down flat on their backs, and their horse atop of them/' After this the horse-fight, as Gunnar had foreseen, turned into a man- fight. In the course of the struggle Thorgeir knocked out one of the eyes of Gunnar's brown horse, in consequence of which Gunnar has him killed. I here reproduce (after Brunn 1 ) a picture of a medieval horse-fight still preserved in the library at Reykjavik. Again, " Otkell had two horses, dun-coloured, with a black stripe down the back. They were the best steeds to ride in all the country round' 2 ." From this it is clear that though the Norwegian dun-coloured pony with a black dorsal stripe was already known it was regarded as a very exceptional animal both in colour and quality. It is therefore clear that the light dun pony with a dark line down the centre of the back, which has long been a 1 Op. cit., p. 49, fig. 33. 2 Burnt Njal, LIT. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 125 typical Icelandic breed (p. 24), was not the usual type of animal in use in Iceland and Scandinavia in the tenth century. The fact that dun-coloured ponies with black dorsal stripes were regarded as exceptional by the Norsemen of that period will be of considerable importance in a later stage of this inquiry. We have already seen that the Sarmatians, who by the time of Christ were dwelling on the east of the Teutonic peoples, were well furnished with horses. But the evidence of other writers makes it clear that for many centuries before that epoch the Sarmatians and Scythians principally subsisted on the flesh and milk of these animals, which they likewise employed in war and the chase. Strabo 1 has left us some valuable evidence respecting the horses and horsebreeding of these two peoples : " All the Scythian and Sarmatian tribes have the peculiar custom of gelding their horses to make them docile. For their horses, though small, are very spirited and difficult to manage. . They hunt stags and wild boars in the marshes, and wild asses (onagri) and roes on the plains." The method employed by the Scythians and Sarmatians for rendering their horses more manageable is that followed regularly in modern times by the Kalmuck Tartars, with their domestic horses 2 , and by both the Querenda Indians and the Gauchos of the Pampas when they capture the baguals or feral horses for domestication 3 . It is difficult to say to what race of onager or hemionus belonged the wild asses hunted by the Sarmatians and Scythians, a doubt which also arose when we spoke of 'wild mules' in Cap- padocia. We have seen reasons for believing that there were once not merely feral, but genuine wild tarpans in the steppes of the Caspian. This is curiously confirmed by the statement of Herodotus 4 that "around a great lake from which issued the river Hypanis (the modern Bug} there grazed wild white horses"; a fact of considerable importance, whether the animals 1 312. 2 Hamilton Smith, The Horse, p. 273. 3 Felix Azara, The Natural History of the Quadrupeds of Paraguay and the River La Plata, p. 7 (trans, by W. Perceval Hunter). 4 rv. 52. 126 THE HOUSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. referred to were simply tarpans (or Prejvalsky horses) in their winter coats (p. 32), or whether they were really white, a less likely alternative. The Sarmatians, termed Sauromatae by Herodotus, in the time of that writer 1 lived in the region on the east side of the Tanais (the modern Don), which formed the boundary between them and the nomad Scythians. Their territory stretched northward from the upper end of the Palus Maeotis (Sea of Azov), a distance of fifteen days' journey, and was "entirely bare of trees, whether wild or cultivated 2 ." The Sauromatae differed essentially in their habits from the Scythians. Thus, whilst the Scythian women lived in their ox-waggons, and never rode on horseback or went hunting with their husbands, the Sarmatian women frequently followed the chase on horseback with their consorts, sometimes even unac- companied, and in war-time took the field, dressed exactly like the men 3 . Their marriage law ordained that no girl should wed until she had killed a man in battle. " Sometimes it happens that a woman dies unmarried at an advanced age, having never been able in her whole lifetime to fulfil this condition." In Strabo's 4 time a large number of the tribes of the Caucasus who traded with the emporium of Dioscurias (the modern Iskuriah) were considered Sarmatians, and it is not unlikely that the Ossetes of the Caucasus, who according to Ptolemy and their own tradition apparently once dwelt on the shore of the Black Sea, may be of Sarmatian origin. In the fifth century -B.C. the chief wealth of the nomad Scythians, who dwelt on the north side of the Don, and tilled not the soil, consisted chiefly of large herds of horses, on the milk and flesh of which they principally subsisted, as has been the case with all the Turko-Tartaric tribes of central Asia down to our times. Herodotus 5 remarks that the horses bore well the winter, cold as it was, but mules and asses were quite unable to bear it, " whereas in other countries mules and asses are found to endure the cold, while horses if they stand still are frost- 1 iv. 21. 2 iv. 116. 3 Herod, iv. 117. 497, 499. 5 iv. 28. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 127 bitten." He also thought that the rigorous cold was the reason why the Scythian oxen had not horns. Strabo 1 remarks that asses are not reared in the region of the Borysthenes because of the cold, and he ascribes the diminutive size of the horses to the same cause. As he has already stated that ' wild- asses ' roamed the steppes, he is here referring (like Herodotus) to the domestic ass, which being derived, as we saw (p. 54), from the Abyssinian ass, was naturally not constituted to endure the rigours of a Russian winter. The Scythians do not appear to have used their horses for draught, for it is clear from Herodotus 2 and Hippocrates 3 that the waggons which formed their homes, and from which they derived their name of Hamaxoeci (' Waggon-dwellers '), were regularly drawn by oxen. Similarly the Kalmucks and Nogais of modern times, though possessing great numbers of horses, employ oxen for draught purposes 4 . Herodotus 5 describes how the Scythians blinded their captives to use them in preparing the milk of their mares, and their method of milking the latter. "The milk thus obtained is poured into deep wooden casks, about which the blind slaves are placed, and then the milk is stirred round. That which rises to the top is drawn off, and considered the best part ; the under portion is of less account." This koumiss is still prepared from mares' milk by the Kalmucks and Nogais, who keep the milk in continual movement whilst making it. There can be no doubt that the Scythians, under the name of " the milk-drinking Mare-milkers " (Hippemolgi), were known ' to the Greeks in Homeric days, since in the Iliad 6 they are represented as living in the same part of the world as the Thracians, who bordered on southern Russia in classical and later times, whilst Hesiod 7 , as cited by Eratosthenes, applies the very name of ' Mare-milkers ' as an epithet to the Scythians. The fact that the Scythians and allied tribes and their descendants down to modern times preferred and still 1 307. 2 iv. 69. 3 De Aere, Aqua, et Loci's, 44, p. 353. 4 Pallas, Vol. i. p. 532, PI. 6. 5 iv. 2 ; Clarke's Travels, Vol. i. p. 313 ; cf. Kawlinson, ad loc. e xin. 5. 7 Strabo, 300. 128 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. prefer mares' milk to that of the cow naturally suggests that the Turko-Tartaric peoples 1 had domesticated the horse before they possessed the ox, and that they tamed the former not for locomotion, but rather as a means of subsistence. The treeless steppes of Asia probably at no time produced wild cattle which always haunt wooded regions, and accordingly when at a later date the Scythians and cognate peoples acquired domestic cattle a taste for mares' milk had already been long engrained in the race. They used in ordinary sacrifices ' all kinds of animals as victims, but most commonly horses 2 . When a Scythian king died, his horse, as well as one of his concubines, his cook, his cupbearer, and several other chief members of his household, were buried with him, as we learn from Herodotus 3 , the ac- curacy of whose statement has been amply confirmed by the evidence of the great tumuli opened in Russia during the last half-century. After the lapse of a year further ceremonies took place at the king's grave. Fifty of the best youths from amongst his attendants, all native Scythians, were strangled, with fifty of the best horses. All the bodies were disembowelled and stuffed with chaff. The bodies of the youths were then fixed upright on those of the horses, which previously had been set up on posts in a circle round the grave, each horse being furnished with a bit and bridle 4 . Doubtless this ghastly squadron was intended to keep watch and ward around the last resting-place of their lord. We shall presently find a survival of these horrid practices in full operation among the Tartars in the thirteenth century of our era. Away to the north of the Sauromatae' dwelt a tribe called 1 All these peoples have a common name (at) for the horse, just as all the Indo-European peoples have had a common term which appears, in Sanskrit acvas, Lat. equus, Irish ech, Welsh eb, Gaulish epona, Greek I'TTTTOS etc. 2 Herod, iv. 62. 3 rv. 72. In 1341 a Couman prince named Jonach died at Constantinople, and when he was buried in a tumulus near that city, eight warriors and twenty- six horses were slain (Jirecek, Geschichte Bulgariens, p. 172, cited by Seure, Bui. Corresp. Hellen. xxv. p. 204). As late as 1781 at the funeral of Frederic Casimir, Commander of Lorraine, a horse was killed and buried with his master. 4 Herod, iv. 72. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 129 by Herodotus 1 lyrcae, but Turcae by Pliny and Pomponius Mela (from which some have thought that this is the earliest appearance of the Turks of later times). These people sub- sisted by hunting in the following way. As the country was well wooded the hunter climbed a tree and there waited for his quarry, his horse being trained to lie down and thus conceal itself, and his hound being close at hand. As soon as he espied the game he shot it with an arrow, and then mounting his horse rode the animal down with the aid of his dog. To the east of Scythia, in Strabo's 2 time, lay the Mas- sagetae and the Sacae, both of whom the ancients regarded as of the same race as the nomad Scythians. Some of the Massage tae dwelt in the mountains, others in the marshes of the river Araxes, others on the islands in the marshes, and others again in fertile plains. Their only deity was the Sun, and to it they sacrificed a horse. They were excellent horse- men, and also fought well on foot. They used bows, swords, breastplates, and bronze battle-axes (sagareis), they wore golden belts, and turbans on their heads in battle. Their horses had bits of gold and golden breastplates. They had no silver, and iron only in small quantities, but plenty of gold and copper. They did not cultivate the soil, but subsisted on their flocks and on fish, " after the manner of the nomads and Scythians." The inhabitants of the marshes and islands, like other lake- dwellers, lived on fish, and wore the skins of seals, while the mountaineers lived on wild fruits and the milk of their few sheep. More than four centuries earlier Herodotus 3 , when narrating the great battle in which the Massagetae, under queen Tomyris, had defeated and slain Cyrus, says that the Massagetae dressed and lived just like the Scythians, that their forces consisted of horsemen and footmen, armed with bows and spears, and battle-axes, and that they used gold and copper for all their equipment copper for their spears, arrow-heads, and axes, whilst they decked with gold their head ornaments, their girdles, and their corselets ; that they protected their horses 1 iv. 22. 2 513. 3 i. 215. R. H. 9 130 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. with copper breastplates, their bridles, bits, and trappings being adorned with gold. They did not use either iron or silver, as these metals are not found in their country, whilst copper and gold were to be had in abundance. Plainly, then, in the fifth century B.C. their culture was much the same as it was at the beginning of the Christian era, except that by that date iron was coming into use. The famous Nicopol vase (Fig. 52) and the coins of Olbia probably offer us fairly accurate representations of the Scythian and Sarmatian horses in the fourth century B.C. Both vase 1 and coins are probably the work of Greeks living in the Greek towns of Southern Russia, such as Olbia and Pantacapaeum (Kertch). The vase was found in 1868 in a tumulus at Tchertomlitsk near Nicopol (government of Ekaterinoslav) with many Scythian antiquities. The frieze on the vase shows that it was made for a wealthy Scythian by an artist who had a complete knowledge of the customs of the country. The scene is laid in the steppe ; in one place we see a young mare, and near her four Scythians, two old, two young and beardless ; in another two horses moving quietly, whilst two others have just been lassoed by two grooms, who are bending down in the effort to restrain their captives : on the left is a groom lifting up the left fore-leg of a horse with one hand, and grasping the bit with his other ; on the right is a Scythian putting hobbles on the fore-feet of a horse, which is standing quietly. It has been remarked that this last horse is the only one of those pourtrayed which resembles in type the Kirghis horses of modern times. The large heads and thick shaggy manes of the majority show them to be closely related to the little horses of the Sigynnae of central Europe. It is possible that those represented with hog manes may be another breed, but it is far more likely that the hogged manes are simply due to individual taste in the owner or the artist. In Pliny's 2 time it was believed that a mare was rendered less erotic by hogging her mane. 1 Antlquites de la Eussie meridionale, by Prof. Kondakof, Count J. Tolstoi, and M. S. Keinach (Paris, 1891), pp. 88, 295 8 (from which my figure is copied). 2 H. N. vni. 164 : " equarum libido extinguitur iuba tonsa." Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 131 Although some of the blood of the ancient horses probably a I to q 1 ' still flows in the veins of the horses of the steppes, and in the large agricultural breed, yet as all the horses of superior quality, 92 132 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. whether stud or agricultural, are descended wholly, or in part, from Dutch, Danish, Mecklenburg, English, and Arab sires and mares imported at various times since 1712, it will be best to defer our account of modern Russian breeds until after we have treated of the various stocks of medieval and modern times from which they are derived. Just as the Cossack pony from the steppes, though completely modified now by foreign blood, is yet lineally descended from the small steeds of the Scythians and Sarmatians, so the oldest element in the breeds of the various Turko-Tartaric tribes, who may be taken as the modern representatives of the Massagetae, Sacae, and other cognate tribes, is probably derived from the horses of the last-named peoples. It is very important to notice that the Massagetan horse- men not only wore corselets, but also protected their horses with copper breastplates, since this is one of the earliest notices of the use of horse-armour. At a later period, when the Sar- matians aided the Germans against Rome, they wore hauberks (p. 116), and it may prove that the use of the war-coat (bellica vestis) and eventually the use of horse-armour was ultimately derived from the peoples of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The Turcoman horses primarily belonged to the tribes of Turkestan the region lying north-east of the Caspian, by some termed Southern Tartary but they have spread thence along with their first owners into Armenia, Persia, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor. The modern Turcomans claim the descent of their horses from Arab sires, and are continually improving the breed, as the Turcomans and Kurds are ever anxious to obtain the service of the best Arab stallions for their mares. Yet the description of this improved breed is sufficient to demonstrate that it is certainly not the source of the blood- horse. For, although they have wonderful powers of endurance, their heads are disproportionately large, they have the barrel too small and the legs too long, and are frequently ewe-necked. The best Turcoman horses are found only in Merv and in the Persian province of Khorassan 1 . They usually stand 1 Hayes, Points of the Horse, p. 606 (ed. 3). Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 133 about fifteen to sixteen hands high, and are generally bays or greys, but some of them are black, always with white feet and a white star in the forehead 1 . They are derived from Arab blood, introduced by Tamerlane, who distributed five thousand Arab mares among the Turcomans, whilst Nasir-ed-Din sent them five hundred mares of the same breed 2 . The Turcomans and Katschenstzis of Ear.tern Tartary had a breed called Karabulo, highly valued for its speed and bottom, which was remarkable for a white or grey mane, tail, and feet, while the rest of the body was shining black. There is in Eastern Asia a prevalent opinion that black horses come from the West 3 . It is most important to observe that we have here an undoubted case of black horses with white feet and a white star in the forehead as a result of crossing the indigenous horses of Upper Asia with so-called Arab blood, for we shall have frequent occasion to notice similar phenomena as our investigation proceeds. A century ago the Kalmucks of Khoten in Eastern Turkestan bred great numbers of small but hardy horses, and great droves of them were exported to the south, as far as the plains of India 4 . The good qualities of Turcoman horses were remarked by Marco Polo 5 (A.D. 1274), who, speaking of Turcomania and the Turcomans, says that " excellent horses known as Turquans are reared in their country and also very valuable mules." The evidence here adduced, so far from indicating that any element in the thoroughbred was derived from the indigenous horses of Russia or Southern Tartary, demonstrates that the peoples of Russia, and the various Turko-Tartaric tribes have been constantly endeavouring to improve their native strain by the admixture of so-called Arab blood. When we advance further east the Turcoman is replaced by his kinsman the Mongolian pony, which belongs primarily to the highlands lying between the Himalayas and Siberia, for as Captain Hayes 6 points out, " there is no distinctive difference 1 Hamilton Smith, op. cit. p. 239. 2 Hayes, loc. cit. ; Hamilton Smith, loc. cit. 3 Hamilton Smith, op. cit. p. 273. 4 Hamilton Smith, op. cit. p. 273. 5 Vol. i. p. 45 (Yule's trans.). 6 Points of the Horse, p. 599 (ed. 3). 134 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. between the ponies of Bhootan, Nepal, Spiti, Yarkand, and Mongolia." These ponies have been much less affected by extraneous blood than the Turcoman. " They are strong and sure-footed, but very slow," and stand about 12'1 13*2 hands high, and Captain Hayes 1 gives them as the type of the coarse thickset horse of Asia and Europe, and he maintains 2 that " as the ancestors of all living horses were inhabitants of Siberia after their emigration from North America, and as Siberia is closely connected with Mongolia, it is reasonable to infer that the present Mongolian pony, which has always lived under more or less natural conditions, is nearer the original type of horse than any other domesticated horse." Marco Polo noticed the good qualities of these horses, for when writing of the Tartars, he states that "their horses will subsist entirely on the grass of the plain, so that there is no need to carry store of barley, or straw, or oats ; and they are very docile to their riders. These in case of need will abide on horseback the livelong night, armed in all points, while the horse will be continuously grazing 3 ." In treating of the city of Chandu (now but a heap of ruins, but whose name still survives in that of the river Shangtu), founded by Kublai, he says 4 : " You must know that the Kaan keeps an immense stud of white horses and mares ; in fact, more than 10,000 of them, and all pure white without a speck. The milk of these mares is drunk by himself and his family, and by none else, except by those of one great tribe, that have also the privilege of drinking it. This privilege was granted them by Chinghas Kaan, on account of a certain victory that they helped him to win long ago. The name of the tribe is Horiad. Now when these mares are passing across the country, and anyone falls in with them, be he the greatest lord in the land, he must not presume to pass until the mares have gone by. He must either tarry where he is, or go a half-day's 1 Points of the Horse, p. 269 (ed. 2). 2 Op. cit. pp. 600, 601 (ed. 3). 3 Vol. i. p. 252 (Yule's translation). 4 Marco Polo, Yule's translation, Vol. i. p. 291. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 135 journey round if need so be, so as not to come nigh them; for they are to be treated with the greatest respect. Well, when the lord sets out from the park on the 28th of August, as I told you, the milk of all those mares is taken and sprinkled on the ground. And this is done on the injunction of the FIG. 53. A Buriat Horseman 1 . Idolaters and Idol-priests, who say that it is an excellent thing to sprinkle that milk on the ground every 28th of August, so 1 This and the two following illustrations are from photographs kindly lent me by my friend Mr C. H. Hawes, M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge, well known for his In the Uttermost East (in which two of the same scenes are shown, pp. 441-9). 136 THE HOUSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. that the Earth and the Air and the False Gods shall have their share of it, and the Spirits likewise that inhabit the Air and the Earth. And thus those beings will protect and bless the Kaan and his children, and his wives and his folk and his gear, and his cattle and his horses, and his corn and all that is his. After this is done the Emperor is off and away." Speaking of the festival held by the Great Khan and all his subjects on New Year's Day (which fell in February), Polo 1 says that " it is the custom that on this occasion the Kaan and all his subjects should be clothed entirely in white, so that day everybody is in white, men and women, great and small. And this is done in order that they may thrive all through the year, for they deem that white clothing is lucky. Also all the peoples from all the provinces and governments and kingdoms and countries that own allegiance to the Kaan, bring him great presents of gold and silver and pearls and gems, rich textures of divers kinds. On that day, I can assure you, that among the customary presents, there shall be offered to the Kaan from various quarters more than 100,000 white horses, beautiful animals and richly caparisoned." Polo 2 also tells us that the Tartars, who were carrying the, body of a Khan to the Altai, where all the Khans were buried, put to death not only every human being they met, but also every horse, in order that they might serve the Khan in the life beyond the grave. " When the emperor dies they kill all his best horses in order that he may have the use of them in the other world." This story at once recalls the Scythian customs at the funerals of their kings (p. 128). At the present day cattle and stock-breeding is practically the sole legitimate occupation of all Mongols, and the animal of first importance is still the pony. " He is the commonest of all possessions, the e very-day means of locomotion, and the staple topic of conversation. The Mongol who walks is indeed poor, for he must be friendless as well as moneyless. A man who does not own a pony is rarely refused the use of one from a neighbour's drove. From early childhood the Mongol acquires 1 Vol. i. p. 337 (Yule's translation). 2 Vol. i. p. 241. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 137 the habit of scrambling on the back of the nearest pony to cover any distance over a few yards. The out-door life of both sexes and of all ages is spent on horseback (Figs. 53, 55). A good specimen of the Mongol pony is perhaps the best of his size in the 138 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. world for general use. The head and shoulders will be too heavy for elegance, the eyes none too full, the muzzle and crest coarse, and the manners too often objectionable, but the quarters, loins, and legs are good, the barrel deep and long, and there is no deficiency of bone 1 ." Reared on the open steppes, with little or no human care, they are accustomed to great extremes of weather and thrive on the coarsest forage. For mounted infantry purposes in a wild country there is no more useful animal. " The size and character vary with the locality. The commonest colour is grey, chestnut follows, and then come bay and sorrel 2 . Stallions are selected animals, especially in North Mongolia, but the mares are not, and no special pains are taken anywhere to improve a breed. Along the China border the ponies are undersized, 12 to 13 hands, the result of the incessant demands of the China markets for all the larger beasts. As one travels northwards, and the China markets become more remote, the horse-flesh improves (12 to 14 hands), and the best specimens of the Mongol pony are found in the valley of the Kerulon." There are said to be about five millions of ponies in Mongolia. Racing is the national pastime of the Mongols, and from May to August pony races (Fig. 54) are the attraction at the temple festivals (Fig. 55) and fairs, and most of the wealthy owners train some of their best ponies for the local meetings. "A racing-stud of dimensions commensurate with rank and wealth is the proper appanage of a prince or jassak, and his ' string ' usually includes some of the fastest beasts of the district. The stud of the Tsetsen Khan is the most renowned in Mongolia." "This national sport is as little affected by money indelicacies, as any that I know of. I constantly heard of matches between rival owners proud of the reputation of their stock, but seldom of serious betting on the result. There are prizes to winners, rarely of tempting value. In the Chahar country the stakes are usually an ounce or two of silver (say 2s. Qd. or 5s.) 1 Report by Mr C. W. Campbell, H.M. Consul at Wuchow, on a journey in Mongolia (with a map) presented to both Houses of Parliament (January 1904), p. 35. 2 In a Chinese hymn known as The Emperor's horses as many as thirteen colours are referred to, a proof that already the Mongolian pony had been crossed with a stock from the West, known to the Chinese from 2nd cent. B.C. (p. 186). Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 139 for a race of ten miles, but now and then an opulent magnate has occasion to be generous, and offers something exceptional cattle, sheep, or ponies, silk or clothes. The races are never under ten miles." " The Derby of Mongolia is held near Urga under the direct patronage of the Bogdo and is over a course of thirty miles of rough steppe, and the winners are presented to the Bogdo, who maintains them for the rest of their lives in honourable idleness. The jockeys are the smallest boys capable FIG. 55. Buriat Women setting forth to bill shrine on a feast-day. of riding the distance, which the owners can secure 1 . A saddle or seat aid in any form is not allowed ; the jockeys simply roll up their loose cotton trousers as high as they can, and clutch the pony's ribs with bare legs, and all carry long whips. The bridles, single snaffles with raw-hide reins, have each a round disc of burnished silver attached to the headband." As already mentioned, China is the great market for Mongolian ponies. Just outside the Ta-ching Men, " Great Frontier Gate," which affords ingress and egress through the 1 C. W. Campbell, op. cit., pp. 3638. 140 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. Great Wall, is held the market. "Hither flock horse-dealers from as far south as Hunan, and ponies from Urga and the Kerulon. In June and July the horse trade is in full swing." The average price of a pony is twenty taels 1 . As at the present day the Mongolian pony is the chief horse in China, so too was it in medieval, and we may there- fore presume in still earlier, days. Marco Polo, speaking of the province of Carajan (the modern Yunnan), which then formed part of the dominions of the Great Khan, says that the country is one in which excellent horses are bred, and the people live by cattle and agriculture 2 . In another part of Carajan were " bred large and excellent horses, which are taken to India for sale, and you must know that the people dock two or three joints of the tail from their horses to prevent them flipping their riders, a thing which they consider very unseemly. They ride long like Frenchmen, and wear armour of boiled leather, and carry spears and shields and arblasts, and all their quarls are poisoned 3 /' To this day the tribes of Honhi, in the extreme south of Yunnan, have plenty of horses, buffaloes, oxen, and sheep 4 . At what exact period the Chinese began to employ the horse is not certain. Horses are only twice mentioned in the Book of History (Shu Chiny), but frequently in the Odes (Shih Ching). King Mu 5 , who visited the West about B.C. 975, travelled in a chariot drawn by eight horses. It would thus appear that in China, as elsewhere, the horse was first driven 6 . It is now clear that the thoroughbred horse has not come from any of the stocks which have ranged through Upper Asia and Upper Europe in historical times, and it will be just as easy to prove that it is not derived from any of the horses of Southern China, Further India, or the Malay Archipelago. 1 C. W. Campbell, op. cit., p. 8. 2 Vol. n. p. 52. 3 Vol. n. p. 63. 4 Vol. n. p. 101, Yule's note. 5 For this information I am indebted to the kindness of my friend Prof. H. A. Giles. The Chinese profess to tell a horse's age by the teeth up to thirty-two years. 6 At the funeral of Li Hung Chang a chariot and horses made of paper were burned. This probably is a survival from a time when a great man's chariot and horses would have been buried with him, just as his horses were buried with a Tartar khan and a Scythian king. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 141 The so-called China pony is commonly bred in and sent from Mongolia (including Manchuria) to China vid Tientsin 1 , and Darwin 2 has pointed out that to the "eastward of the Bay of Bengal over an enormous and humid area, in Ava, Pegu, Siam, the Malay Archipelago, the Loo Choo Islands, v and a large part of China, no full -sized horse is found." Passing down into Further India, we meet the Burmese or rather Shan ponies, for these useful animals are almost exclusively bred by the Shan tribes of the hills, since in the wide region extending from Rangoon to Mandalay there are no good native ponies. The Shan pony (sometimes also known as the Pegu pony) is about the same height as the Mongolian, from which he is certainly derived, though modified by other blood. He is a great weight carrier, and jumps well, but is slow. Closely akin to the Shan pony are those of Manipur, but they " are smaller and smarter for their size." " These two kinds of ponies," says Captain Hayes, " appear to belong to a distinct breed, which seems to have no relationship with ponies of any other country except, possibly, those of Sumatra and Java." The reason for the probable connection between the last two and the first two breeds will shortly be made clear. The Sumatra ponies (also called Battak or Deli ponies) are bred in the Battak range of hills in Sumatra, and are commonly exported to Singapore from the port of Deli. " They have handsome heads, set on to high -crested necks, are full of spirit, and are simply balls of muscle 3 ." *The Battak ponies have almost entirely lost their original type from frequent crossing with imported Arabs. The majority of them are brown, but many are skewbald, and their average height is about 11*3 hands, the best measuring from 12*1 to 12*2. One of the latter height, probably the fastest racing pony in Sumatra, was of a chestnut roan. The Gayoe ponies come from the hills which stretch from the Battak mountains to the north end of Sumatra, and " are 1 Hayes, op. cit., p. 599 (ed. 3). 2 Variation of Animals and Plants, 1868, Vol. i. p. 53. 3 Hayes, op. cit., pp. 632-3. 142 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. much more sturdy in build than Battak ponies. They have heavy crests and good shoulders, similar to the latter breed, but their legs are shorter and thicker, and they are stronger behind. They are not nearly so fast nor so fiery as the Battaks." Captain Hayes 1 believes " that they have not been crossed nearly so much with foreign blood as the Battaks." How it comes that the Battaks have better blood than their neigh- bours is readily explained by the fact that some sixty years ago the sultans and princes of Achen kept high-caste Arabs and supplied the Battaks with Arab blood to improve their ponies, "the result being a blend which combines in almost perfect harmony the fire and the beauty of the Son of the Desert, with the hardiness and endurance of the Battak pony." The original colour of the unimproved Battak ponies is said to have been mouse-grey, with a black stripe down the back ; skewbalds and piebalds are in the majority, although all other colours are met with except creams and greys. " Pure white ponies with red eyes (albinos) and without any marks, remain the property of the chief of the district, and cannot be obtained by purchase." But it would be rash to assume that " the original Battak pony," the type which existed before the in- troduction of Arab blood sixty years ago, was free from all admixture of the latter, since it is more than probable that many centuries earlier Arab horses were imported into Sumatra and Java. And we shall find it also highly probable that the Shan and Manipur ponies owe their peculiar qualities and their resemblance to the Sumatran and Javanese ponies from their having a similar admixture of Arab blood, but in varying degree, as is the case with the Battak and Gayoe breeds. The striped ponies of Java have been cited by Darwin as examples of primitive horses which still retain ancestral stripings. Mr Lydekker holds that because E. sivalensis of the Indian Pliocene is usually characterised by large first pre- molar teeth in the upper jaw, and as large functional premolars are found in some Javanese and Sulu ponies (as also in some zebras), lineal but somewhat modified descendants of E. sivalensis 1 Hayes, op. cit., pp. 633-6 (who also embodies notes from Mr Fitzwilliams and Mr Carl Maschmeyer). Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 143 still survive ; again, it has been long known that Hipparion had a deep fossa in front of the orbital bone, which is supposed to have lodged a gland. Prof. Huxley in 1870 indicated the existence of a rudimentary pre-orbital pit in the skull of Equus sivalensis, an Indian fossil species, and Dr Forsyth Major in 1880 pointed out the existence of a similar feature in Equus stenonis, the closely related species lf ound in the Pliocene beds of the Val d'Arno and its somewhat later ally Equus quaggoides, and he also showed its existence in the Quagga (cf. p. 76); Mr Lydekker has recently directed attention to the occurrence of what he considers "a vestige of the Hipparion's face-pit in the skull of an Indian domesticated horse in the collection of the British Museum," and to the occurrence of a similar depression in the skull of the well-known racer Bend Or, in which it is still shallower than in the Indian domesticated horse. "From the occurrence of the feature in question in these skulls, both of which probably belonged to horses of Eastern origin, and its entire absence in all the skulls of the prehistoric European horse," Mr Lydekker 1 has suggested " that the blood-horse," unlike the " cold-blooded horse " of Western Europe, may possibly have been the descendant of Equus sivalensis. Mr Lydekker endeavours to meet the obvious objection that a similar rudimentary pit existed in the European E. stenonis by urging that "it had apparently disappeared in the Pleistocene horse of Western Europe " (cf. p. 470). Mr Lydekker 2 has noted a like depression in the skull of a young ass in the British Museum, whilst Mr Pocock has pointed out a similar feature in the skull of a male Grant's zebra in the same collection (p. 76) ; Mr Lydekker thus holds that the thoroughbred horse as well as the ponies of Java and Sulu are lineal descendants of E. sivalensis and Hipparion. It may be pointed out that the large functional premolars, on which he bases the relationship of the Javanese and Sulu ponies to E. sivalensis, are likewise found in some zebras, and that of the four species or sub-species of Equidae in which the pre-orbital depression occurs three are undoubtedly of African 1 Proc. Zool. Soc., 1904, pp. 426-7. 2 loc. cit., p. 431. 144 THE HOUSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. origin, and that there is as yet no proof that either the "Indian domesticated horse " or Bend Or was of oriental lineage. In view therefore of the theories just stated, it is most important to ascertain as accurately as possible the history of the horses of the Indian Archipelago, of the Malay Peninsula, and of Hindustan. When John Crawfurd 1 wrote his admirable work on the Indian Archipelago in the beginning of the last century, in many of these islands the horse was still unknown. ' Cavalry,' he writes, "may be looked upon as a matter of pomp and luxury rather than as a useful arm of war. The great and their retainers are mounted upon horses, and in Java and Celebes they are numerous. The latter island in particular contains extensive plains, so unfrequent in the rest, where horse might be employed for the purposes of war with advantage. The horses of that island too are superior in size and strength to those of any other of the Archipelago, and the habit of following the chase on horseback makes the people bolder and more expert riders than are the rest of the tribes. The Javanese are very bad riders, and in many countries of the Archipelago the horse is unknown altogether." As the horse has been used for war by all peoples who have tamed him or long possessed him, this statement is sufficient to raise serious doubts respect- ing the antiquity of the horse even in Sumatra and Java, and we naturally seek for information from earlier sources. The spices for which the western islands of the Archipelago were the emporium had from an early period attracted thither the adventurous merchants of Arabia, who gradually began to establish themselves on the coasts and to propagate the faith of Islam. When the celebrated traveller Ibn Batuta 2 of Tangiers visited Sumatra and Java in 1345 he found that, although the town of Sumatra was held by an Arab prince, the chief spice-growing parts of that island were still in the hands of the infidels. When he and the merchants that were 1 History of the Indian Archipelago by John Crawfurd, late British Kesident at the court of the Sultan of Java (Edinburgh, 1820), Vol. i. pp. 229, 230. 2 Voyages cVIbn Batoutah (translated from the Arabic into French by C. Defremery and Br. Sanguinetti : Paris, 1853), Vol. iv. pp. 230, 231. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 145 with him reached the roadstead of Sumatra, Bohruz, the vice- admiral, came on board and having questioned the merchants permitted them to land. The town of Sumatra was four miles from the port, and Bohruz wrote to the Sultan to tell of the arrival of Batuta and his fellows. " The latter ordered the Emir Daoulecah, accompanied by the noble Kadhi, Emir Sayyid of Shiraz, and Tadj Eddin of Ispahan and other lawyers to come meet me. They brought one of the Sultan's horses as well as others. I mounted on horseback and my companions did the same." Sumatra was a fine town recently fortified by a wooden stockade and wooden towers. The Sultan Almalic Azzhahir professed that form of orthodox Muhammadanism known as Shafi'y, and he surrounded himself with men learned in the Koran, and his subjects held the same tenets. As this is that one of the four orthodox forms of Islam which is now universal with minute exceptions in the Indian Archipelago and as it is also the prevalent doctrine of Arabia, particularly of the maritime portion of that country, it is clear that the traders who first introduced Islam into the Archipelago came direct from Arabia, and that too at a time when, as we shall soon see, great numbers of horses were being annually brought direct from Arabia and the Persian Gulf to southern as well as western India. From Sumatra our traveller passed to Java (termed by him Moule Djaouah), the entire population of which were infidels. He came to the court of a great sultan, whom he found sitting on the ground before his palace reviewing his troops, who were all on foot. " Nobody iii the country has a horse, not even the Sultan 1 . The people ride elephants and fight from these animals." This Sultan and all his people were infidels, that is, they practised Hinduism. These very important passages render it certain that at this period there were no horses in Java, and hence the Javanese striped ponies cannot be regarded as a primitive stock ; but as horses were found with Arabs in Sumatra, where that people 1 Voyages d'Ibn Batoutah, Vol. iv. p. 245. My friend Prof. Bevan has kindly pointed out to me that two texts give the reading "not even the Sultan," though others read "except the Sultan." But as the Sultan when reviewing his troops was not on horseback, but seated on the ground, it is most improbable that he had a horse. Transcribers and editors would naturally be inclined to assign a horse to the Sultan, even if no one else in the island had one. R. H. 10 146 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. had recently fortified a stronghold, it is reasonable to infer that the Arabs had already by 1345 brought horses from Arabia into Sumatra, and also that they were probably the first to introduce any horse into the Indian Islands. We can now readily understand why the Javanese are such poor horsemen, why the little Javanese ponies so closely resemble Arabs, and why none of the Indian Islanders, not even in Celebes, ever employed cavalry in war. Furthermore it is now clear that Arab horses had reached Sumatra some five centuries before their re-introduction some sixty years ago by the Sultan of Achen. Finally it is plain that the correspondence between the first premolars in the upper jaw of E. sivalensis, of the Javanese and Sulu ponies, and of the GreVy and Baringo zebras (p. 11), must find a different explanation from that hitherto offered. It is probable that riot only was the horse not indigenous in the Indian Archipelago, but that it was not introduced into those islands by the Malays, since they do not appear to have possessed the horse even on the mainland. It is very significant that there is no native Malay word for horse, kuda the ordinary term now in use being simply a Malay form of the Tamil loan- word ghura 1 . This fact taken in connection with the complete absence of horses in all southern Burmah, whether indigenous or imported, renders it unlikely that any indigenous domesticated horse ever existed in the Malay Peninsula and the contiguous regions. Coming to India itself, we are told by one of the greatest living authorities 2 on the horse, that the native Indian horses are small, and to get speed they must constantly be crossed with Arab or English blood. The evidence of Mr Nelson for South India is especially striking, for speaking of the Madura country he says that "the horse is a miserable, weedy, and 1 I am indebted to my friend Mr W. W. Skeat, M.A., Christ's College, Cambridge, one of the best living authorities on everything Malay, for this information. 2 Hayes, op. cit., pp. 628-9. As these pages are passing through the press, I learn with sincere regret the death of Capt. Hayes, who was always ready most generously to impart his unrivalled first-hand knowledge of horses of all kinds and from all parts of the world. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 147 vicious pony, having but one good quality, endurance. The breed is not indigenous, but the result of constant importations, and a very limited amount of breeding 1 ." After hearing such testimony as this we need have no hesitation in accepting implicitly the statements of Marco Polo 2 respecting horses in the same region. Speaking of South India he writes : " Here are no horses bred ; and thus a great part of the wealth of the country is wasted in purchasing horses; I will tell you how. You must know that the merchants of Kis (Kishm), and Hormes (Ormuz), Dofar, Soer, and Aden collect great numbers of destriers and other horses, and these they bring to the territory of this king and of his four brothers, who are kings likewise, as I told you. For a horse will fetch among them 500 saggi of gold, worth more than 100 marks of silver, and vast numbers are sold there every year. Indeed this king wants to buy more than 2,000 horses every year, and so do his four brothers, who are kings likewise. The reason why they want to buy so many horses every year is that by the end of the year there shall not be a 100 of them remaining, for they all die off. They bring these horses by sea, aboard ships." Polo adds a very important statement : " another strange thing is that there is no possibility of breeding horses in this country, as hath often been proved by trial. For even when a great blood mare here has been covered by a great blood horse, the produce is nothing but a wretched wry-legged weed animal, not fit to ride." A medieval Persian writer, in reference to the birth of an elephant at Teheran, declared " that never till then had a she elephant borne young in Iran, any more than a lioness in Rum, a tabby cat in China, or a mare in India 3 ." In several other passages Polo gives full details of the trade between Arabia and southern India, which was carried on in ships built without any iron, being fastened together only by trenails and twine, made from the husk of the Indian nut 4 , 1 The Madura Country, Pt. n. p. 94. 2 Vol. n. pp. 325-6 (Yule). 3 Jour. Asiatic Soc., Ser. 3, Vol. in. p. 127 (cited in Yule's note to passage of Marco Polo just given). 4 Vol. i. p. 111. 102 148 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. exactly like the ships of the same seas described by Procopius seven centuries earlier 1 . The city of Gail, on the coast of South India, was frequented by ships from the west bringing horses and other wares 2 . Aden seems to have been the chief port in Arabia for the export of horses: "There are despatched from the port of Aden to India a very large number of Arab chargers, and palfreys, and stout nags adapted for all work, which are a source of great profit to those who export them. For horses fetch very high prices in India, there being none bred there, as I told you before ; in so much that a charger will sell there for 100 marks of silver and more. On these the soldan of Aden receives heavy payments in port charges, so that it is said he is one of the richest princes in the world 3 ." Another very important port was Esher, which was subject to the soldan of Aden. " The people are Saracens. The place has a very good haven, wherefore many ships from India come thither with various cargoes ; and they export many good chargers thence to India. All their cattle, including horses, oxen, and camels live upon small fish and nought else beside, for 'tis all they get to eat 4 ." Again, when speaking of Caltu (Kalhat, in Arabia) he says that " they export many good Arab horses from this to India, for as I have told you before, the number of horses exported from this and the other cities yearly to India is something astonish- ing 5 ." He adds here again the statement that horses were not bred in India, and also that the natives did not know how to treat them. If the reader's scepticism is roused by the statement that the horses of Esher were fed on fish, it will be at once allayed when he remembers that at the present day in Kamtschatka the horses and cows in winter subsist entirely on dried salmon 6 and that in Iceland the ponies are similarly fed on stock-fish. 1 Kidgeway, Early Age of Greece, Vol. i. p. 615. 2 Marco Polo, Vol. n. p. 357. 3 Vol. n. p. 434 (Yule). 4 Vol. n. p. 439. 5 Vol. n. p. 448. 6 Guillemard, The Cruise of the Marchesa, p. 68 (ed. 2). Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 149 Polo shows clearly that the chief, if not the whole, supply of horses to southern India was derived from the Persian Gulf and Arabia Proper, a fact to be borne in mind when we come to deal with the Arab horses of the present day. But it was not only southern India which imported horses, for western India, then as now, drew large supplies of these animals from the west. Speaking of Tana, which is the modern town of Thana, on the landward side of the island of Sal sett e, about twenty miles from Bombay, he says that it was "a great kingdom lying towards the west, and that the king protected corsairs, which plundered ships, and that he received as his share all horses captured on board 1 ." As in the present day Bombay draws its supply of horses principally from the Persian Gulf, so was it in earlier times, for Polo 2 states that " in this country of Persia there is a great supply of fine horses ; and people take them to India for trade, for they are horses of great price, a single one being worth as much of their money as is equal to 200 livres Tournois; some will be more, some less, according to the quality. Here are also the finest asses in the world, one of them being worth full thirty marks of silver, for they are very large and fast, and acquire a capital amble. Dealers carry their horses to Kisi and Curmosa, two cities on the shores of the sea of India, and there they meet with merchants who take the horses on to India for sale." Colonel Yule remarks that the horses here mentioned were probably the same class of * Gulf Arabs ' that are now carried thither, but he points out that the Turcoman horses bred in Persia are also very valuable, especially for endurance, as we have already seen. Two hundred livres Tournois was equiva- lent to about 193 sterling. But southern Persia had not been a home of horses from a very ancient period, for we have seen (p. 49) that in Carmania down to the time of Strabo, asses, on account of the scarcity of horses, were generally made use of in war, and that the Carmanians sacrificed asses to their war-god. Doubtless the magnificent Persian asses to which Polo refers were the 1 Vol. ii. p. 385. 2 Vol. i. p. 84, with Yule's note. 150 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. descendants of those on which the Carmanians once went to battle. It is noteworthy that Marco Polo says nothing of the prices paid either for ' Turquans ' or Tartar horses, or for those of Yunnan imported into India, though he repeatedly mentions the high prices paid for the horses from Arabia and the Persian Gulf. From this it may be justly inferred that the horses of Upper Asia, though very useful animals, were far inferior to the high-priced steeds from Aden and other western ports. The evidence already given puts it beyond doubt that southern Hindustan has never possessed an indigenous breed of horses of any merit, the climate apparently being ill-adapted for the Equidae. The incessant mortality of imported Arab horses, and the speedy degeneration of the few native-bred horses, render it highly improbable that there is in them any primeval strain derived from E. sivalensis. If there really exists such a stock, it is strange that it does not thrive and multiply in India as do the zebras in tropical Africa. After the evidence respecting the native country-bred horses of southern and central India, it is difficult to believe that the Arab race, from which the horse Bend Or was sprung, has been derived from that part at least of the Indian peninsula. It is also clear that in the thirteenth century vast numbers of the best Arabs were shipped direct to southern India, and also to Bombay and the surrounding regions. These facts will be of considerable importance when we come to deal with certain characteristics not only of the horses of Kattywar and Tibet, but also of the ponies of Java and Sumatra, with which the Arabs traded at an early date, for it has been shown that those adventurous merchants reached not only south India and Ceylon, but exercised much influence in the great islands of the Indian Archipelago. But though southern and western Hindustan were not well adapted for the rearing of horses, and had always to depend largely on importation, it is otherwise with the north- western and northern regions. The Aryans of the Rig- Veda were keepers and breeders of horses, which, like their brethren Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 151 whom they left behind in their old home in Upper Europe, they did not ride, but yoked in pairs to chariots. Only once do we hear of the riding of horses in the Rig- Veda 1 , and then it is described in such a way as to indicate that it was ex- ceptional. Probably the horse and chariot were only used for war, as they certainly also possessed the ox-cart, for the red streaks which herald the dawn are described as the cows that draw her waggon. Again, like their brethren in Europe, the Vedic Aryans habitually sacrificed horses to their gods 2 . The Vedic hymns furnish us with data respecting not only the colour of the horses, but even perhaps their anatomy. The horse normally has eighteen ribs, though occasionally, according to Youatt, nineteen are found, the additional one being always the posterior rib 3 . It is a remarkable fact that the horse is said in the Rig- Veda to have only seventeen ribs 4 , and so great an authority as M. Pietrement 5 argues that this statement is trustworthy, since in early days the Hindus carefully counted the bones of animals. Yet we must not overlook the circum- stance that the ancient Hindu commentators on the Veda knew that a horse has thirty-six ribs 6 . We have already seen that in the leg of the horses of Solutre (p. 84) the metacarpal and metatarsal vestigial bones were not united to the main bone, as is the case with modern horses, whilst an additional bone in the hock, and certain abnormal appearances between the tibia and astragalus, are quite common in Irish horses, and not due to disease 7 . Again, 1 v. 61-2. 2 R. V. i. 162, is a hymn for such a sacrifice. 3 Darwin, Variation of Animals and Plants (2nd ed. 1875), i. p. 75. 4 E. V. i. 162, 18 : catustrinsad vajino devabandhor vankrir asvasya svaditih sam eti. 5 Memoires sur les Chevaux, a trente-quatre cotes, 1871 ; Les Chevaux dans les temps prehistoriques et historiques (1883), pp. 223 sqq. 6 Ludwig (Rig -Veda, Bd. in. p. 186) thinks that the passage is astro- nomical (the 34 ribs = sun, moon and 5 planets + 27 nakshatras, and he com- pares the Aitareya Brahmana, n. 6, 15 a formula recited at the slaughter of other animals. Here we read of 26 ribs, which according to Ludwig means 26 half-months 12 months + 1 intercalary month. 7 Darwin, Variation of Animals and Plants, i. p. 52. Prof. Ewart writes to me: "in modern horses living in natural conditions, such as moor and moun- tain ponies, the second and fourth metacarpals and metatarsals are not as far as my experience goes united to the middle metacarpal and metatarsal." 352 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. Darwin 1 has shown that instances of horses having hornlike projections are not uncommon. Azara 2 has described two cases in South America in which the projections were between three and four inches in length, whilst other examples have occurred in Spain and England. It is quite possible that the statement of Megasthenes 3 that in Asia there were horses with horns may have been based on like abnormalities. The Vedic horses are called red (arushas), dun (haritas), and ruddy (rohitas), and as all these epithets seem to be applied to the same horses 4 the animals so described had probably ruddy heads and backs, shading off into dun on the lower parts of the body, as is the case with Prejvalsky's horse. From the muster-roll of Xerxes' army (B.C. 480) we learn that though the tribes of north-west and western India still employed chariots, they had now also horsemen in considerable numbers, "some of the Indians rode on horseback, some in chariots drawn either by horses or wild asses 5 ." The chariots drawn by asses probably came from western India, whilst those drawn by horses and the cavalry came from the north-west. This gets support from the fact that the same list tells us that the Bactrians, who occupied the modern Afghanistan, furnished horsemen, but not chariots 6 . By the time of Alexander the people of the Panjab mainly relied upon their cavalry, although still keeping a limited number of chariots, for the army with which Porus, the Indian king, attempted to stay the conqueror's advance was composed of 4,000 cavalry, about 300 chariots, 200 elephants, and a very large force of infantry 7 . About 300 horsemen were slain, and all the chariots were broken in pieces 8 . According to Aelian 9 " the Indians regard the horse and the elephant as being most valuable in war, and therefore honour them especially. The king takes particular care to 1 Op. cit., i. pp. 52-3. 2 Nat. Hist, of the Quadrupeds of Paraguay (trans, by W. Perceval Hunter), pp. 30-1. There is at present a horned thoroughbred near York, and Mr A. Day has a similar animal (Sporting Times, 4 Mar. 1905). 3 Cited by Strabo, 710. 4 E. V. 1. 14, 12. "> Herod, vn. 84. 6 Ibid. 7 Arrian, Anab. v. 15, 4. 8 Id. v. 18, 2. 9 An. xm. 25. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 153 see that the keepers of his elephants and his grooms provide good provender for these animals. If they do not, he punishes them very severely." The same writer 1 says that the Indian horses were very difficult to ride save for those trained to do so from boyhood, and because their mouths were hard it was customary to control and guide them not with a bit but with perforated muzzles. * As will presently be made clear, the untractable temper of the Indian horses at this period is sufficient of itself to show that they were Upper Asiatic and neither Arabian in origin nor themselves the source of the Arab race. The evidence just adduced renders it certain that India as a whole has never been able to breed horses in any numbers of good quality 2 , and it is equally certain that in the thirteenth century A.D., and we know not how long previously, two separate breeds of horses kept steadily streaming into Hin- dustan the Mongolian from the Himalayas, and the Arab and its derivatives from Arabia and the Persian Gulf; it has also been shown that the modern ponies of Bhotan, Nepal, and Spiti may be safely considered as in the main Mongolian, whilst we shall soon find that various breeds of trans-Indus horses, which are largely used in India, and which do not stand heat as well as the ' country-breds ' (mainly of Arab strain, as we have just seen), are merely Mongolian ponies modified by Arab blood. These considerations, when taken along with the description of the Vedic horses just cited, put it beyond doubt that the chariots of the Aryan conquerors of the Panjab were drawn by horses of the Mongolian, i.e. Upper Asiatic, stock. From the facts cited it is clear that there has been a continual blending of the Mongolian and Arab blood all across ' Hindustan, especially in the northern area, and accordingly 1 Op. tit. xiii. 9. 2 Prof. Ewart has sent me the following extract from a letter from an Indian chief in the Bombay Presidency dated May 1904: "My daughter has two Shetland pony mares : one of them foaled after her arrival, six years ago. That foal is alive and in good health. Since then both the mares have foaled regularly every year to a stallion that was imported with them, but none of the foals live more than a month." 154 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. some at least of the distinguishing features of various breeds may be ascribed to the mixing of the two stocks, and this may be done with still greater safety when these characteristics are the same as those found in horses which without doubt are the result of crossing the two stocks. We have just seen that in Sumatra the crossing of the old breed of ponies with Arab blood has produced piebalds and skewbalds, and perhaps a black dorsal band. Tibet has long been noted for its richly marked horses (commonly called tangums from the Tangustan mountains of Bhotan), piebald, skewbald, and striped, frequently with white legs and marked with such large clouds of bay that two or three spread over the whole body, head, and neck, the head being generally included in the bay colour, and when it comes down over the shoulder and the thigh that colour deepening into black (Fig. 56) : there is also a proportion of black and white in the mane and tail, and not unfrequently black edging on the ears, whilst the callosities are scarcely perceptible on the hind legs 1 . From the fact that Father Georgi had seen these horses apparently in a wild state on the northern declivities of the Himalayan range, and that d'Hobsonville had also seen such animals (which he describes as below 10 hands in height, and in their winter dress covered with long hair and marked sym- metrically with spots), and from the fact that another account referred to wild spotted horses about Nipchow in Eastern Tartary. about the size of asses but more compact and hand- some, Colonel Hamilton Smith was led " to believe that these tangums, as they are called in India, are a primeval stock from which are derived not only the great proportion of pied horses all over China, and even so far south as the Indian Archipelago," but even the steeds of the Centaurs, from which sprung the Thessalian breed in Greece, and the Borghese piebald breed of Italy. But the wild horses seen by Father Georgi, d'Hobsonville, Moorcrofb, and others, were undoubtedly either feral or merely half-wild ponies turned out on the mountains, whilst we have just seen that the pied ponies of Sumatra and Java are merely a modern outcome from blending 1 Hamilton Smith, The Horse, pp. 289-92. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 155 Arab with native blood, itself already largely of Arabian origin. Furthermore, piebalds and skewbalds are not at all uncommon amongst Indian country-breds, which, as we have seen, are the outcome of crossing the Upper Asiatic horse with the Arab, and on such the trumpeters of the native cavalry regiments are usually mounted. As there is no question of the large FIG. 56. Tangum of Tibet. amount of Arabian blood in such animals, just as in the ponies of Java, we are all the more justified in ascribing the existence of piebalds amongst the tangums of Tibet to a similar blending of the Mongolian and Arabian stocks. It has also to be borne in mind that the Arab stands the heat in India far better than the horses from the north, a circumstance which renders it all the more likely that in country-bred Indian horses it is largely the Arabian element which survives in a far greater degree than the Upper Asiatic. 156 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. According to a recent traveller 1 the best Tibetan ponies are creamy fawn-coloured, i.e. yellow-dun. " Many of the fawn coloured Thibetan ponies are brindled, but none of the many I have seen were marked so fully as an exceptionally fine pony bought in Bhotan from a Thibetan merchant. It had a black stripe down the spine ; the tips of the ears, nose, and tip of the tail were black, and it had broad black stripes over the shoulders, flanks and legs, and dappled spots over the haunches." We may here point out that the black colour often seen in the coats of Tibetan ponies is also found in Turcoman horses, which are the result of crossing Mongolian ponies with Arab blood, and that the fawn-colour with stripes of the typical Tibetan pony recalls the mouse-grey with dorsal stripe, the colour of the old Battak ponies of Sumatra, which, as has been shown (p. 142), were largely Arab in origin, whilst, with reference to the bay colour and the stripes so frequently found in the Tibetan ponies, we shall presently have something to say. The very small size of the hock callosities is of the highest importance in view of the fact that the same callosities are frequently reduced in size in the case of the typical piebald and skewbald ponies of Iceland, the Faroes, and in the other ponies classed by Professor Ewart as 'Celtic' and the further circumstance that many North African horses also lack these hock callosities. On the whole the balance of probability is in favour of the piebald colour of the tangums of Tibet being due to the crossing of the Mongolian and Arab stocks, as seems certainly the case with the piebalds of Sumatra. Amongst the ' country-bred ' horses of India, those of Kathiwar hold a prominent position. They are lightly built, the body being very long compared to its depth, but often with good shoulders, good forearms and gaskins, and with good bone below the knee, and they are capable of great endurance. The Kathiwar horses are usually of a rufous grey or khaki colour, and at one time they were not considered well bred unless they had a dorsal band and stripes across the legs. 1 L. A. Waddell, Among the Himalayas, pp. 248 sq. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 157 Sometimes in addition there were stripes on the neck, fore- head and withers. " There are sometimes stripes on the grey and bay Kattywars when first foaled, but they soon fade away 1 ." According to Major- General Tweedie 2 the "comparatively uncrossed breeds of horses, mostly dun, or slate-coloured, which still exist in several remote provinces of India, especially Kathiawar, are remarkable for their hardy constitutions, power of endurance, and indomitable tempers," and he mentions among other characteristics their tendency to stripes, and to long ears with their points much turned inward. As Darwin adduced the striped Kathiwar horses as typical examples of the primitive dun-coloured striped animal from which all our domestic breeds have come, and as a stuffed dun Kathiwar horse with stripes is exhibited in the National Museum of Zoology to illustrate this doctrine, it is very im- portant to ascertain, whether the Kathiwar horses are an indigenous uncrossed breed, or if not indigenous an uncrossed breed derived from some other region, or whether they are only a mixed breed of modern formation. If it should turn out that they are neither indigenous nor uncrossed, the argument founded on them by Darwin and succeeding writers will lose its validity. We have just seen that of the peoples from the frontiers of western India, who furnished contingents to Xerxes' army in 480 B.C., the Bactrians supplied horsemen, the Indians chariots s drawn either by horses or by ' wild asses.' From this it follows that in some of the countries subject to the Persian king and which bordered on India, horses were scarce and accordingly asses were used instead. As we have already seen (p. 49), the people of Carmania, that is the eastern portion of the modern Persia and the western part of Baluchistan, through want of horses still continued to use asses in warfare down to the time of Christ. Now in view of the fact that the Bactrians (who occupied the modern Afghanistan) supplied cavalry and that the Vedic Indians who lived on the upper Indus had chariots and horses, and that the Indians of that region were amply 1 Darwin, Variation of Animals and Plants, Vol. i. p. 61. 2 The Arabian Horse, p. 266. 158 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. provided with horsemen and chariots drawn by horses at the time of Alexander's invasion, it is clear that the Indians who furnished Xerxes with chariots drawn by wild asses were either the tribes from the western side of the Indus, who dwelt in what is now Baluchistan and eastern Persia, or else from the peoples of the eastern bank of that river, who dwelt in what is now Cutch, Kathiwar and Baroda. But, though Cutch is still the stronghold of the wild ass, yet as we have seen that all the region round Bombay was supplied with horses from the Persian Gulf and Arabia in the thirteenth century A.D. and we know not how long before, it is most improbable that the horse was indigenous in Cutch or Kathiwar. On the other hand there is the clearest historical evidence that by the Christian era great numbers of the yellow-dun horses of upper Asia and Europe had been brought into all the regions lying on the east bank of the lower Indus. We saw that the Scythians had been keepers of horses from a remote period and that these horses were probably of the same stock as the Mongolian pony of modern times, and that the wild horses of the Caspian steppes were probably of a light dun colour. Along the ancient highway which led from the Caspian region up the Oxus valley, the Scythian tribe of Sacae forced their way into Bactria (Afghanistan) in the second century B.C., and ultimately overthrew the Greeks who had ruled that region from the time of Alexander. The Scythians then carried their arms across the Hindu Kush, and subdued all the territory previously under Greek dominion extending down the valley of the Indus to the sea. Though these Scythians had been expelled before the time of the Periplus of the Ery- thraean Sea, and the country was then subject to the Parthian king, the name had survived, and it is accordingly called Scythia in that treatise, as indeed it was long after in the days of Ptolemy (120 A.D.), who more distinctly terms it Indo-Scythia. This comprised the whole region adjoining the lower course of the Indus now known as Scinde, together with Cutch, Kathiwar, and Gujerat 1 . As it is incredible that the Scythians would have 1 Eidgeway, The Early Age of Greece, Vol. i. p. 404. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 159 discarded their horses and invaded Bactria and India on foot, it follows that in the century before the Christian era many horses from the Caspian steppes had made their way into Kathiwar and the contiguous regions. It is not then surprising to find light dun horses in that area. But, as we know from Marco Polo, that vast numbers of horses were imported from the Persian Gulf and Arabia* to Bombay and the surrounding region, and as we have repeatedly seen that Turcomans, Mongols, Malays, and Hindus are ever eager to improve their native breeds by crossing them with Arab blood, there can be no doubt that the Kathiwar horse is a cross between the dun- coloured horse of upper Asia and the Arab, and the better bred they are, the more of the latter blood there is in their veins. As it is absolutely certain that the native horses of Kathi- war have been long saturated with the blood of Arab horses, which have been continually introduced, it is important to notice that in addition to the dun colour which we habitually associate with the Mongolian pony, we here meet both rufous, grey, and bay horses, all of which show a great tendency to dorsal and other stripes, as is the case with ponies of Sumatra also saturated with Arab blood, and likewise with the tangums of Tibet. In view of these facts it would indeed be rash to assume that " the Indian domesticated horse " with a preorbital depression was of an indigenous stock and not rather like all the country-bred Indian horses, of which we have any evi- dence, a. blend of the Mongolian pony and the Arab. But as Bend Or, the racer of Arab lineage, had a similar depression, and all the evidence shows that the Arab has not been derived from Hindustan, we must look for the source of Mr Lydekker's "domesticated Indian horse" and Bend Or in some region farther west, and to this point I shall return (p. 470). According to Captain Hayes 1 the horses of Cabul, Balu- chistan, and other trans-Indus horses, " which are largely used in India, and which, though stouter and shorter on the leg, are neither as smart nor as hardy in hot climates as the * country-bred/ may be considered as intermediate between 1 The Points of the Horse (ed. 3), pp. 630-1. 160 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. the East Indian horse and the Mongolian pony." In other words, as the ' country-bred ' horses of India are almost mainly of Arab blood, the Cabuli, Baluchi, and other horses referred to, are cross-breds between the Mongolian pony and the Arab. The horses of the Waziris of Afghanistan" are said to be not uncommonly decorated with stripes on the legs, but to this point we shall return later on. Let us now briefly survey the chief breeds of western Asia, south of the great mountain chain. The common horses of Persia are, as already remarked, Turcomans mixed more or less with older breeds, which in their turn were, as we shall see, derived from the same stock as the Turcoman. But the Turcoman horses have been, and are being, modified by Arab blood, and the further west we advance the more is this the case, for in the provinces which lie close to Arabia are found pure-bred, or nearly pure-bred, Arabs. The Turk, or Turkish horse, is sprung from the old Turco- man, identical with the Mongolian horse of upper Asia, but the stock has for many centuries been so saturated with Arab blood that it possesses the docility and the beauty of the latter, yet without its vigour and endurance, whilst from the Turco- man blood arises a tendency to Roman-nosed chaffrons and ewe neck, but the head is well set on. The Turkish horse is chiefly found in Anatolia, and only to a limited extent in Turkey in Europe. The most typical indigenous horses in Turkey at the present day are those bred on the plains near Sivas, and which are termed Kurdistan ponies. The mares are crossed with Arab stallions, and produce the ordinary horses used in Turkish towns 1 . The ponies properly come from the province of Kurdistan in western Persia, and are therefore from the same upper Asiatic stock as the Turcoman. They are hardy little animals, usually 14 to 14*2 hands high. They have, commonly, coarse heads, thick necks, short bodies, and good bone, especially below the knees, and are very hardy and enduring. They are usually grey or bay 2 , but according to General Tweedie 3 "sooty 1 Hayes, Points of the Horse (ed. 3), p. 603. 2 Id. p. 608. 3 The Arabian Horse, p. 261. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 161 blacks prevail in the vulgar stock of the pastoral and agri- cultural Kurds round Kar-kuk and Mosul." Advancing westwards from Persia, it is in the region of I'rak, the ancient Babylonia, on the eastern side of the Tigris, that we first meet with Arabs and Arab horses, the capitals of this district being Bagdad and Bussorah ; next in the region between the Tigris and the Euphrates the ancient Mesopo- tamia we meet the great Shammar tribes ; then crossing the Euphrates into the region called Shamiya by the Arabs, the Palmyrene or Syrian desert by Europeans, we reach the powerful Anazah tribes, the great hereditary enemies of the Shammar. Both these tribes have migrated into their present territories from central Arabia, probably owing to lack of food at home. There seems to be no doubt that the Anazah, who are said by Lady Anne Blunt to be to the Shammar as 7 to 3, were the first to migrate from Najd. This great nation, composed of many of the wealthiest and most powerful tribes in the peninsula, at an early time became masters of a great part of central Arabia, acquired the rights of pasture throughout all Najd, and possessed the palm-trees in certain districts and many of the most important wells. At the present moment the breeding of the best horses seems practically confined to the two great rival nations, but by common consent of both Bedouins and Europeans the Anazah have the best horses. We must, before proceeding further, define what is meant by an Arabian horse, and it will then be clear that the true Arab horses form but a small proportion of those bred and used even in Arabia itself, and of those exported as ' Arabs ' to India, Syria, Egypt, and Constantinople. Writers on the history of the horse have long since recognised three kinds of horses in Arabia. Youatt, for example, states that there are "three breeds or varieties of Arabian horses: the Atteschi, or inferior breed, on which the natives set little value, and which are found wild in some parts of the desert ; the Kadischi, literally horses of an unknown race, answering to our half- bred horses a mixed breed ; and the Kochlani, horses whose genealogy, according to the modern exaggerated accounts, has been cultivated during two thousand years. Many written R. H. 11 162 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. and attested pedigrees extend, with true Eastern exaggeration, to the stud of Solomon 1 ." Though, as we shall see, there are many inaccuracies in this statement, it will be found that its main proposition is true. Down to a quarter of a century ago all that was known at first-hand about the history of the Arabian horses was derived from the writings of Niebuhr, Burckhardt, and Palgrave, the former of whom had never visited the great horse-breeding tribes of Arabia, whilst the last-mentioned took but little interest in the horses of the region through which he travelled. Fortunately since 1876 several most competent observers, whose chief interest was centred in the horse, have travelled or lived in various parts of the wide region occupied by the Arab tribes, and have published invaluable accounts of the horse based on their own first-hand knowledge. The late Major Upton 2 , who in 1876, after visiting the Sebaa, Maoli, and other tribes, published, to use the words of Mr W. Scawen Blunt, "an exceedingly good account" of Arabian horses. Next, Mr W. S. and Lady Anne Blunt 3 published in 1879 an account of the Bedouin tribes of northern Arabia and the horses bred by them, and in 1881 a diary of a second journey made into central Arabia 4 . In the same year appeared a posthumous work by Major Upton 5 ; whilst thirteen years later was issued the sumptuous volume of Major-General Tweedie 6 , who, having been for many years the British Consul-General at Bagdad, had exceptional opportunities for collecting information, and for checking and criticising the observations of his predecessors, a task which he performed vigorously whenever occasion offered. The following description of the Arabian horses has been compiled from a careful comparison of the facts collected by the writers named, and as they are practically agreed on all main questions, though differing in their theories of the origin 1 The Horse, pp. 22-3 (ed. 4). 2 Frazer's Magazine, Sept. 1876. 3 The Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates (1879). 4 A Pilgrimage to Nejd (1881). 5 Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia (1881). 6 The Arabian Horse, his Country and People (1894). Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 163 of the Arabian horse and in various unimportant details, we may assume that all facts of vital importance relating to the various breeds and strains, form and colour, as well as the native traditions respecting their history, are now accurately ascertained. With reference to the three classes just enumerated Upton writes 1 : " That there are three such distinct breeds or classes of Arabian horses is an erroneous opinion, but there is some ground for the supposition, which is this : in Syria and some other districts, and in towns near the coast, are to be found three kinds of horses the Arabian, not as a native, but as a horse of luxury ; the Kidish, which class has no pretension to being an improved breed, and is not of Arab blood at all. Kidish means first a gelding, and the term is applied to any common sort of horse used for travelling or baggage, from the fact that many of this kind are geldings, and some of this sort are runners or pacers, and are used by merchants and other classes of townsmen as hacks. And there is another class well described as 'sons of horses' in Syria. They are not genuine horses, i.e., Arabian horses; they may be, and often are, the produce of Arabian horses from common mares, be they Kurdish or Turcoman ; they are the sons of horses, but not the sons of mares, i.e., of Arabian mares. Many of these ' sons of horses ' show much blood, and I have seen less bloodlike horses passing as Arabs in India. Considerable numbers of this class are bought up in Syria by agents from Egypt and elsewhere, who give rather a better price than the Turkish government allows for remounts for the cavalry service ; and on horses of this class the cavalry of the army corps of Syria, which is the best horsed, is generally mounted." Upton thus recognised (I) true Arabian horses, (2) common Turkish and Kurdish horses, which are frequently geldings, and (3) half-breds, the offspring of the two first classes, and his statements are confirmed by the other writers. Mr Blunt 2 amply confirms Upton's statement respecting the Kadish or common Turcoman and Kurdish ponies, for he points out 1 Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia (London, Kegan Paul, 1881), p. 270. 2 The Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, Vol. n. p. 246. 112 164 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. that descendants of horses, " members perhaps of other original stocks, those of the Russian steppes or of Central Asia, are found still existing in the shape of stout ponies all along the northern edge of the desert animals disowned by the Bedouins as not being horses at all, yet serviceable for pack-work, and useful in their way. This Chaldean type, from whatever source it springs, stands in direct contrast to that of the true Arabian. It is large-headed, heavy-necked, straight- shouldered, and high on the legs a lumbering, clumsy beast, fit rather for draught, if it were large enough, than for riding." According to Major-General Tweedie 1 , " for the simple water-wheels and antediluvian wooden ploughs of the culti- vating classes when horse-power is used, and not mules or horned cattle, it is in the form of nondescript ponies, coming, like the loads carried by them, from the four points of the compass, and called in Arabia kudush (pi. of ka-dish)." Major-General Tweedie 2 likewise substantiates Upton's third class the 'sons of horses'- for he says that "the only animals that we have ever heard called by their sire's family name in the desert have been those which the Bedouins describe as not ' horses,' but ' sons of horses ' that is, got by a first-class sire out of an inferior mare." According to Upton "among the tribes of the deserts of Arabia the Arabian is the only horse. He is one by himself. The tribes of the interior desert have the best horses 3 ." "Al- though of Arabia alone the Arabian horse may be said to belong rather to certain families or tribes in the desert of Arabia than to the country or people at large." The best horses are not numerous in Arabia, certainly not in proportion to the size and extent of the country. In the Hijaz (the narrow strip of country along the Red Sea), and in Yaman there are but few horses, and in Mecca itself these animals are very few in number, the merchants contenting themselves with mules and Radishes (horses of the common kind). The few true 'Arabs ' at Mecca are purchased from the neighbouring Bedouin. Similarly at Medineh (in Burckhardt's time) there 1 The Arabian Horse, p. 22. 2 Op. cit. p. 231. 3 Op. cit. p. 270. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 165 were no good horses except those of the sheikh and his followers. The Bedouin, in the Hijaz, are very poor in horses, a few sheikhs only having any, but those near Medineh have more. Upton shows that the statement that wild horses are found in the deserts is completely fallacious 1 . There is but one breed of the true Arabian that termed Kohl, so called from kohl, "antimony, because the skin not only on the face but all over the body has the blue-black tint of the human skin when dyed with that mineral, so largely used by Eastern women to enhance their charms. From kohl come the derivatives kheilan and keheilet, the generic names for the horse and mare of this breed respectively. Mr Blunt 2 gives the same derivation for the name of the breed, only he explains it as arising from "the black marks which certain Arabian horses have round their eyes " ; marks which give them the appearance of being painted with kohl, after the fashion of the Arabian women, an explanation rejected by Major- General Tweedie 3 , who refers the name to the fact that " in this breed, especially in white and grey horses, the skin is characterised by a dark blue tinge which appears through the hairy covering." All existing true-bred 'Arabs/ i.e., horses of the Kohl breed, are descended from one or more of the strains known as Al Khamseh, The Five. But the origin of the ' Five ' it is not so easy to determine. According to a common Arab statement they are the five stocks descended from five out of the seven mares owned by Muhammad, on which the Prophet and his first four successors Abubekr, Omar, Atman, and Ali fled from Mecca to Medineh on the night of the Hejira, and which were specially blessed by their master. This, however, seems to be nothing more than a late invention of townsmen, for Upton 4 states that in the desert he never heard of Muham- mad's mares, nor was his name ever mentioned in any way as connected with the Arabian horse. Another story fashionable amongst the Arab horse-dealers of Bussorah and Bombay is that all pure -bred Arabs are descended from certain mares of King Solomon, who, being 1 Op. it. p. 273. 2 The Bedouin Tribes^ etc., pp. 266-7. 3 The Arabian Horse, p. 233. 4 Op. cit., p. 280. 166 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. a great lover of horses, was one day so absorbed in his stud that he forgot to say his prayers. Stung by remorse for this omission he turned loose his horses all over the country, where- upon six of the best mares were selected by six individuals, and kept for breeding purposes. Major-General Tweedie 1 has shown that this is a mere modern perversion of a passage in one of Muhammad's homilies, in which the Prophet, to admonish his hearers, brought in a fragment narrating how once upon a time the great and pious King Solomon, absorbed in admira- tion of his mares, omitted his evening prayer, and afterwards, when his conscience pricked him, sacrificed his four-footed idols. The other tradition, and that held by all the Bedouin tribes, is that the Five families in Al Khamseh are all descended from one particular mare, called Keheilet Ajuz, " the Mare of the Old Woman 2 ." Tweedie writes 3 that "during a long residence in El I'rak and on many journeys we have made constant inquiry on this subject from the Bedouin. One undeviating answer has been given on two points : first, that every noble strain in the Arabian desert goes back to the Ku-hai-la of the old woman ; and further, that it does so through one or other of the lines which constitute AL KHAM-SA." The birth of the Keheilet Ajuz was on this wise. An Arab flying before his foes made a short halt, whereupon his mare gave birth to a filly foal. Forced to press on he abandoned the foal. When he once more stopped to rest his mare, to his surprise the foal soon made its appearance, having stoutly followed her mother's tracks. He placed the foal in charge of an old woman, who reared her, and hence arose her name. Some have supposed that the names of the five different strains are merely the invention of modern horse-dealers to impose on the credulity of Englishmen in India. " It is difficult to give more than a guess," says Mr Blunt, "as to the antiquity of the names now in use. The five breeds known as the Khamsa are not possessed by the tribes of Northern Africa ; and it is therefore probable, that at the 1 Op. cit., pp. 227-8. 2 Upton, op. cit., p. 280. 3 Op. cit., p. 234. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 167 time of the first Arabian conquest, in the seventh and eighth centuries of our era, they had not yet become distinguished from the general stock. The Emir (Abdul Kadir), however, does not doubt of their extreme antiquity, and I think it is certain that the Keheilans must have been contemporary with Mahomet ; for a breed called Koklani exists in Persia, and we may fairly suppose it to have been brought there by the early Arabian invaders. It has not, however, been kept pure in Persia." I hope presently to make it probable that at least one of the strains goes back to the days before the Prophet. In modern times Carsten Niebuhr 1 (not to be confounded with his son B. G. Niebuhr the illustrious historian) seems to be the first who refers to the various strains of the Keheilan race, denominated by him as Kochlani, and which are contrasted by him with the Radishes, or town horses of the peninsula. " The Kochlani," he says, " are reserved for riding solely. They are said to derive their origin from King Solomon's stud. How- ever this may be they are fit to bear the greatest fatigues The Kochlani are neither large nor handsome, but amazingly swift ; it is not for their figure, but for their velocity and other good qualities that Arabians esteem them. "The Kochlani are chiefly bred by the Bedouins settled between Basra, Merdin, and Syria, in which countries the nobility never choose to ride horses of any other race. The whole race is divided into several families, each of which has its proper name ; that of Dsjulfa seems to be the most numerous. Some of these families have a higher reputation than others, on account of their more ancient and uncontami- nated nobility. Although it is known by experience that the Kochlani are often inferior to the Kadischi, yet the mares at least of the former are always preferred in the hopes of a fine progeny. The Arabians have indeed no tables of genealogy to prove the descent of their Kochlani ; yet they are sure of the legitimacy of the progeny ; for a mare of this 1 "Description de 1'Arabie d'apres les observations et recherches faites dans le pays meme par M. Niebuhr," Copenhagen (1773), Vol. i. pp. 142-4, English transl. Cited by Blunt, The Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, Vol. n. pp. 25, 267-9. 168 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. race is never covered unless in the presence of witnesses, who must be Arabians. This people do not indeed always stickle at perjury; but in a case of such serious importance they are careful to deal conscientiously. There is no instance of false testimony given in respect to the descent of a horse. Every Arabian is persuaded that himself and his whole family would be ruined if he should prevaricate in giving his oath in an affair of such consequence. The Arabians make no scruple of selling their Kochlani stallions like other horses ; but they are unwilling to part with their mares for money. When not in a condition to support them, they dispose of them to others on the terms of having a share in the foals, or of being at liberty to recover them after a certain time 1 ." "These Kochlani are much like the old Arabian nobility, the dignity of whose birth is held in no estimation unless in their own country. These horses are little valued by the Turks. Their country being more fertile, better watered, and less level, swift horses are less necessary to them than to the Arabians. They prefer large horses, who have a stately appear- ance when sumptuously harnessed. It should seem that there are also Kochlani in Hedsjas, and in the country of Dsjof ; but I doubt if they be in estimation in the domains of the Imam, where the horses of men of rank appear to me too handsome to be Kochlani. The English, however, sometimes purchase these horses at the price of 800 or 1000 crowns each. An English merchant was offered at Bengal twice the purchase- money for one of these horses ; but he sent him to England, where he hoped that he would draw four times the original price." . As Mr Blunt 2 well points out, Niebuhr was a Dane, and his ideal of a horse was formed on the heavy Danish and German horses (not Flanders, as Mr Blunt says) of his own time and country, the origin of which we shall trace upon a later page (p. 334, cf. Figs. 93, 98). 1 Niebuhr, loc. cit. Blunt, op. cit., Vol. n. pp. 267-8. Tweedie (op. cit. p. 231) says that "the Arab will sell a leg of his mare, that is a certain share in her produce, to a neighbour." 2 Op. cit. Vol. n. p. 267. .'.:-Vi. - Til] AND HISTORIC TIMES 169 The five strains of the Kohl breed generally recognised by the Bedouins are: (1) the Keheilan itself, (2) Seglawi, (3) Abeyan, (4) Hamdani, (5) Hadban. (1) The Keheilan strain (says Mr Blunt) " is the most numerous, and taken generally the most esteemed. It contains a greater proportion, I think, of bays than any other strain. They are the fastest, thoilgh not perhaps the hardiest horses, and bear a closer resemblance than the rest to English thoroughbreds, to whom indeed they are more nearly related," the Darley Arabian, " perhaps the only thoroughbred Auazah horse in our stud book, being a Kehilan." The Keheilan is not by any means the most beautiful of the strains. Its sub- divisions are very numerous, the favourites being the Keheilan Ajuz, the Keheilan Nowag, the Keheilan Abu Argub, Abu Jenub, and the Ras-el-Fedawi. (2) The Seglawi generally is held in high repute, and has several sub-strains, all of which are highly valued, though the Seglawi Jedran is most esteemed in the desert. " They are, however, comparatively rare, and exist only in a few families of the Anazah, the Shammar no longer possessing any of the breed. The Seglawi Jedran of Ibn Nederi is powerful and fast, but not particularly handsome." (3) The Abeyan " is generally the handsomest breed, but is small and has less resemblance to the English thoroughbred than either of the preceding." The best sub-strain is the Abeyan Sherrak, and a mare of this breed was the most perfect that Mr Blunt saw in Arabia, but her sire was a Keheilan Ajuz. (4) The Hamdani " is not a common breed either among Anazah or Shammar," and only one sub-strain, the Hamdani Simri, is recognised as hadud (worthy) by the Bedouin. Most of the Hamdani seen by Mr Blunt were grey. A very hand- some brown Hamdani horse shown him by the Gomoussa proved to be a Hamdani Simri. The very beautiful white mare, Sherifa, owned by Blunt, was a Hamdani Simri. " She was bred in Nejd, and had belonged to Ibn Saoud. Her head is the most perfect I have seen. She stands 14'2, and is pure white in colour, with the Kohl patches round the eyes and 170 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. nose very strongly and blackly marked. Her ears are long, like a hind's, and her eyes are full and soft. She was admired all over the desert. In shape, head apart, she is more like an English hunter than a race-horse." (5) The Hadban is uncommon now amongst the Anazah, the best having formerly been possessed by the Roala. The best sub-strain is Hadban Enzekhi, and to it belonged a re- markable mare owned by Muhammad Jirro at Deyr. She stood about fourteen hands two and a half inches, and was a bay, with black points, carried her tail very high, and was full of fire. " She looked like a race-horse, though not an English one." There are two other sub-strains not so much esteemed. The blood of any one of the five strains is freely mixed with that of another, care only being taken to secure the best sire. To attain this mares are sometimes sent long distances to the horse of another tribe. From this fact and from inquiries made amongst the Bedouins themselves, Upton 1 concludes, apparently rightly, that Al Khamseh is really one select breed or family, and not five distinct breeds. Besides the Keheilan and its four great derivatives which form Al Khamseh, there are some sixteen other strains, and most of them with one or more strains of blood accounted equal to the Khamseh, whilst two of them Jilfan and Maneghi are sometimes included in the Khamseh by townsmen and horse-dealers. (1) The Maneghi is said by some, but without authority, to be an offshoot of the Keheilan Ajuz. These horses are plain and without distinction, have coarse heads, long ewe necks, powerful shoulders, much length, and strong but coarse hind-quarters. They have also much bone and are held in high repute for their qualities of endurance and staying power. There are two sub-strains. (2) Jilfan, with a sub-strain, Jilfan Stam el Bulad, ' Sinews of steel,' to which breed belonged a fine bay seen by Blunt. The Jilfan is beyond doubt the Dsjulfa of Niebuhr, regarded by that writer as the most numerous amongst the Kochlani. 1 Op. cit. p. 279. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 171 Upton, when remarking on the absence of black horses amongst the Bedouin, mentions that such horses are to be seen in Syria, and that they are usually Jelfon (Jilfan). But to this point we shall return. (3) Saadan. The sub-strain Saadan Togan is in high repute. The handsomest and strongest mare possessed by the Blunts was of this breed. She was a chestnut, fourteen hands two inches, of perfect beauty, and immense power, but could not gallop with the Keheilan. (4) Dakhman. All the horses of this breed seen or heard of by the Blunts were dark bay or brown. (5) Shueyman, with one sub-strain, Shueyman Shah. Faris Sheykh of the northern Sham mar had a mare of this breed. She was coarse, but of immense strength and courage. She was dark bay, and about 14\3 hands. (6) Toessan. The only horse of this breed seen by the Blunts was a bay, handsome, but very small. (7) Samhan. The tallest and strongest colt seen by the Blunts with the Gomoussa tribe was of this breed. (8) Wadnan, (9) Rishan, (10) Kebeyshan, (11) Mele- khan, (12) Jereyban, (13) Jeytani, (14) Ferejan, (15) Freyfi, (16) Rabdan. Upton's description 1 of the Arabian horse is "based upon personal observations of the horses of the Anazah." Their great beauty and " great general length is the striking charac- teristic. This gives them a great stride, a great reach; they are natural born racers." "Throughout the whole frame of the Keheilan it is the extreme natural appearance of the horse, the absence of any one predominant or conventional point arti- ficially produced, the beautiful balance of power, and symmetry displayed in his form, the just organization of sensorial and structural functions, which cause him to be so beautiful, so perfect an animal. The head is very beautiful (Fig. 57), not only pleasing to the eye in its outline, but beautiful from its grand develop- ment of the sensorial organ, and the delicacy of such parts as are more subservient. It is not particularly small or short in its 1 Op. dt. p. 330. 172 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. whole length, in proportion to the size or height of the horse, but it is large above the eyes, small and short from the eyes to the muzzle. The centre of the eye more nearly divides the length of the head into equal parts than is observable in other horses ; from the top of the head to the centre of the eye will often measure as much as from the centre of the eye to just above the upper edge of the nostril. The head of the horse of the Anazah especially tapers very much from the eyes to the muzzle, and the lower jaw does so equally, or even in a greater degree to the under lip, and if these lines were pro- longed they would meet or cut each other at a short distance only beyond the tip of the nose. The nostril, which is pecu- liarly long, not round, runs upwards towards the face, and is also set up outwards from the nose, like the mouth of a pouch or sack which has been tied. When it expands it opens both upwards and outwards, and in profile is seen to extend beyond the outline of the nose, and when the animal is excited the head of this description seems to be made up of forehead, eyes, and nostrils. Such a head is often supposed to denote a violent temper. It is the type, however, of the head of the Arabian horse, and is, we thought, more marked, and to be seen more frequently among the Anazah tribes than elsewhere. " The ears are beautifully shaped, pointed, and well placed, and point upwards, in a marked and peculiar manner, which is considered a point of great beauty and a great sign of pure breeding. "The neck is of moderate length, and is of a graceful curve or gentle arch from the poll to the withers. It is a strong, light, and muscular neck, with the splenous muscle well de- veloped. The withers are high and run well back, are well developed, and not too narrow or thin. The back is short, the loins are powerful, the croup high, the haunch very fine, the tail well set on and the dock short. The quarters are both long and deep ; the gaskins sufficiently full and muscular without being heavy, ponderous, or vulgar ; the thighs are well let down; the hocks are clean, large, well formed, well placed, and near the ground. The shoulders are long and powerful, well developed,. but. light at the points ; the scapulars Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 173 are long and of a good slope, and broad at the base. The arms are long, lean, and muscular, deep at the elbow, which is well developed. The knees are large, and square, and deep. The trapezium or bone at the back of the knee is very promi- nent. The legs are short, deep, and of fair sized bone ; the tendons and ligaments large and well strung. The fetlock joint is large and bold; the pasterns are long, large, sloping, very elastic, and strong; the feet wide and open at the heels, and not very high in the desert 1 ." FIG. 57. Black Arabian of Imam of Muscat. In height the Anazah horses are usually about 14 hands 3 inches, and the height hardly varies a hand 2 . It is of great importance to note (1) that the Keheilans are the swiftest, and are generally bay, and that they have constantly a white star or blaze on the face, and one or more white feet ; the typical bay horses figured by Major-General Tweedie 3 are all distinguished by such marks ; (2) that the Hamdani, which are generally grey, are built more like English hunters than race-horses ; (3) that the inferior strains not in Al Khamseh show the largest and strongest horses, but not the swiftest; 1 Op. cit. p. 334. 2 Op. cit. p. 343. 3 Op. cit. Frontispiece, pp. 182, 258. 174 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. (4) that it is in these inferior strains that the colours black and brown are found. The fact that the cross-bred horses are taller and stronger than the pure Keheilans is of great importance, but it must not therefore be supposed that the stock with which the Keheilan was crossed was necessarily taller than the latter, for it can be demonstrated that cross-breds are constantly taller than either of the parents. Frequently a stout mare well under 15 hands by an Arab sire of 14 hands has offspring over 16 hands high 1 . This fact is of great importance, for it renders it clear that size and strength are due not solely to the so-called Arab, and that it was not by this element alone that size was added to the little primeval horses of Europe, so that they became capable of carrying riders instead of being merely useful for chariots. According to Upton about 87 per cent, of genuine Arab horses are of a dark colour; but not only are horses of grey and white colour found among Al Khamseh, but beyond all doubt great numbers of horses termed Arabs, and sold as such in Syria, Egypt, Turkish Arabia, Constantinople, and India, are grey or white. It is obvious that it will be of great importance if we can obtain from the available data any reliable results concerning the distribution of colour among all the high-bred horses of Asia. From Mr Blunt's observa- tions it is now clear that bay is the chief colour among the Keheilans, whilst grey is characteristic of the Hamdani, and chestnut is found in strains not reckoned in Al Khamseh. Mr Blunt 2 writes as follows. "The head of the English thoroughbred differs from the Arab, for where there is a mixture of blood, the head almost always follows the least beautiful type of the ancestors. Thus every horse with a cross of Spanish will retain the heavy head of that breed, though he have but one-sixteenth part of it to fifteen of a better strain. The head of the Arabian is larger in proportion than that of the English thoroughbred, the chief difference being in the depth of the jowl ; the latter is fine and beautifully shaped, but not 1 I am indebted to Prof. Ewart for this fact. 2 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, n. pp. 249-54. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 175 very small; the forehead large. The tail is carried high (Fig. 58) both in walking and galloping, and this point is much looked to as a sign of breeding. There is among English people a general idea that grey, especially flea-bitten grey, is the com- monest Arabian colour. But this is not so among the Anazah. Bay is still more common, and white horses, though fashionable in the desert, are rare. Our white Hamdani mare Sherifa, which came from Nejd, was immensely admired amongst the Gomoussa for the sake of her colour almost as much as for her head. Perhaps out of a hundred mares among the Anazah one would see thirty- five bay, thirty grey, fifteen chestnut, and the rest brown or black. Roans, piebalds, duns and yellows are not found among the pure-bred Arabians, though the last two are occasionally among Barbs. The bays often have black points, and generally a white foot, or two or three white feet, and a snip or blaze down the face. The chestnuts vary from the brightest to the dullest shades, and I once saw a mottled brown. With very few exceptions all the handsomest mares we saw were bay, which is without doubt by far the best colour in Arabia, as it is in England ; the chestnuts, as with us, are hot- tempered, even violent ; black is a rare colour, and I never saw in the desert a black mare which I fancied. In choosing Arabians I should take none but bays, and, if possible, bays with black points. "Among the Shammar we saw only two first-class mares, among the Fedaan perhaps half a dozen, and among the Roala, once the leading tribe, none. The Gomoussa alone of all the Anazah have any large number of really fine mares. I doubt if there are two hundred really first-class mares in the whole of northern Arabia. The Shammar have not now a single speci- men of the Seglawi Jedran breed for which they were formerly famous. The Montefik in the south, once celebrated for their .horses, have allowed the purity of their breed to be tampered with, for the sake of increased size, so necessary for the Indian market, which they supply. It was found that a cross-bred animal of mixed Persian and Arabian blood would pass muster among the English in India as pure Arabian, and would command a better price for his .extra height. The Persian or 176 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. Turcoman horse stands fifteen hands two inches, or, even, I am told, sixteen hands ; and these the Montefik have used to cross their mares with. The produce is known in India as the Gulf Arab, but his inferior quality is now recognised. Lastly among the Sebaa themselves, who have maintained the ancient breeds in all their integrity, various accidents have occurred to diminish the number of their mares. The deterioration is probably due also to the small number of horses kept for the mares, one horse perhaps being all that is found for two hundred mares. The Shammars have been cut off from the rest of the Arabs for a long time, and with the exception of occasional Anazah horses captured in war, they have no means of renewing their stock 1 ." At the present moment all the blood stock of the Anazah tribes must be related in the closest degree of consanguinity. The horses bred from are not chosen for their size or shape, or for any quality of speed or stoutness, only for their blood. Mr Blunt saw a stallion of great reputation among the Aghedaat, for no other reason than that he was a Maneghi Hedruj of Ibn Sbyel's strain. " He was a mere pony without a single good point, but his blood was unexceptional, and he was looked upon with awe by the tribe." " It is difficult to understand how the pure Arabian race should have in fact retained as much of its good qualities as it has. In all ages and in all parts of Arabia, to say nothing of the points I have already mentioned, an unpractical system of breeding has prevailed, due in part to prejudice, and in part to peculiarities of climate and soil. The Bedouins only allow the mare a month before and a month after foaling for rest, the foals come at any time of the year. They are weaned after a month and fed on camel's milk. The best colts are sold to the townsmen of Der, Aleppo, and Mosul. The dealers will not buy hadud colts, as they cost about three times as much as the others, and it is easy to forge a pedigree. The fillies are generally kept in the tribe. The Bedouin never uses bit or bridle of any sort, but instead a halter with a fine chain passing round the nose. With this he controls the 1 Blunt, op. cit., Vol. n. p. 258. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 177 mare easily and effectually. He rides on a pad of cotton fastened on the mare's back by a surcingle, and uses no stirrup. The Bedouin does not know how to tell a horse's age by the teeth, and still less of any dealer's trick in the way of false markings 1 ." Major-General Tweedie" has gone carefully into the question of the colours of Arab horses and the Arab terms for colour. In England, he writes, "an antiquated idea lingers that the authentic Arab must be grey. When the eminent Assyriologist, Sir H. C. Rawlinson, exhibited in 1864 a bay Arabian stated to have a pedigree of four hundred years, London actually rejected him on the score of his being a bay, and not a grey. This illusion is sanctioned by Palgrave, who says in his article in the Ency- clopaedia Britannica ' that dark bay never occurs in the genuine Nejdee.' If by dark bay he meant dark brown, or quasi- black, the statement might be received subject to qualification. But every Arab prizes dark bay, as understood by horsemen. In the old rhapsodies about horses by desert riders the bay colour is set above every other. In one such passage the descriptive epithet used is Ah-mar. Perhaps ah-mar includes chestnut. Ah-mar may mean bright bay, but unquestionably the ancient Arabic word ku-mait, which Im-ru'l Kais uses, signifies dark bay. Ku-mait is explained as * the dark red hue verging towards black of the fresh ripe date.' Col. Hamilton Smith describes the Arabian breed as one of great admixture, and this view is illustrated by the diversity of its colours. At the same time this diversity has its limit. Thus the dun colour is most unusual in Arabian horses. Sooty blacks prevail in the vulgar stock of the pastoral and agricultural Kurds round Kar-kuk and Mosul. There are however many different classes of black horses, and those of the Kurds can have no real relationship with those of the black Arabians, one of which was taken by Youatt as a model. Not half a dozen Arabians of this colour have made foot-prints on the turf in India. Occasionally we hear of a noble black, which is the boast of the Ae-ni-za (Anazah), but such of the colour as come our way too 1 Op. cit., Vol. ii. pp. 258-9. 2 The Arabian Horse, pp. 260-1. R. H. 12 178 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. much resemble the dismal quadrupeds which in Europe are reserved for the last scene of all. Practically the Ku-hai-kn colours are bay and chestnut, and the numerous different shades of grey and roan. Nobody can pretend to say of any one of these colours that it is more ' typical than another/ There is an Arab saying that the ' kings of horse-kind are those which are of a dark colour.' Another Eastern saying is that ' one should be slow to buy a chestnut horse, and still slower to sell one of that colour which has turned out well.' " The Emir Fai-sal of Najd told Col. Kelly that the finest Arabian horses may be of any colour ; that the prevalent colour among the first blood was various shades of grey; that as a rule the foal received its colour from its sire ; that on the whole, colour went for little, height for nothing, and that blood was everything." We shall presently see why the Arabs set a value on white and grey horses quite disproportionate to their real merits. In view of this native opinion Mr Palgrave may well be forgiven for stating that grey is the colour of the horses of Najd. General Tweedie 1 gives valuable details respecting the diffe- rent terms for various colours and their shades as well as their distribution among Kuhailan horses and also among Kadishes. He tells us that ah-mar and ku-mait when applied to horses are the same, and remarks that the Arabs use ah-mar to denote a European. Ash-kar denotes chestnut. In ku-mait or ah-mar the mane and tail are black ; in ash-kar they are red or sorrel. Chestnut of a dark copper colour is not very common in Arabian blood horses. Adham, which includes coal-black and dark brown, which might pass for black, is rare in Al Khamseh. Aswad means black, and is synonymous with adham, but horse- men say adham, just as we do not speak of a red horse, but of a bay or a chestnut. The old poets called a dark coloured or pitch-black horse jaun, and this colour was evidently much esteemed. Passing on to the white, grey, and roan, he points out that as-far, ' white,' not only means white with a saffron or sorrel infusion, chiefly apparent in the mane and tail, but also 1 The Arabian Horse, p. 241. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 179 milk-white, and under this term the Bedouin include all white and light-grey horses. Ash-hab has the same connotation as as-far except that the infusion into the white is blackish, not yellowish. Am-lah means practically silver-grey, and is applied to all the vaguer shades of grey, whilst ash-al has much the same signification, though in^Irak it is strictly used of a horse with much white on the face and in the tail. Ni-li means blue- grey (indigo), and is ' opener ' and with less of black than our iron-grey; the latter is more of a kadish than a kuhailan colour. Az-rak is a lighter variety of the last named, being a blue or blue-grey colour. It is a colour much prized, and is even further from iron-grey than is the ni-li. Dappling is not very common in kuhailans. Of the greys the az-rak perhaps most inclines to a light fleecy-grey. Rum-ma-ni (from rum- man, the pomegranate) means nutmeg-grey, and it is the mu- war-rad, or 'rose-colour' of Najd, and it like all the greys admits of different proportions of white, red, and black. The desert contains no vulgar, patchy, or mealy roans; and no flesh-coloured muzzles and pink orifices. The true nutmeg-roan or nutmeg- grey runs the bay colour close for the prize of excellence in the Arabian bred. No matter how white in the course of years a rum-ma-ni turns, his strawberry spots remain. Ab-rash, flea- bitten-grey, is certainly found in Kuhailan, yet it is also common in kadishes. The Arabs set great store by the markings, such as white stockings and the height to which they rise on the leg. They also draw presages from the whirls in the hair. Curly places or ' feathers ' of certain shape in certain situations are taken for omens that he who owns or mounts the horse will rue it ; and similar arrangements on other spots for assurances of prosperity. Moreover feathers on a horse's neck or body no more indicate high breeding than a twist in the beard does in man. Horses in whose coats hair thus disports itself are commoner among the Shammar than among the Ae-ni-za (Anazah). " The Arab believes implicitly in blood and holds that generosus nascitur, non fit. If he sees a colt sulking, he at once considers that he is bad from the egg, and thinks nothing about tuition. But the Najd has plenty of resolution. His admirable self-command 122 180 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. habitually subdues the fire of his highly nervous tempera- ment ; but if any one would fight him, he will fight. Even the noble mare, which the Arabs compare to the high-born lady, on whom it is meet that all maidens should attend, frequently shows her aversion, when those whom she does not know approach her. The stallion picketed beside the tent is as good as a sentinel. The first sound of an intruder brings him to attention. Generally he will stamp with one fore-foot and challenge, not braying like a ka-dish, but sounding one or two short and sharp notes, to indicate that he will make no terms. On the open plain his strong character is even more exhibited. He seems to increase in size when moved from his standing- place. After a gallop every joint and sinew and useful part stands out, as if made by work and for work. There is very little of the mere 'pet' about him. When his glance is not fixed on some object near him, in which he imagines that there is danger, he is always scanning the horizon. His gentle salu- tations of passing mares are widely different sounds from the bagpipe-like squeals of the I'raki stallion. At the sight of a crowd he neighs out musically like one who is delighted to meet others of his species 1 ." Major Upton, in the work already cited, embodies the result of wide and careful observations made on the horses not only of the Anazah tribes of the deserts of central Arabia, but also on those found in Syria, among the Bedouin tribes in the deserts lying south-west and west of the Euphrates, the coast tribes, such as the Mofitsch, who, though chiefly fishermen, yet breed horses, on the shore of the Persian Gulf, the horses of Erack (Irak), as also those of the Shammar tribes, who occupy most of the country between the Euphrates and Tigris north of Erack. Upton states 2 that bay is the most general colour of the Anazah horses, and that it is the favourite colour among the Arabs (Fig. 58). "Horses of a very rich dark bay rather than a brown colour are not uncommon. Chestnuts and greys are less numerous, and together would not equal the number of those 1 The Arabian Horse, pp. 267-8. 2 Op. cit. p. 341. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 181 of a bay colour. But those colours were all distinct, marked, and good. The Arabs like a decided or clear colour. In other tribes of Bedouin the colour among the grey horses we saw was much less decided. Grey horses were more numerous ; bays are not so general a colour 1 ." Upton did not " remember to have seen any horses or mares among the Bedouin of a black colour, but in Syria and the Turkish districts we occasionally did see blacks, and generally these were said to be JelfonV FIG. 58. A Bay Arabian. It is important to remind the reader that the Jelfon strain is not properly included in Al Khamseh, and that accordingly horses of a black colour are not pure-bred, but are the result of blending Al Khamseh with other blood. This is in complete harmony with the facts already stated (p. 133) that the best Turcoman horses of modern times, which are the result of crossing Turcoman mares with Arab stallions, are frequently black, with a star in the forehead, and white feet, and that sooty black horses are commonly found amongst the Kurds, 1 The Arabian Horse, p. 341. 2 Op. tit. p. 339. 182 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. who, as we saw, have for a long time been constantly crossing their Turcoman ponies with Arab stallions (p. 132). Upton 1 noticed very frequently among colt foals, though not in fillies, " a line somewhat darker than the general colour of the animal running in continuation of the mane along the spine, and to be traced for some way even among the long hair of the tail. It is not obliterated with age ; it can be traced in old horses and in those of a very dark colour." The Bedouin tribes of the desert south-west and west of the Euphrates, who are far less migratory than the Anazah, some being almost stationary, and cultivating the soil to some extent, as a rule, have very few mares, and though there are some good mares to be found, they do not present the same appearance of high breeding and class as those of the Anazah, being " less even and more variable in appearance/' occasionally ewe-necked, a feature unknown among Anazah horses. Ac- cording to their own account these tribes use little or nothing but Anazah horses as sires, and Upton 2 had known instances where mares had been sent long distances to an Anazah horse, whose owner had taken up his temporary abode with one of these tribes. "The colours of their horses are not so decided or distinct nor are bays so decidedly frequent as among the Anazah tribes." They pass on their own colts to other tribes, to the villages on the border of the desert and into Syria and Brack (Turkish Arabia). In Syria, where, as we have already seen, there are the common Turcomans, "the sons of horses," and full-blooded Arabs, many of the horses are called Anazah, but as it seems probable that any desert-bred horses in Syria are obtained from the nearest Bedouin, they have, therefore, Anazah blood in them, and very often are the progeny of Anazah sires 3 . Turkish Arabia (the Babylonia of the ancients) is the country which supplies Arab horses both to Constantinople and to India. There are horses of nearly pure Arab blood, and there are horses of a mixed race from the blood of the Arabian introduced upon the former Babylonian, Persian, and 1 Op. cit. p. 339. 2 Op. cit. pp. 380-1. 3 Op..cit. p. 372. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 183 Median stocks, all passing under the general designation of Arabs. We shall soon make clear the origin of these last-named breeds. "In the district between Euphrates and Tigris there are many breeds of horses," which vary much in class and appearance, "and passed into India are called high or low caste 1 ." The Indian dealers obtain their supply from agents at Bassorah and Koweit, who get them from people who live near the coast 2 . Most of the horses supplied by these settled people near the coast they breed themselves. " The wandering tribes of the interior of Erack are said to have a great many Persian, Turcoman, and Barb horses and mares, and they sell these spurious mares to those people near the coast who supply the Indian dealer with horses 3 ." Upton saw on one occasion* over thirty horses collected by the Pasha of Bagdad and with very few exceptions they were grey. Elsewhere he observes that " in Turkish Arabia grey horses appear to be so numerous that grey might be said to be the usual colour 5 ." Upton had never visited the Shammar tribes who live in the region between the Euphrates and Tigris north of Erack, but he had many opportunities of seeing horses bred by them. "They present to the eye a somewhat different appearance to those of the Anazah ; they are less bloodlike, and to some extent present a heavier and more beefy appearance. The Shammar are the hereditary foes of the Anazah tribes, but possess Anazah blood in their horses from animals captured in war. The Shammar horses are not much or generally esteemed by the other Bedouin. The Arabs between Syria and the Euphrates do not appear to use Shammar horses, although to many they were close at hand ; yet these tribes will always get Anazah horses as stallions if they can. Above all Anazah are prized by the Shammar, but no Anazah will have a Shammar horse 6 ." The Shammar also appear to have some strains of blood unknown to the Anazah tribes. A famous Shammar mare which could outstrip every horse or mare among 1 Op. cit. p. 361. 2 Ibid. p. 362. 3 Ibid. p. 364. 4 Ibid . p . 3 6 o. 5 Ibid. p. 341. Ibid. p. 356. 184 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. the Shammar was white, and of six selected Shammar horses seen by Upton in the possession of an Arab gentleman, the only good one, which proved to be a pure Anazah, was chestnut, whilst of the remaining five, which were all inferior, three were grey, and two reddish-grey 1 . It seems, therefore, highly probable that a beautiful young mare belonging to a Shammar sheikh described by Layard was of Anazah blood. She was chestnut, " her limbs were in perfect symmetry, her ears erect, slender, and transparent ; her nostrils high, dilated, and a deep red; her neck grace- fully arched, and her mane and tail of the texture of silk 2 ." To the same Anazah strain probably belonged the mare of matchless beauty owned by the Shammar sheikh, Sofuk, already mentioned, and named Shammariyah 3 , whose dam was said to be able to hunt down the wild ass with her master on her back (p. 51). " There is some difference in external form to be observed between horses in Syria and those east of the Euphrates, even among such as are supposed to be of genuine Arab blood, but bred respectively in these two districts; and in general character, and in several minute respects, both differ from the Arabian horse, or the Keheilan of the superior tribes of the interior desert. Many horses bred in and to be found in both of the before-mentioned countries are not real Arabs at all, but most are related to, or are partly of Arabian blood; for it must be understood that the Arabian bears a similar relation to all other horses in the East, as also to the horses of northern and north-western Africa, as does the thoroughbred horse in England to the various half-breds, only in a far greater degree 4 ." We shall soon see that Upton, like all previous writers, completely misunderstood the relation of the horses of Arabia to those of North Africa. The Syrian horses, i.e., horses bred in Syria and on the west side of the desert, of supposed pure Arab blood, and 1 Op. dt. p. 358. 2 Nineveh and its Remains (ed. 1867), p. 66. 3 Op. cit. p. 74. 4 Op. tit. p. 375. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 185 the Bagdad horses of the same pretensions bred to the east of the Euphrates have not the perfect head and ears of the Anazah. " In neither kind are the jaws so fine, so deep, nor set so wide apart as in the desert Arabian, but the Syrian appears to have cleaner jaws than the Bagdad. Again, the Syrian has a better nostril, though inferior to that of the desert horse. The Bagdad horse frequently, and the Syrian sometimes, has the nostril too small and set too low down. The neck of the Syrian is generally lighter and more muscular than that of the Bagdad horse. The Syrian appears to have better shoulders, the croup of the Bagdad horse is often hand- somer and the quarters better turned than those of the Syrian. Both kinds have good legs and feet, but the Syrian seems preferable in these respects, though inferior to the Anazah horses. The barrel of the Bagdad horse is as a rule longer than that of the Syrian, which latter is more like the desert horse in this respect. On the whole, the Syrian looks a hardier, more active, and more muscular horse; the Bagdad rather more bulky, and of a more imposing appearance. But these are only general indications, as in many instances these dis- tinctions are not so decided or marked 1 ." This general state- ment is in complete accord with the more detailed evidence of Mr Blunt and Major-General Tweedie. We may therefore feel sure that the facts relating to the colours of Keheilan horses and those of inferior strains are accurately known. The evidence here presented makes it clear that the horses of the tribes of Central Arabia are admitted to be the best by all the other tribes; that the horses bred by the tribes who have the advantage of being able to procure Anazah stallions for their mares come next in quality ; and that the best Arab horses of Syria, though inferior to the Anazah, are yet as a rule superior to those bred to the east of the Euphrates ; while the horses of the Shammar tribes in Mesopotamia show still less of the pure Arab strain. The same evidence demonstrates that amongst the pure-bred Arabs bay and chestnut vastly predominate, grey being seldom, and black and brown never 1 Op. cit. pp. 375-7. 186 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. seen (and that too in spite of the fact that Arab horse-breeders from religious motives have a predilection for white or grey animals) 1 , and the colours being very decided and pure ; that in Syria there are more grey, and far fewer bay horses, and occasionally black, that in Turkish Arabia grey practically becomes the universal colour, and sooty black is common in the Kurdish horses, whilst the Shammar horses seen by Upton were white, grey, and reddish-grey. It has also been shown that the Syrian Arab is of a coarser build than the Anazah breed, whilst the horses of Turkish Arabia are still more coarsely and clumsily built. Thus the further we advance from Arabia Proper, into which we shall find evidence of the importation of horses from North Africa in the centuries after Christ, the more do the horses differ in form and colour from the pure-bred Arab. On the other hand we have absolute proof of the existence of Turcoman horses in great numbers in Syria, in Turkish Arabia, and Armenia. The Turcoman is sprung from the horse of Upper Asia, of which the pure Mongolian pony is the type ; but the Turcoman (which represents the Nisaean horses of Armenia and Media, and the Parthian horses of a later date) has been modified by the admixture of so-called Arab blood. Marco Polo has shown us that in his time the Tartars had vast numbers of white horses, and we know from Herodotus that white horses, either aboriginal or feral, existed in Russia in his own time ; furthermore, we have seen that in Homeric and classical days white horses were known in Thrace, Illyria, and Upper Europe. From this it follows that the tendency to grey and white evinced by the so-called Arabs of Syria and Turkish Arabia, in contrast to the dark colours of the pure-bred horses of Central Arabia, is due to the fact that the Upper Asiatic horse forms the substratum of all the horses of Syria, Turkish Arabia, Armenia, and Persia. It would appear that? the black horses occasionally seen in Syria and other parts of Asia Minor are the result of an admixture of Turcoman and Arab blood, since Upton did not 1 Hayes, op. cit. , p. 326 (citing a private communication from Mr W. S. Blunt). Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 187 see any of this colour among the Anazah tribes, and also by his observation that the fine black horses which he saw were generally of the Jelfon strain, which is not one of the genuine Al Khamseh. This is completely corroborated by the fact that the fine black horses with a star on the forehead and white feet, which are owned by some modern Turcoman tribes, are known to be the outcome of crossing Turcoman mares with Arab sires. Finally, Upton's testimony confirms the fact already well attested, that the tendency to stripes is especially dominant in pure-bred Arabs and Barbary horses. It is not impossible that the chestnut colour of some Anazah horses, which we have seen to be a colour of the best horses of the Shammar, whose breeds are known to have more Upper Asiatic blood than any other class of ' Arabs,' may result from a slight admixture of a Turcoman strain. The Arab horses used by the Turks are principally imported from Turkish Arabia, where common Turcoman and Kurdish horses have been much crossed with Arab blood. Passing across the desert into Syria we find that the common horses there are either Turcoman, or half-breds out of Turcoman mares by Arab sires, whilst Arab horses are in general use, being either bred in the country or imported from the Bedouin of the desert, the latter being much the best. Thus it is clear that at the present hour all over western Asia the main stock is the Turcoman, or horse of Upper Asia, which is continually being improved and modified by Arab blood. We shall presently show that from very early times the same two stocks were similarly meeting and acting on each other. It is most important to note, that as the Arabs from religious motives, like the ancient Germans and Illyrians, the medieval Tartars and modern Sumatrans, have a predi- lection for white and grey horses, but pay little regard to other colours, bay, which has been for ages the colour of the best Keheilan horses, is not the result of artificial breeding, and must therefore be inherent in the race. The Arabs trace the pedigree of their horses through the dams and not through the stallions as with us, just as they 188 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. traced their own lineage in ancient days through females instead of males. This practice is probably also due to their believing, as did the ancient Yeneti (p. 104), that the dam is a more important factor than the sire in the production of a good progeny. From this arises the extreme difficulty of procuring the best Arab mares for export, for although a first-class stallion can be obtained for a heavy price in the desert, it is practically impossible to purchase a mare. Aristotle 1 was of the same opinion as the Arabs and Veneti, for he says that " among solid-hoofed animals the males have no teats, except those species which take after the mother, as is the case with horses." Later on it will be seen from the history of the English thoroughbred stock that pure-blooded mares had to be imported before the real foundation of the English race-horse was laid. Now let us trace back the history of the horses of Western Asia. The horses of Anatolia and Syria were well known in Europe by the 16th century, for in a series of engravings from drawiags made by the artist Stradanus (died 1603) and issued under the title of Equile lohannis Duds Austriaci ("The Stable of Don John of Austria "), a picture of ' Natolus/ here reproduced (Fig. 59), is included. As we shall see that not only were the horses and mares of Charles II. which laid the real foundation of the English racing stock procured from Smyrna, but that the famous Darley Arabian was brought from Aleppo, the importance of the horses of this region in relation to the English thoroughbreds will be fully realised. The horses used by the Persians in the Middle Ages were strong enough to carry their own armour as well as their mail-clad riders. The size of their horses gave the Persians superiority over the Turks in the great wars of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as the latter were mounted on much lighter horses, and had no defence except their shields 2 . It would appear that the Persians used large, stout horses probably resembling the Bagdad horses of to-day, and like the latter, originally obtained by crossing the heavy-limbed Upper Asiatic 1 H. A. ii. 3. 2 Hamilton Smith, The Horse, p. 233. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 189 horse with so-called Arab blood, whilst the Turks were probably for the most part mounted on common unimproved Turcoman ponies, although by the sixteenth century the horse known in Europe as the Turk was a fine well-bred animal developed out of the Turcoman pony by continual crossing with Arab blood. In The Stable of Don John of Austria, the 'Turcus' here reproduced (Fig. 60), is included, whilst Thomas Blundeville, writing in 1580, says that the horses which he had seen " come FIG. 59. The Horse of Anatolia. from Turkey, as well into Italy as hither into England, be indifferent faire to the eie, though not verie great nor strong made, yet verie light and swift in their running and of great courage" (cf. p. 377). When we go back to Roman times we find that the Parthians had the best horses in Asia. Strabo 1 says that they were not like the Greek or any other horses "in our parts" (by which he means the countries lying around the eastern Mediterranean) and elsewhere ; he also compares them to the Celtiberian horses of Northern Spain, which were of a grey 1 524. 190 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. colour, as we shall soon see. Another author 1 says that the Parthian horses were regularly of a dun colour (flavus). The statements of these two writers are by no means contradictory, as might appear at first sight. It is the best horses of the Parthians of which Strabo speaks when he likens them to the Celtiberian grey horses, whilst the other is only referring to the general colour of Parthian horses when he speaks of them as dun-coloured. But the evidence which we have just passed in review has shown that at the present day the horses in the regions included within the Parthian empire, such as the common Turcoman ponies, are regularly of a rufous or dun colour, like the horses of the Yedic Aryan, whilst the superior horses of the same countries, which are the result of crossing the Upper Asiatic blood with Arab horses, are regularly of a grey colour. It is therefore clear that in the first century B.C. the horses of Asia Minor, Armenia, and Persia were practically of the same colours as they are to-day, and it seems that the peoples of that region already possessed horses of a type similar to those obtained in modern times by crossing Upper Asiatic and Arab stocks. Whence this superior element was obtained we shall soon learn. Now Strabo 2 makes the very important statement that the Parthian horses of his day were similar to the famous Nisaean steeds, which were bred by the ancient Achaemenid Persian kings in the fifth century B.C. The ancient Persians rode habitually on horseback, and no gentleman would ever be seen going on foot anywhere 3 . In camp they always hobbled their horses 4 , and they sacrificed horses as well as bulls to their gods 5 . According to Arrian a horse was sacrificed every month to Cyrus at his famous tomb at Pasargadae 6 . For sacrifice they apparently preferred white horses, which they held to be sacred, and which seem regularly to have accompanied the army on the march. So great value was set by the Persians on white horses, probably for sacrifice, that the tribute paid by the Cilicians was set at "three hundred 1 Nisa omnes equos flavos habet. 2 524. 3 Xen. Cyr. iv. 3, 28. 4 Ibid. in. 2. 5 Ibid. vm. 24. 6 Arrian, Anab. vi. 29 ; Strabo, 729. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 191 and sixty white horses, one for, every day in the year, and five hundred talents of silver 1 ," a fact which shows that white horses were especially plentiful in that region. On the march of Xerxes' host the following order was observed. First came a thousand picked horsemen, then a thousand chosen spearmen, after whom came ten sacred Nisaean horses, splendidly caparisoned. These horses were called Nisaean because they were reared in Media, on the wide Nisaean plain, which produced horses of large size. After these ten horses came the sacred car of Zeus, drawn by FIG. 60. The Turk. eight white horses, followed by the charioteer on foot, and holding their bridles, for no mortal was allowed to mount the seat. After him followed Xerxes himself in a chariot drawn by Nisaean horses, with his charioteer beside him 2 . When Cyrus was about to cross the large river . Gyndes, a tributary of the Tigris, we are told that one of the sacred white horses having in wantonness entered the river and tried to cross it he was swept away by the stream. Whereupon Cyrus was very wroth with the river, and threatened that he would so reduce its stream that henceforth even women might cross 1 Herod, in. 90. 2 Herod, vn. 40. 192 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. it without wetting their knees 1 . Apparently Xerxes thought it desirable to propitiate the rivers which he crossed by volun- tarily sacrificing white horses to them. Thus on his march through Thrace the magi sacrificed white horses into the Strymon 2 . The muster-roll of the army with which Xerxes invaded Europe (480 B.C.) furnishes an invaluable account of all the horse-breeding peoples who were subject to the great king. The following were the nations which furnished cavalry : the Persians ; the nomad tribes known as Sagartians, a people half-Persian, half-Pactyan, who supplied eight thousand horses. These men fought with the lasso ; the Medes, the Scythians, the Indians, some on horseback, some in chariots, which were drawn either by horses or wild asses ; the Bactrians and Caspians ; the Libyans all riding in chariots ; the Caspeirians and Paricanians 3 . We have no difficulty in ascertaining which of the peoples of Asia at that period had the best horses, for Herodotus has already shown us that the Nisaean enjoyed this position, and he elsewhere 4 not only states that they were larger than the Indian horses, but also implies that they were the largest then known. The signet of Darius Hystaspes, the father of Xerxes, which I here reproduce, probably gives us a representation of two typical horses of this famous breed. The signet (which is now in the British Museum) exhibits Darius seated in a chariot drawn by two horses (Fig. 61). But there is no evidence that this was an indigenous breed, for Strabo 5 tells us "that the Nisaean horses, which are the largest and best and are used by the Persian kings, come, according to some from Media, according to others from Armenia." According to Strabo Armenia was especially suited for horse-rearing. That part of Armenia through which pass those who journey from Persia and Babylon to the Caspian Gates was called the Horse-feeding Mead. In the time of the Persian kings, the royal herds, which numbered as many as 50,000 mares, were pastured there. In another passage Strabo 6 1 Herod, i. 189. 2 Ibid. vn. 114. 3 Ibid. vn. 84-7. 4 Ibid. in. 106. 5 524. 6 529. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 193 declares that Armenia yielded in no respect to Media in its horse-breeding capabilities, "so that the ISIisaean horses were produced here which the Persian kings used themselves. The satrap of Armenia had to send each year 20,000 colts on the feast of Mithras." There is evidence that by 600 B.C. Armenia was noted as a horse-breeding region, for according to the prophet Ezekiel the people of Togarmah, usually supposed to be Armenia or part of it, " traded in the fairs of Tyre with horses and mules 1 ." The chief horses and ponies of Armenia at the present day are known as the Karadagh breed, which is said to have been FIG. 61. Impression from the Signet of Darius Hystaspes. developed on the southern slopes of the Caucasus, and they have been crossed with 'Arab' blood, and probably some of them at least with Russian strains, which, as already mentioned (p. 132), are all of modern origin, being derived from Arab and English thoroughbred blood. The Karadagh horses are from 14 to 15 hands high, and are usually bay or chestnut with black mane and tail, and they all have a black dorsal stripe about an inch broad. They are strongly built and are par excellence the harness horses of Persia, and are used as cab horses in Teheran and for all kinds of waggon-work, but are very seldom ridden 2 . 1 Ezek. xxvii. 14 : "They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules." Others have supposed that Phrygia or Cappadocia is meant by Togarmah. 2 Hayes, Points of the Horse, pp. 610-1 (ed. 3). R. H. 13 194 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. Their strong build and want of speed in spite of their cross of 'Arab' blood proves that the substrate of the breed is the primitive horse of Upper Asia, and though frequent crossing may have made bay and chestnut common colours, it is likely that there is in their veins much of the blood of the ancient Nisaean horses of Armenia and Media, ' the largest ' horses of the Persian empire. As the Parthian horses, which were both grey and also commonly dun, were descended from the Nisaean breed, and resembled it in appearance, we may conclude that the Persian horses of the fifth century B.C. were dun, white, or grey. But we have just seen that dun and white especially characterised the horses of Upper Europe and Upper Asia in classical and medieval times. From this it would appear that the Nisaean horses bred in Armenia were of the Upper Asiatic, i.e. Turcoman stock, and that by 600 B.C. and probably far earlier, the latter had made its way down into Palestine, where, as we have just seen, it still forms the chief element in the ordinary horses of the country. The Median empire had been absorbed into the Persian, but as the horses bred on the Nisaean plain in Media were of the same stock as those of Armenia, and by some were said to have been brought from the latter country, we may con- clude that they were also of the Upper Asiatic stock, though probably modified and improved by another strain, as we shall presently see. It is also highly probable that the horses of the other great monarchies of western Asia absorbed into the Persian empire were mainly of the same Asiatic stock. Though the Lydians in the time of Croesus (560 546 B.C.) were admirably furnished with cavalry, they themselves held that the horse was not a native, but an imported animal, as is demonstrated by an incident mentioned by Herodotus 1 . When the Persians advanced on Sardis, the space in front of the city was filled with serpents, which were eagerly devoured by the horses. Disturbed by the portent Croesus sent to the Tel- messian soothsayers, who declared that it presaged invasion and conquest by a foreign host, for (said they) "the snake is a child of the land, but the horse is an enemy and a stranger." 1 I. 78 : X^o^res 69), which signifies Shepherd Kings, for hyk in the sacred dialect denotes a king, and sos means a ' shepherd ' and ' shepherds ' in the vernacular, and so the compound Hyksos is formed. Some say that they were Arabs. In another copy it is stated that by the term Hyksos is indicated not ' Shepherd Kings/ but ' shepherd cap- tives,' for the words yk and Ak in Egyptian, when aspirated, literally mean captives (at%/u,aXa>TOi), and this seems to me (i.e. Josephus himself) more plausible and more in keeping with the ancient history. Manetho states that these aforementioned kings the so-called Shepherd Kings and their descendants were masters of Egypt for five hundred and eleven years. But after this, says Manetho, both the kings of the Thebais and of the rest of Egypt revolted against the Shepherds and a great and protracted war broke out. But in the reign of a king named Misphragmouthosis, Manetho says that the Shepherds were defeated and were expelled from all the rest of Egypt, and they were shut up in a certain place which had a circum- ference of 10,000 ploughgates (apovpai). Now this place was named Avaris, and Manetho says that the Shepherds had surrounded it with a high and strong wall for the security of their property and their plunder. But Thoumosis (Thothmes) attempted to besiege it and take it by storm, and beleaguered the walls with an army of 480,000 men. But just as he had despaired of reducing them by siege, they capitulated on condition that they would be permitted to depart unharmed whithersoever they pleased. In accordance with these terms they departed with all their families and possessions, in number not less than 240,000, and made their way across the desert into Syria. But through fear of the power of the Assyrians, who were at that time the masters of Asia, they built in what is now Judaea a city of sufficient size to contain this multitude of people and named it Hierosolyma (Jerusalem). But in another book of his Egyptian History Manetho says that this nation the so-called Shepherds are described (yeypd^Qai, i.e. depicted) as captives in some of the sacred (i.e. written in hieroglyphs) books, and he is right in so saying. For as a matter of fact the 232 THE HOUSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. feeding of flocks was the hereditary calling of our remotest ancestors, and they lived a nomadic life, and again they were not unreasonably styled captives by the Egyptians, since our forefather Joseph told the king of the Egyptians that he himself was a captive, and later on sent for his brethren to come into Egypt on the permission of the king." Manetho's statement is a plain, straightforward narrative, containing nothing marvellous or incredible. Manetho himself seems to have given but a single explanation of the name Hyksos, for the alternative derivation of the name preferred by Josephus seems simply based on Manetho's statement elsewhere in his writings that in the hieroglyphics the Hyksos were repre- sented by a pictographic determinant showing a man bound as a captive, a fact which does not necessarily mean that the name of the people so represented meant ' captive/ but that they had been conquered by the Egyptians. Manetho's account of the Hyksos resembles in so many details the story of the Hebrews and their connection with Egypt as given in the book of Genesis, that even if we do not at once identify the exodus with the expulsion of the Hyksos, it is at least highly probable that the Hyksos, whom Manetho says were regarded as Arabs, were of the same race as the Hebrews, who were simply an Arab tribe. That the Semites have for long ages been con- stantly pressing into Palestine and Egypt and the whole of North Africa is a matter of familiar history, and there seems to be no reasonable doubt that the Semitic element was a most important ingredient in that strange blend known to us as the ancient Egyptians. According to Manetho the Hyksos were in Egypt from first to last five hundred and eleven years, although their own dynasty, which only arose at a date considerably later than their first arrival and ended a considerable time before their final expulsion, only lasted two hundred and sixty years. As it is currently held 1 that they were expelled by Aahmes I, probably about 1580 B.C. or later, their first appear- ance in Egypt may be set at the earliest about 2100, but quite possibly considerably later. 1 Flinders Petrie, History of Egypt, Vol. i. p. 233. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 233 As the true Hyksos dynasty was only established at a period long posterior to the first coming of the folk them- selves, we may infer that their occupation of Egypt was a process of gradual infiltration, and was not effected by any organised invasion under some great king, but rather by the constant arrival of fresh clans, who made their way across the desert with their flocks. In the stories of Abraham and Jacob we have excellent illustrations of the manner in which Arab sheikhs with their followers and flocks and herds kept percolating not only into Palestine but even into Egypt itself at the very epoch when the Shepherd chiefs are said by Manetho to have been dominant in the latter country. The migration of Abraham into Egypt, which according to the tradi- tional chronology took place about B.C. 1900, and that of his grandson Jacob about a century later, well exemplify the infiltra- tion of Semitic clans not as yet combined under any one great king, and are in complete harmony with the manner in which the Hyksos seem to have gradually got their hold upon the land of the Nile. Writing of the Hyksos, Prof. Flinders Petrie remarks that "we cannot improve on the origin of the name given by Manetho, hyk or heq, a prince, and sos or shasu, the generic name of the shepherds or pastoral races of the eastern deserts. On later monuments the Shasu are represented as typical Arabs 1 ." This usage of heq is, like that of the heq setu or " chief of the deserts," the title of the Semitic Absha in the xnth dynasty, and of Khyan before him. The evidence of the physiognomy of many statues and sphinxes which have been attributed to this period has been adduced by certain writers in favour of a non-Semitic or Mongolic origin for the Hyksos, but these monuments are now regarded as being probably far older than the Hyksos period 2 . Messrs Newbury and Garstang 3 have recently identified the Hyksos with the Kheta or Hittites, whom they describe as " a mixed Asiatic people moving westward, mingling freely with the tribes and peoples whose country they overran, but 1 History of Egypt, Vol. i. p. 237. 2 Meyer cited by Petrie, loc. cit. 3 A Short History of Ancient Egypt, p. 65 (1904). 234 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. dominant always, if only by reason of the formidable engine of war, the chariot and horses, which they introduced to Western Asia," and they regard as Mongolian the master race in " the hordes of Sernite-Hittites," which according to them constituted the Hyksos 1 . It must be remembered that although the story of the purchase of the Cave of Machpelah by Abraham from Ephron the Hittite is one of our few reliable documents relating to that people, and though the children of Heth are represented as dwelling in Canaan and as being the occupants of the land before the coming of Abraham, yet there is not the slightest evidence that they any more than Abraham possessed a single horse. Again, if they were Mongols who had come down through Armenia and brought the horse with them into Egypt, the horses seen on the Egyptian monuments ought to resemble the horses of upper Asia in colour, form, and fashion of carrying the tail, in all which points they differ completely, as has been already pointed out. Finally, if Jensen is right in his view, that the Hittites were Indo-Europeans and spoke a language akin to Armenian (p. 214), this would be fatal to a Mongolian origin for that people. The balance of evidence is thus clearly in favour of the Hyksos being Semites and neither Mongols nor Indo-Europeans; it may be even worth while to consider whether Manetho's account of the Hyksos' occupation of Egypt may not actually refer to the story of the Hebrew immigration into and their subsequent expulsion from that country. The traditional dates for Abraham and Jacob fall within the period during which, according to the computations of modern Egyptologists, the Hyksos were settled or settling in Egypt. We may even point out that if we date the exodus about B.C. 1400 1350 and reckon back five hundred years the duration of the Hyksos period according to Manetho we arrive at about B.C. 1900 1850, the traditional date for the migration of Abraham into Egypt. The coincidence in date is very striking, and it is not very probable that two sets of shepherd immigrants, who are repre- sented as living in the same part of Egypt, as leaving Egypt 1 Op. dt. p. 66. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 235 under a compact with the Egyptian king, and in each case making their way across the desert into Syria and there settling, should during the same period, and that too a period extending over several hundred years, have played an important part in the history of Egypt. We certainly do not hear of any Hebrew kings, but it must be remembered that the Hyksos dynasty, according to Manetho, had only six monarchs. But if there is no mention of Hebrew kings in Egypt, the story of Joseph indi- cates that at least one Hebrew became the Grand Vizier or mayor of the palace, and that in him was centred the whole power and administration of the kingdom, a story which curiously illustrates the statement of Manetho that the Hyksos after their coming got the rulers of the land into their hands. It is now clear that the Hyksos were at least a Semitic pastoral tribe, even if they were not actually identical with the Hebrews. But if they were Semites, it is most improbable that they possessed horses when they invaded Egypt, for, as I have shown already, the book of Genesis renders it certain that the Semites of Mesopotamia had no horses in the time of Abraham; the Babylonian monuments make it probable that the horse only became known in that region shortly before B.C. 1500 ; it has been demonstrated that the Arabs of the Peninsula did not possess horses before the Christian era, whilst the story of Abraham implies that the king of Egypt who gave him hospi- tality did not possess any horses any more than did the Hittites of Canaan from whom the patriarch purchased the Cave of Machpelah. On the other hand, so far as the evidence of Genesis goes, it would appear that by the time of Jacob (B.C. 1800 1700) a native Egyptian king possessed horses and chariots. It would thus seem that some time in the eighteenth century B.C. the native Egyptian kings (such as those of the Thebaid) and others mentioned by Manetho (supra p. 231) had already become possessed of horses and chariots. But as neither Arabia, nor Babylonia, nor the Semitic tribes of Palestine possessed the horse, the Egyptians could not have obtained that animal from any of those regions, and must have procured it from their neighbours in Africa. But, as the horse was not bred by the peoples east of the Nile, even at the time of 236 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. Christ, the Egyptians must have procured it and the chariot from the Libyans. We may go still further and suggest that it was the acquisition of the horse and the chariot from Libya which enabled the kings of the Thebaid and other kings from the west side of the Nile to master and to expel the Hyksos. As the Semites from the east, so the Libyans were always pressing in from the west, and it is not unlikely that the great xvnth dynasty which expelled the Shepherds may have been partly Libyan in origin. The statement of Manetho that it was the kings of the Thebais (upper Egypt) who were the chief factors in the expul- sion of the Hyksos with the help of the chiefs of some other district or districts of Egypt seems absolutely true, for beyond question Thebes was the seat of the new Empire that arose on the overthrow of the Hyksos. Memphis had been the chief seat of the old monarchy, but it fell into the shade under the great xvnth, xvinth, and xixth dynasties. It seems probable from the statement of Manetho that the Hyksos kings, though they had control of Memphis and middle Egypt as well as the lower country, were never able to occupy perma- nently Thebes and upper Egypt, but had to rest content with receiving tribute from that province. The Hyksos were thus masters of the region lying on the eastern side, or, as Strabo would say, the Arabian side of the Nile as far south as Memphis. It is clear that the revolt must have originated and gathered to a head in that part of Egypt not occupied by the Hyksos. The other kings who assisted the Thebaid chiefs in the expulsion of the Hyksos must have lived on the western or Libyan side of the Nile, and it is probable that the Thebaid kings once had their homes on that side also, for although the city of Thebes in its great days lay on both sides of the river, yet since the Valley of Tombs, in which are buried the kings of the great dynasties of the new Empire, is on the Libyan side, it is probable that the original home of these monarchs lay on that side also, for the tombs of great families are usually placed at the spot where the founders of the race had dwelt and risen to importance. Thus the tombs of the present Tartar dynasty of China are not at Pekin but at Mukden in Manchuria. It is therefore riot Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 237 unlikely that the great dynasties that reigned at Thebes and pushed their conquests far and wide had come from the Libyan side of the Nile. But as it is with the rise of the Thebaic kings who expelled the Hyksos that the horse and chariot first appear in Egyptian history, and as it has been shown that the Egyptian chariot was probably Libyan in origin, there is a very high probability that the horses and chariots which enabled the kings of the new Empire not only to expel the Hyksos but also to extend their conquests into Asia, were the gift of Libya and not of the Semitic Hyksos. Whether the Hyksos were Hebrews or some other Semitic people, it matters little to our argument. If Manetho is right in identifying the Hyksos with the Semites who settled in what was afterwards Judaea, our argument that the Hyksos had not bestowed on Egypt the gift of the horse is strengthened, for, according to the Old Testament, the Israelites had no chariots and horses when they left Egypt, and, as it has been pointed out already (p. 226), they found great difficulty in their wars against certain tribes in Canaan because these people possessed chariots, and chariots too not merely of wood or fitted with copper like those of Egypt, but strengthened with iron, a metal which had not as yet come into use in Egypt. If, on the other hand, the Hyksos were not Hebrews but another Semitic tribe which after its expulsion from Egypt made its way into Pales- tine and Arabia, it is equally certain that they had no horses, since none of the Arab tribes possessed horses till many centuries later. Furthermore, if the Hyksos are the same as the Israelites, our suggestion that the Egyptians had been enabled to expel the Hyksos because the former had acquired the new and powerful engine of war the horse and the chariot likewise gains strength, for, as we have just seen, the Israelites at the time of the exodus had neither horses nor chariots. It is not without significance that horses should have been regarded in Homeric times (p. 219) as the special characteristic of Egyptian Thebes in her palmy days. That the fame of her horses and chariots had thus echoed across the Aegean is no slight indication that the secret of her power lay in her horses and chariots. The other kings who assisted the Thebaic 238 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. monarchs in their revolt against the Hyksos, and who probably dwelt on the west bank of the Nile, may have been Libyan Egyptians, such as those who are represented in Homer as repelling with chariots and horses the piratical descent of Odysseus and his comrades at the mouth of the western branch of the Nile. Let us now turn to the evidence respecting the horse- breeding and horse-riding of the Libyan tribes in later times, but prior to the Arab conquest. The Libyan tribe of Marmidae occupied all the region between the temple of Ammon and the frontiers of Gyrene. West of them lay the Nasamones and the Psylli, behind whom lay the eastern part of the great tribe of the Gaetuli, behind whom again came the Garamantes 1 . Herodotus 2 tells us that these Garamantes, who lived in the modern Fezzan, had four-horse chariots in which they chased the Troglodyte Ethiopians, "who of all nations whereof any account has reached our ears are by far the swiftest of foot." These Troglodyte Ethiopians (as we know from Strabo 3 ) dwelt on the Nile southward from Syene (Assouan), and it was over a portion of them reigned Candace, " queen of the Ethiopians," who is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles 4 in the story of the baptism of her eunuch by Philip the Evangelist. As she and her nation had proved a real danger to the Roman control of Egypt, and as Psammetichus I had found it necessary to plant a strong garrison at Elephantine to check the Ethiopians in the seventh century B.C. we may safely infer that Egypt was always liable to invasion from this side. If the Libyan tribes like the Garamantes were in touch with the Ethiopians, and there is reason to think that there is a considerable Libyan element in the population of that region, it is not at all unlikely that bodies of invaders, partly Libyan, partly Ethiopian, may have made their way into Egypt from the south from very early times. Next to the Marmidae came the territory of Gyrene, founded B.C. 632 by Battus, from whom Callimachus the poet traced his lineage. "The city flourished," says Strabo 5 , "from the 1 Strabo, 837. 2 iv. 183. 3 820-1. 4 viii. 27. 5 837. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 239 excellence of the soil, which was peculiarly adapted for the breeding of horses and the growth of fine crops." South of the Cyrenaica dwelt the Libyan tribes of the Nasamones and the Psylli, behind whom lay the Gaetuli, south of whom in turn lived the Garamantes as already mentioned. Next to the Cyrenaica on the west came the territory of Carthage (founded B.C. 826), which bordered on that of the great tribe of the Masylii. In the interior of their land was Cirta (Constantineh), the residence of Masinissa (the Numidian monarch so famous in Roman history as a cavalry commander) and his successors. It was a very strong place, well provided with everything, which it principally owed to Micipsa, who had planted a colony of Greeks there, and raised it to such import- ance that it could put into the field ten thousand cavalry and twice that number of foot. Next Strabo 1 states that above the sea-coast from Carthage to Cephalaea on the one side, and to the territory of the Masaesylii on the other, lay the territory of the Libyphoenicians, which extended inland up to the moun- tain region occupied by the Gaetuli, beyond whom lay the Garamantes, of whom we have already spoken, and who were said to be fifteen days' journey from the temple of Ammon (in the Oasis of Suva). " Between the Gaetuli and the coast of our sea there are many plains and many mountains, great lakes and rivers. The inhabitants are simple in their mode of life and in their dress; they marry numerous wives and have numerous children ; in other respects they are like the nomad Arabs. The hoofs both of horses and oxen are longer than in other countries. The breeding of horses is most carefully seen to by the kings ; so much so that the number of colts is yearly estimated at one hundred thousand 2 ." West of the Masylii lay the Masaesylii, next to whom came the great tribes of the Mauri, who occupied all the region as far as the ocean. Strabo states 3 that "although the Mauri inhabit a country the greatest part of which is very fertile, yet the people in general continue even to this time to live like nomads. They bestow care to improve their looks by plaiting their hair, 1 Strabo, 834. 2 835. 3 827. 240 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. trimming their beards, by wearing golden ornaments, cleaning their teeth, a,nd by paring their nails ; and you would rarely see them touch one another as they walk, lest they should disturb the arrangement of their hair." "They fight for the most part on horseback with the javelin, and ride on the bare back of the horse with bridles made of rushes. They have also swords. The foot-soldiers present against the enemy, as shields, the skins of elephants. They wear the skins of lions, panthers, and bears, and sleep in them. These tribes and the Masaesylians next to them, and for the most part the Libyans in general, wear the same dress and arms, and resemble one another in other respects ; they ride horses which are small buyspirited, and so docile as to be guided by a switch, and which have neckbands made of wood or of hair, from which hangs a leading rein. Some follow like dogs without being led. The riders carry a small shield of leather, and small lances with broad heads. Their tunics are loose with wide borders ; their cloak is a skin, as I have said before, which serves also as a breast- plate. The Pharusii and the Nigretes, who live above these people, near the western Ethiopians, use bows and arrows like the Ethiopians. They have chariots also armed with scythes. The Pharusii rarely have any intercourse with the Mauritanians in passing through the desert country, as they carry skins filled with water fastened under the bellies of their horses. Some- times indeed they come to Cirta (Constantineh), passing through places abounding with marshes and lakes. Some of them are said to live, like the Troglodytes, in caves dug in the ground." The neckbands of the Libyan horses remind us at once of the practice of the Anazah tribes of Arabia, where, in the desert, every horse has a cord tied round its neck to fall about halfway between the. head and the shoulders. This is a common cord, " about the thickness of a man's little finger, and fastened in a knot of two turns, and is convenient to take hold of if a horse requires to be caught 1 ." It is not improbable that the Arabs borrowed this practice from the Libyans along with the North African horse. 1 Upton, Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia, p. 382. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 241 Livy 1 has left us a vivid picture of the wild Libyan horse- men and their famous steeds: "The Numidians mounted their horses and began to ride up towards the enemies' outposts, but without attacking anyone. At first sight nothing could be more contemptible ; horses and men alike were small and slight (paulluli et graciles) ; the rider without girdle, and un- armed save that he carried darts. The very galloping of the horse without a bridle was ungainly, as they gallop with out- stretched heads and stiff neck. They purposely increased the FIG. 70. The Barbary Horse. contempt thus inspired by tumbling off their horses and making an exhibition of themselves in sport." The description of the slightly built horse bred in Libya many centuries before the Arab conquest of North Africa puts it beyond doubt that they were the same breed as that found ever since in Barbary and Morocco, and which have been bred by the Arabs of South Arabia only since the early centuries of the Christian era. I here reproduce (Fig. 70) the Afer (Barbary horse 2 ) and 1 XXXV. 11. 2 I learn from Mr Walter Harris, M.A., Gonville and Caius College, Cam- bridge, the well-known traveller and author of Tafilet, that the modern Berber words for a horse are 'avis' and 'agmer.' R. H. 16 242 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. (Fig. 71) the Maurus (Morocco horse) depicted by Stradanus (an artist who lived in the latter half of the sixteenth century) in the Equile Johannis Duds Austriaci ("The Stable of Don John of Austria "). Writing two centuries later than Strabo and Livy, Pausaniaa says 1 that "when the Mauri took up arms against Rome, Antoni- nus drove them out of all their land and forced them to flee into the uttermost parts of Libya as far as Mount Atlas and the peoples who dwell in that mountain. These Mauri form the Fm. 71. The Moorish Horse. greatest part of the independent Libyans; they are nomads, and are harder to combat than the Scythians, inasmuch as they roam, not on waggons, but on horseback, they and their women." But certain relics from Egypt furnish some evidence that Libyan women rode on horseback at least eight centuries before Pausanias wrote, and also that the Libyan horses were of a dark colour, like those seen on almost all Egyptian paintings down to a late period. At Daphnae (the Tahpanhes of the Bible, mod. Defenneh) in the sandy desert between the Suez Canal and the cultivated Delta, Psammetichus I (B.C. 665) 1 viii. 43, 3. Til] AND HISTORIC TIMES 243 planted guards against the Syrians, as he also did at Elephantine against the Ethiopians and at Marea against the Libyans 1 . FIG. 72. Libyan woman on horseback. The guards planted at Daphnae were the Ionian and Carian mercenaries by whose aid he had seized the throne 2 . 1 Flinders Petrie, Tarn's, Part n., Nebesheh (Am), and Defenneh (Tahpanhes), pp. 47 sqq. ; cf. Herod, n. 107. 2 Herod, n. 154. 162 244 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. Here the Greeks throve until they were deported to Memphis 1 by Amasis (about B.C. 570 565). The Greek pottery found on the site, and which seems not to have been imported but made on the spot, must fall between B.C. 664 and B.C. 570. Various fragments of pottery show beautiful dark horses ridden by both men and women. On three fragments are represented nude women on horseback, one of which is here shown (Fig. 72)*. The woman is painted white except her hair, her horse is dark, her dog painted white runs beside her; behind flies an eagle, whilst in front of the horse is a bearded man painted all in black 3 . Other fragments from Daphnae 4 also show men on horse- back, rider and steed alike painted black. A glance at the figure will make it clear that the bearded man is neither an Egyptian nor an Oriental ; it is also certain that whilst women in both Asia Minor and Egypt were always well draped, so too in neither region did women ever ride on horseback. We have likewise seen that the Egyptian men practically are never seen on horseback. It seems clear then that the naked bearded barbarian men and the Amazons 5 riding on 1 Herod, n. 154. 2 Petrie, op. clt. (described by Dr A. S. Murray), PI. xxix. fig. 4; Antike Denkmaler, n. 21, 2 (from which my figure is reproduced). The no. in Brit. Mus. is B 116 b. The other two similar fragments are in the same case. 3 The fact that the woman on horseback is painted white, whilst the man is painted dark is not a mark of any difference of race but simply of sex. After the transition from the archaic vases with figures in black painted on white ground to those with black figures painted on the red clay of the vase, white was used to indicate the bare skin of women. As the Daphnae vases are early repre- sentatives of the new technique, it is not improbable that the Greek painters borrowed the idea from the Egyptians, who had long practised it. For example in the beautiful "Book of the Dead" known as the papyrus of Ani in the British Museum, Ani himself is always represented with a dark face, whilst his wife's skin is always painted white, i. e. the man was sunburnt, the woman lived in the shade ; in Plato's words the one was ^Xtw^os, the other eo-KiarpoQrjKv'ia. As the men seen on vases or other Daphnae fragments are painted black we may be certain that the white nude figures are women and not men or boys. 4 Petrie, op. cit. PI. xxxi. figs. 13, 14. 5 The Greeks held that there were Amazons in Libya as well as in the region round the Black Sea. As the Sarmatian women who hunted on horse- back with their husbands gave rise to the myth of the eastern Amazons, so the fable of the Amazons of Libya arose from the horse-riding Libyan women (cf. Kidgeway, Early Age of Greece, Vol. i. pp. 651-2). Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 245 beautiful dark horses can be no other than Libyans, who at the time when these vases were painted were a standing danger to the Egyptians, and must have been perfectly familiar to the Greeks who were employed to secure the Egyptian frontiers. The Scythian women, however, even down to the second century A.D. had not learned to ride, as do the Tartar women (cf. p. 139) of to-day, but they still travelled from place to place in their waggons as in the time of Herodotus. We have seen that the setting on of the tail is a character- istic of the pure-bred Arab and his well-bred derivatives, a point to which great attention is paid by horse-fanciers in Western Asia and India. Though unfortunately in none of the Daphnae pictures of horses ridden by women has the tail survived, yet on two other fragments 1 we can clearly see that the horses' tails are set on high like those of well-bred Arabs and the horses seen under the chariot of Seti I (p. 217). Again, the Daphnae pottery 2 yields the earliest known repre- sentation in painting of the winged horse Pegasus, whose birth- place according to the legend was the Libyan desert. The winged steed was naturally modelled after the fleetest courser known to the artist, who has simply added wings to indicate his supernatural swiftness. In the Pegasus of the Daphnae vase the tail is clearly set on high. It is now plain that as in the Egyptian paintings of the New Empire so in the sixth century B.C. the high set of the tail, as well as the dark colour two of the features of the Kohl breed of Arabia characterised the horses of North Africa. In the small lightly built and docile horses of the Libyans we recognise the light built Barb and 'Arab' of to-day, a horse of matchless swiftness, when carrying a light rider, such as the typical Numidian horsemen described by Livy (cf. p. 241), but not well adapted for a heavy weight or for draught purposes. The horse ridden by the Libyan women on the Daphnae frag- ments is not a thoroughbred, but a fine cross-bred horse. We have seen proof that the great desire of the ancients was to 1 Brit. Mus., B 129, 10 (two horsemen) ; B 125, 8 (a horse with the upper part of tail well defined, though a portion is lost). 2 Brit. Mus., P 105. 246 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. obtain horses of large size, and we shall presently find that the same principle has been always at work in medieval and modern times. Thus in the Iliad the horses of Rhesus are commended by Dolon as 'the largest' that he had ever seen, and the Nisaeari horses of the Persian kings were ' the largest ' in Asia. Again, we have seen that in modern times the Arab tribes of the Persian Gulf have fatally injured their fine breed of horses by crossing it with large Persian strains in order to produce for the Indian market animals capable of carrying greater weight, and we have also noticed that Niebuhr in the eighteenth century preferred the half-bred horses of Syria to the Kochlani (p. 167). It is more than probable that the same principle was at work in Egypt from a comparatively early date, and also in those parts of North Africa occupied by Greek and Phoenician colonies. It will be presently shown that long before the Christian era horses were imported into Libya from Europe, and that in Roman times the North African horses crossed with Spanish blood were especially esteemed. It is therefore probable that in the horses of the Daphnae fragments the Greek vase-painter has pourtrayed animals produced by crossing the Libyan and the Asiatic horse, and we shall furnish evidence of similar half-bred horses at Carthage, in Sicily, and in Greece by the fifth century B.C. In fact the horses of Daphnae, Carthage, Sicily, and Greece stood to the small slender uncrossed horses of the Numidians in much the same relation as do the coarse Arabian horses found to-day in Syria and Irak to the pure-bred Keheilans. It is now clear that for many centuries before the Arabs ever owned a horse, all the Libyan tribes possessed a most notable breed, which in size, shape, speed, colour, and docility, very closely resembled the Kohl breed of Arabia. As it has been shown that Egypt was exporting horses into Asia Minor in the time of Solomon, and that Arab tradition points to Egypt as the region from whence the best horses were obtained in the time of Muhammad, and as Egypt derived her horses in great part from Libya, we are justified in concluding that the ancestors of the Kohl breed of Arabia came from North Africa. This conclusion is strongly corroborated by a fact already Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 247 mentioned. It will be remembered that Al Khamseh is un- known in North Africa. Yet if the Kohl breed had been developed in Arabia, and had been brought by the Arabs into North Africa at the time of their conquests or at a later period, the fivefold division of their famous breed would have been most religiously preserved by the Arabs in their new homes. On the other hand, if the Kohl breed really originated in North Africa, being merely the ordinary horse of that region, there would have been no reason for dividing it into special families, for it is only when a strain of special quality is intro- duced from elsewhere that people begin to pay attention to pedigrees, as in the case of our own thoroughbreds. If the Arabs derived their Kohl breed from North Africa, there would have been every reason for paying great attention to purity of race and carefully discriminating between different sub-families sprung from a common stock, in some instances crossed with Asiatic horses. This is in perfect accord with the statement of Abd-el-Kader that the five families of Al Khamseh are but ramifications of the ancient Ahwaj race, which, though not to be found any- where in Arabia, is said to still exist in the Sahara. The historical evidence therefore is unanimous in pointing to North Africa as the source of the Arabian Kohl breed. The Libyans had domesticated horses at a very early period and had learned not only to drive them in pairs under very light chariots, but had also invented the four-horse chariot. Moreover, they soon learned to ride these horses, for if their women habitually did so in the seventh century B.C., we may infer, not unreasonably, that the men had learned to ride at a still earlier period. The Libyans who furnished horses and chariots to Xerxes in B.C. 480 must have come from the country bordering on Egypt and were therefore probably the Marmidae. By the time of Christ the chariot had been discarded by all the Libyans with the exception of the Pharusii and the Nigretes who lived south of the Atlas, and who probably only retained them (like the Persian and Seleucid kings) because the chariot when fitted with scythes was still thought to be a valuable engine in war. 248 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [OH. Strabo, unfortunately, does not give us any information respecting the colour of the Libyan horses, but we can infer from the pottery pictures of Daphnae that they were of a dark colour, which harmonizes well with the fact that the horses on Egyptian monuments are usually painted brown. As it will be remembered that dark colour is the characteristic of the pure-blooded Arabian, and that the grey and white Arabian horses come from regions where Turcoman horses have been in universal use, the agreement in colour between the Arab horses of the Kohl race, and those of ancient Libya, and the Egyptian monuments indicates clearly that the Arabs have not derived their famous breed from the dun or white horses of Persia and Upper Asia, but from a dark-bay stock of Libya. Turning to the North African horses of to-day, we find that in the Barbary States the prevailing colours are dark -bay, brown, chestnut, black and grey. In Morocco the horses are said to be of every colour, but black and chestnut are considered the best. The black colour as well as grey is probably due to importations from Europe and Asia dating from a long time back down to recent times. In the last century the Sultan of Ducaila imported a black English thoroughbred stallion and thereby obtained a splendid breed 1 . On the other hand we find the Roman Senate sending to Masinissa, the Numidian king, two military cloaks fitted with two golden brooches each, two horses fully equipped, and two sets of cavalry accoutrements, including breastplates 2 . Plainly, then, from the second century B.C. the Barbary horses could have been crossed with the heavier and stronger strain of Italy. In later centuries the Barb has been largely crossed with imported Syrian Arabs, which of itself is sufficient to account for the occurrence of grey and black amongst them. The Barbs of Algeria have in modern times been much crossed with French and English blood, and have consequently lost a good deal of their original type. It is only in Morocco that it has been kept at all pure, for few horses are imported into that country. The Morocco Barbs are excep- 1 Hamilton Smith, op. cit., p. 224. 2 Livy, xxx. 17. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 249 tionally hardy, enduring and useful animals, and this breed is officially preserved by the reigning sultan 1 . The Barb ranges from 14 to 15 hands high, but is said to be a little smaller than the Arab, with flat shoulders, round chest, joints inclined to be long, and the head particularly beautiful. In the sandy plains south of the Atlas (the ancient home of FIG. 73. Dongola Horse. the Pharusians and Nigretes), the Mograbins of the West rear horses, which are brown or grey, known as Shrubat-ur-Reech, " Drinkers of the Wind ; they are rather low, shaped like greyhounds, and destitute of flesh 2 ." The horses found in the region of Dongola are bay, black, and white, but not grey, and never dappled. The blacks are ' J Hayes, Points of the Horse, pp. 627-8. - Hamilton Smith, p. 227. 250 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [OH. the finest; they have all white legs (Fig. 73), sometimes the white extending over the thighs and occasionally over the belly 1 . We have seen at an earlier stage that the presence or absence of hock callosities has been generally taken as one of the chief means of differentiating Equus caballus from the asses and zebras (p. 16). It is therefore to be carefully noted that, whilst the hock callosities are present in Prejvalsky's horse, and are of specially large size in domestic horses of heavy breeds, accord- ing to Sanson 2 they are frequently absent in North African horses (as is the case with Ewart's 'Celtic' pony). The presence therefore of such hock callosities in Arab horses of a coarser type may be due to their having in their veins a considerable ad- mixture of Asiatic blood, as is certainly the case with many 'Arabs' from Turkish Arabia, and the tribes of South Arabia, which border on the Persian Gulf (pp. 183-6). It has already been pointed out that white feet and a star or blaze on the forehead are characteristic of the pure Anazah bay horses, and it has also been shown that the fine black horses with white feet the best bred by the Turcomans are the result of crossing the horses of Upper Asia with so-called Arab blood (p. 133), that black horses are never found in Al Khamseh, and that the best black horses found in Syria belong regularly to the Jelfon breed; it has also been shown that the 'Arab ' horses sent in large numbers into Egypt are exported from Syria, where a large proportion of the horses are grey, such horses being the result of crossing common Turcoman mares with pure Arab horses. It is therefore more than probable that all the black, grey, and white horses of North Africa have been derived either from Syrian and other horses of impure breed, or else have resulted from the blending in Africa itself of Asiatic and European horses with a native dark breed. As we have already seen that there were no horses in all North-east Africa or in Nubia down to the time of Strabo, 1 Hamilton Smith, op. cit. pp. 229-30, PI. 10*, from which my illustration is copied. 2 Zootechnie, Vol. in. p. 53 (ed. 4). Under the heading of "caracteres zoo- techniques generaux" he says that "les membres poste'rieurs sont depourvus de chataignes" in the "Eace africame" (E. c. africanus). Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 251 and as we have now shown that grey horses and black horses with white feet result from crossing the Upper Asiatic and the so-called Arab, it follows that the breed of Dongola is not a primeval stock (E. c. africanus) as was held by Sanson, but only a blend of comparatively modern origin. It is now clear that Egypt could have obtained from the Libyans the horses which she exported into anterior Asia in the tenth century B.C., and it is likewise certain that when the Greeks planted Gyrene in B.C. 632, they found the Libyans not only employing the two-horse and four-horse chariot, but also generally riding on horseback. Herodotus explicitly tells us that "the Greeks learned from the Libyans to yoke four horses to a chariot 1 ." It is therefore not without significance that the four-horse chariot and the ridden horse (keles) were only given places in the Olympic contests (the former in B.C. 680, the latter in B.C. 648) in the same century that saw the founding of Gyrene. The four-horse chariot does not seem to have been ever employed by any of the peoples of Upper Europe, by Vedic Aryans, Persians, Assyrians, Canaanites or Egyptians or by the Homeric Acheans. For although in two passages of Homer mention is made 2 of "four male horses yoked together," these only refer to the occasional practice of attaching one trace-horse or two to the regular pair, under special circum- stances, either in war or for racing, an idea which may very well have been borrowed from Libya long before the foundation of Gyrene, for it is plain from Homer that the Homeric Greeks were well acquainted with that country. Moreover, it is very significant that one of the passages from Homer where mention is made of a four-horse chariot is a simile, whilst the other does not refer to a contemporary event, but is in a tale of a bygone age when king Augeas reigned in Elis before Pelops and his Acheans came and conquered the old Pelasgian inhabitants. Nestor relates how Neleus, the Pelasgian king of Pylus, had sent a four-horse chariot to Elis to race for a tripod and how Augeas had kept the horses and sent back the charioteer without them. But as the legends of the Bronze Age of Greece have frequent 1 iv. 189. 2 IL xi. 699-702; Odyss. xm. 81. 252 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. references to intercourse with Libya, we need not be surprised if the practice of yoking four horses abreast had been learned from that land. On the other hand it seems clear that the Achean conquerors clave fast to the practice of the region from whence they had come and continued to use only their national two-horse cars. In the chariot-race at the funeral games of Patroclus there is not even a hint of the use of the four-horse chariot or even of a trace-horse, a fact which contrasts strongly with the constant appearance of the quadriga on the black- figured vases dating from the seventh century B.C., when the four-horse chariot had been reintroduced. Not only is it probable that the Greeks first learned the use of the four-horse chariot from Libya, but it is also not unlikely that it was from the same region that they first learned to mount on the back of the horse. Although the Homeric Acheans never normally rode their dun-coloured horses any more than they drove them in teams of four when they raced or went to battle, yet there is at least one simile in the Homeric poems which shows that riding on horseback was by no means unknown to the poet. Thus Odysseus, when his raft was shat- tered, " bestrode a single beam, as one rideth on a courser (keles) and stripped him of the garments which fair Calypso gave him 1 ;" and in another simile, in the Iliad, if we do not hear of riding on horseback we have the earliest picture of a circus-rider, " a man right well skilled in horsemanship, that couples four horses out of many, and hurrying them from the plain towards a great city drives them along the public way, many men and women marvelling at him, and unerringly ever he leaps and changes his stand from horse to horse, while they fly along 2 ." Now when we bear in mind that the first horse ever ridden according to Greek legend was Pegasus, that this famous steed was born in Libya, and that he was obtained there by Perseus, the renowned king of Mycenae, in the Bronze Age, before the coming of the large-limbed, fair-haired Acheans from central Europe, it is not strange that the Greeks of the Homeric (Iron) Age knew that the horse could be ridden as well as driven, although the new 1 Od. v. 371. 2 II. xv. 679 sqq. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 253 lords of Greece did not ride their dun-coloured horses, but only drove them in pairs under chariots. From the great docility of the Libyan horse and his descendants it is highly probable that the Libyans from its first domestication could mount it without difficulty, and as they themselves (cf. p. 241) were small, light- built men, their horses could carry them with ease at a date when the European horses, which were not so tall as the Libyan, could not carry for any great distance their large-limbed masters, such as the Sigynnae in the fifth century B.C. or the Acheans some seven centuries earlier. It is thus not at all unlikely that it was from Libya that the practice of riding on horseback first became known to the inhabitants of Greece. The islanders from Thera, who planted Gyrene, were not slow in fulfilling the prophecy of Medea 1 that " instead of short- finned dolphins they should take to themselves fleet mares, and reins instead of oars should they ply, and speed the whirlwind- footed car," for Gyrene soon became famous as "the city of fair steeds and goodly chariots 2 ." Pindar glorified her king, Arcesilas, for his victories in the chariot-race, and later her native poet, Callimachus, sang of his " home famed for her steeds 3 ." When Alexander had conquered Egypt and conceived the idea of visiting the shrine of Ammon, the Cyreneans sent envoys to make submission to the world-conqueror, bringing a crown and rich gifts amongst which three hundred war-horses figured prominently 4 . Still earlier than the Greeks the Phoenicians had begun to plant colonies along the coast of North Africa, and they therefore soon became possessed of the noble horses of Libya. When Carthage, in the fourth century B.C., first began to coin money it is significant that she placed the horse and palm-tree on her coins (Fig. 74), whilst the horse alone is seen on the issues of Panormus, her most important settlement in Sicily. It will be noticed that the horses seen on these coins are not pure-bred, but rather fine cross-bred horses, like the horse ridden by the Libyan woman (p. 244). In reference to that 1 Find. Pyth. iv. 17. 2 Ib. iv. 1. 3 Strabo, 837. 4 Diod. Sic. XLIX. 2. 254 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. horse and the others pourtrayed on the pottery from Daphnae I have pointed out that, as in modern and medieval times people have bred horses for practical purposes rather than for speed alone, so the ancients were actuated by similar motives. No doubt the same reason influenced the Cartha- ginians, both in Africa and Sicily, and we shall see that the Sicilian and other Greeks of the fifth century B.C. and the Romans of the Republic and Empire were affected by the same considerations, though for purely racing purposes the Romans gave preeminence to the pure African horse. We have seen that the high set of the tail is one of the characteristics of the Kohl breed (Fig. 58). The tail of the well-bred horse on the Carthaginian coin of Panormus (Fig. 74) indicates that this was already a feature of Libyan horses in the fifth century B.C. At how early a date the Libyan horse made its way into Spain it is impossible to say, although from certain Greek legends, to one of which we have already referred, the Iberians may have known of the famous fleet steeds of the Libyan shore for many centuries before the date of the Carthaginian settle- ments in the peninsula in the third century B.C. There is, however, the clearest evidence from the Roman historians that the Libyan horses had been brought over to Spain in large numbers by 219 B.C. When Hannibal in that year prepared to march into Italy with 90,000 foot and 12,000 cavalry, a very considerable pro- portion of the latter consisted of Numidians, who rode their own native horses, without bridles, whilst the remainder was composed of Spanish horsemen who rode with bridles. The Romans first became acquainted with the Numidian horses and horsemen, whom afterwards, to their cost, they were to know too well, at the moment when Hannibal after seizing the passage of the Rhone was slowly ferrying his thirty-seven elephants across that river. On learning that Scipio had disembarked his army at the Massaliot mouth of the Rhone, Hannibal despatched a body of five hundred Numidian horse to reconnoitre. Scipio had also sent his cavalry forward with a like object. As soon as the Numidians met the enemy they Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 255 charged with their wonted impetuosity, and a desperate en- counter took place, but after some two hundred had fallen on either side, the Romans eventually drove their assailants back to Hannibal's camp 1 . As soon as he crossed the Alps and descended into Italy the cavalry skirmish at the Ticinus (Ticino) demonstrated that FIG. 74. Carthaginian Coins (a and c Carthage, b Panormus). the Carthaginian cavalry was far superior to that of the Romans and the Gallic cavalry serving with them, the latter in turn being inferior to that of the Romans. Though Livy gives no description of the horses ridden by the Numidians in Hannibal's army there can be no doubt that they brought their own horses with them, as was the case 1 Livy, xxi. 29. 256 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. with a body of eight hundred of the same bold horsemen who, after the Roman conquest of North Africa, served with the Romans in their campaign against the Ligurians, and saved the Roman consul and his legions from a complete defeat. Livy's graphic description of these Numidians and their small slightly built horses has already been given (p. 241). Hannibal had committed the care of Spain to his brother Hasdrubal, and had left him, in addition to a large body of African infantry, a force of cavalry composed of three hundred Libyphoenicians and eighteen hundred Numidians and Mauri- tanians from the region bordering on the Atlantic 1 . Over two thousand Libyan horses were thus at this time alone sent into Spain and kept there permanently. As probably most of them x were stallions, since the Numidians and Moors did not use geldings and kept their mares for breeding, the influence which these two thousand horses exercised on the native breed within a short time must have been very great. For it is more than likely that the Spaniards would have sought eagerly to obtain the services of superior sires for their mares. We need not then be surprised that at the time when Posidonius, the Stoic philosopher who travelled in western Europe about 90 B.C., visited Spain, the Iberians and Celti- berians possessed horses of fine quality more or less impregnated with Libyan blood. He tells us that the Iberians used " cavalry interspersed among their footmen, that their horses were trained to traverse the mountains, and to sink down on their knees at a word from the rider, in case of necessity. They \ had also a practice not confined to them two men mounted one horse so that in the event of an engagement one might be at hand to fight on foot." He does not mention the colour of the ordinary Iberian horses, but he gives us the very important information that the horses of the Celtiberians, who occupied northern Spain, were " rather starling-coloured " (i.e. dark grey flecked with white), but that they lost that colour when transported into southern Spain, and he compared them to the Parthian horses, " for indeed they are superior to all other breeds in fleetness and endurance." 1 Livy, xxi. 22. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 257 We can at least gather from the statement of Posidonius that the Celtiberian horses, that is, those of northern Spain, differed essentially in colour from those of the Iberians, that is from the horses of Andalusia and other parts of southern Spain. But as the former seem to have been grey, it is clear that the latter were not that colour, but were probably mono- chrome. Unfortunately Strabo gives us no information respecting either the colour or form of the wild or feral horses which he mentions incidentally. We have therefore no means of judging whether they were more akin to the horses of the South or to those of the North, but, as in modern times dun-coloured horses (not unfrequently with a dorsal stripe) are found in the sierras of Spain, it is not unfair to infer that the old dun-coloured horses of upper Europe and Asia formed the substrate of the grey Celtiberian horses, just as the upper Asiatic dun horse is a main element in the grey horses of western Asia at the present day. Whether these dun horses were indigenous in Spain or brought in by the Celts in their invasion in the sixth century B.C., or whether they were of the heavy type, or a light type such as the ' Celtic ' pony, it is of course impossible to say. A well-known story told by Pliny 1 indicates that horses of extraordinary fleetness were bred in Lusitania, for the tale went that in the region of the town of Olisipo and the Tagus the mares were impregnated by the West Wind and brought forth an offspring of surpassing fleetness, which however lived only for three years. From this we may fairly infer that a very swift breed of horses existed in that part of Portugal, and that they were not the ordinary slow upper European horse ; but whether they were a slight built indigenous race connected with the ' Celtic ' pony, or whether they were the descendants of horses introduced from Libya, it is of course impossible to say. On the other hand, we also learn from Pliny 2 that north- 1 H. N. vin. 166 : constat in Lusitania circa Olisiponem oppidum et Tagura amnem equas Favonio flante obversas animalem concipere spiritum, idque partum fieri et gigni permcisaimum ita, sed triennium vitae non excedere. Cf. Tasso, Gerusalemme Liberata, canto vn. 2 loc. cit.: in eadem Hispania Gallaica gens et Asturica equini generis, hi R. H. 17 258 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. west Spain produced a breed of horses, those of Gallaecia (Galicia) and Asturia (Asturias), the former known to the Romans as celdones (Galicians), the latter (which were of smaller size) as asturcones (Asturians). The pace of these horses was an easy amble, but we are not told their colour. It has been universally held up to the present 1 that "when the Saracens conquered Spain in the eighth century they brought from Africa many saddle-horses of the Eastern type, which, later on, were crossed with the heavier native Spanish horses." But the evidence just cited renders it certain that the fine docile breed of Libyan horses had been planted in Spain some ten centuries before the Saracen conquest, and some three or four before the Arabs ever owned a horse. The Barbary blood in the horses of Andalusia and Grenada was largely reinforced by the Saracen conquest, for the Moors, like their ancestors who served in Hannibal's army, brought over with them their own native horses. Let us now examine the colours of the modern Spanish breeds of horses. It is of course in southern Spain that the Barbary blood especially prevails, and through the Middle Ages down to our own times the horses of Andalusia, Grenada, and Estremadura have been especially esteemed. The pre- dominant colour is bay, next to which come black and grey. According to a Spanish proverb, "a mulberry-black horse is what everyone should wish for, though few may possess." Black horses without a white mark or with only a star in the forehead are especially valued. Early writers, such as Absyrtus, note that Libyan horses "be of like goodness, and of like shape to the Spanish, save that the Libyans be stronger made, longer bodied, thicker ribbed, and broader breasted." This similarity was doubtless due not only to the fact that Libyan horses had been imported into Spain, but that later on, as certain writers tell us, Spanish horses were imported into North Africa and crossed with the suntquos celdones vocamus, minore forma appellatos asturcones, gignunt quibus non vulgaris in cursu gradus, sed mollis alterno crurum explicatu glomeratio, unde equis tolutim capere incursum traditur arte. 1 Hayes, Points of the Horse, p. 508 (ed. 3). Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 259 native horses there. It was the fine-bred Andalusian horse which was termed the Spanish jennet by our older English writers, as is clear from Blundeville's description of that animal : " The Jennet of Spaine is finelie made, both head, bodie, and legs, and very seemlie to the eie, saving that his buttocks be somewhat slender, and for his fine making, lightnesse, and swiftnesse withall, he is verie much esteemed, and especiallie of noble men, as Camerarius saith, which Oppianus also affirmeth, saieng : that the Jennet in swiftness passeth the Parthians and FIG. 75. The Jennet of Spain. all other horses whatsoever they be, even so far as the Egle exceedeth all the birds in the aire, and as the Dolphin passeth all the fishes in the sea, but therewith he saith that they be but small of stature, of small strength, and of small courage, all which things seeme to agree verie well with those Jennets that be brought hither into England, unlesse it be the last point. For I have heard some of the Spaniards to set such praise on their Jennets' courage, as they have not letted to report, that they have carried their riders out of the field, I cannot tell how manie miles, after the Jennets themselves have been shot cleane through the bodies with Harquebushes. 172 260 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. Which report I have heard to be true by divers of our owne souldiers, which if it be true in deede, it doth better countevaile their small stature and little strength, which is manifest to all men's eies that do behold them." This description is admirably illustrated by Stradanus' drawing of the ' Hispanus ' here reproduced (Fig. 75). The horses of northern Spain are grey and rufous-grey, and are of a smaller size than the Andalusian 1 . In them we have no difficulty in recognizing the Celtiberian, Galician and Asturian breeds of Strabo and Pliny. In the dun-coloured 2 animals (often striped) of the sierras we have the less modified descendants of the old European horses, but in view of the continual inter- crossing for many centuries of the Libyan and European blood, and in face of the facts relating to the dun- coloured striped horses of Kattywar (p. 157), it would be rash to assume that these striped dun horses of Spain are really pure representatives of the old dun horses of Europe. The curious statement that the Celtiberian horses lost their distinctive speckled coats when removed into southern Spain is readily explained. The actual horses exported did not change their colour, but as they became mixed with the dark Libyan stock in that region, the latter blood predominated and the grey horses merged into the dark bay and black. The horses of the Asturias and other mountainous areas of Spain are probably descended from the old European large- headed horse, which may have continued in a wild state in Spain down to the Christian era, since Posidonius mentions horses among the wild animals of Spain. Of course these horses may have been simply feral horses, but on the other hand there is no reason why genuine wild Equidae should not have still survived in wild and mountainous districts. We have seen that Strabo compared the Celtiberian horses, that is, the horses of northern Spain, to the Parthian horses, which were the descendants of the Nisaean horses, the best in Asia in the fifth century B.C. ; it has also been shown that 1 Hamilton Smith, op. cit. p. 247. 2 Isidore of Seville (Orlgg. xn. 1) says that dun (cinereus) horses are the worst (but cf. p. 348). Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 261 the Libyan horses were being imported into Asia Minor through Egypt at least as early as 900 B.C., and additional evidence will soon be offered to show that the Libyan dark bay horses with a star in the forehead were known in north-west Asia Minor by at least 1000 B.C. It has been demonstrated that in western Asia bay pre- dominates largely among the pure North African breed of the Anazah tribes, and that all the breeds of western Asia which have originated from the light-coloured upper Asiatic horse by the admixture of Arab, i.e. Libyan, blood are generally grey, rufous-grey, iron-grey, and black, as are to-day the horses of northern Spain which are derived from the old European light- coloured horse improved by Libyan blood. As then the crossing of the bay Libyan blood with the dun- coloured horse of Asia and Europe has produced the same results in Spain and western Asia, we are justified in concluding that grey horses are not an original stock as has been held by some, but are the result of the crossing of Libyan and Asiatic blood. The same holds true of black, for it is found in the areas where the two primitive stocks overlap, whilst it seems unknown among true Asiatic-European horses on the one hand, and pure Libyan horses on the other. We shall soon see that among the feral Pampas horses, which are descended from Andalusian ancestors, barely one in two thousand is black. It seems certain that the grey and black element in the horses of Andalusia and possibly even in those of Morocco, is derived from the grey half-bred horses of the Asturias and Murcia. Again, as it has been shown (p. 157) that the dun-striped horses of Kattywar are the result of crossing the upper Asiatic dun horses with Libyan blood, so too the striped dun horses of the sierras of Spain are probably due to crossing the old dun European horse with the same Libyan stock. South America indeed not only had fossil horses, such as the small Hippidium of the Pampas of Argentina and various long-limbed species, but (unlike North America) had horses at the first advent of man, as is proved by the existence of horse remains associated with worked stone implements, pottery 262 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. and fire refuse in the lake formations of the Upper Plei- stocene 1 . But nevertheless there seems no doubt that it was extinct before the coming of the Spaniards, and that the Pampas horses of South America are all descended from Andalusian horses introduced by the Spaniards in 1535, when the city of Buenos Ayres was founded by Don Pedro de Mendoza. The place, however, was almost immediately deserted, the inhabitants passing over to Paraguay by water in such haste, and with such lack of means of transport, that they were unable to carry along with them all the horses brought from Andalusia ; five mares and seven horses were left behind on the plain. The city was re founded in 1580 by Don Juan de Garay, accompanied by sixty colonists from Paraguay. "These in- dividuals found that a considerable breed had already sprung from the above-mentioned mares, and set about domesticating those which they were able to catch 2 ." The ministers of State opposed this, asserting that they belonged to the king. After protracted litigation it was decided in 1596 that the wild horses should be the property of whosoever should take the trouble to capture them. This is the origin of the innumerable herds of wild horses which are met with to the south of the La Plata as far as Rio Negro, and even throughout Patagonia. These horses were at first, as now, called alzada and cimarrona, but the Querandese (commonly known as Pampas Indians) having given them the name of bagualada, the Spaniards adopted this name, and these horses are generally known as baguales. In Azara's time there were also baguales to the north of the river La Plata. These horses seem to have descended from some mares abandoned by the Spanish settlers of San Juan Bautista, a town founded by John Romero in 1553, right opposite Buenos Ayres, where the San Juan debouches into the La Plata. It was soon attacked by Indians, and the inhabitants crossed the river into Paraguay and were obliged, 1 H. F. Osborn, The Century Magazine, Nov. 1904, p. 13; Sir H. H. Johnston, British Mammals, p. 274. 2 Azara, Natural History of the Quadrupeds of Paraguay and the River La Plata (translated by W. P. Hunter), pp. 4-5. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 263 in their hasty flight and from want of vessels, to leave their mares behind them. The baguales form immense herds, sometimes numbering 12,000 according to Azara. They frequently entice away domestic horses, who remain ever after with their wild comrades. Travellers often used to find themselves unable to continue their journey, their relays of fresh horses, which were always driven loose before them, being enticed away by the wild horses. The baguales' mode of attack is not in line of battle, but some precede the others, forming a vanguard, and the rest follow in a column, which is never broken or interrupted, and at most only changes its direction if they are frightened *. Azara estimates the proportion of bays amongst these horses to be about ninety to ten zains, that is, entirely dark-coloured without any white ; and there is not one black in two thousand ; pied and greys occur sometimes, but are then invariably individuals escaped from domestic conditions 2 . As the grey and rufous-grey horses of the Asturias stock are very common in the hills and northern states of South America, the grey horses which occasionally occur on the Pampas are probably of this breed. Now as the Pampas horses have been living under natural conditions for the last three centuries, and do not show any tendency to grey, black, or pied, whilst bay forms their universal colour, it seems clear that the latter is the inherent colour of the Libyan horse, and that it does not tend to black, grey, or pied, except when crossed with the European-Asiatic stock. The history of the domestic horse in North America is in many respects closely parallel to its story in the southern part of the same continent. Although North America, as we have seen (pp. 6, 7), played a leading part in the evolution of the Equidae, and although in the early Pleistocene period owing to the favourable conditions of environment there were great numbers of and several kinds of horses, such as E. complicatus 1 Azara, op. cit. pp. 5-6. 2 Hamilton Smith, op. cit. p. 175. 264 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. (about the size of a small Western broncho originally found near Natchez and now traced all over the Southern States from the isles of the Gulf of Mexico to South Carolina), E. pectinatus (a large horse with very elaborate grinders found in the North-Eastern and Middle States), E. pacificus (found on the coast of California and Oregon, perhaps the closest of all fossil horses to E. caballus), and E. excelsus (Nebraska), there is as yet no evidence that the indigenous horses had survived down to the first arrival of man in that continent. But it would be rash to dogmatise on this point since in a part of a quarry in Nebraska where Prof. Osborn and his associates on the Whitney expedition obtained the remains of hundreds of E. excelsus, "all the large limb bones were found broken in two." ' This,' says Prof. Osborn 1 , " suggested to me the possi- bility that these large bones, the only ones known to have contained marrow, had been broken by man, who was primi- tively a great marrow-eater, but we searched in vain for any collateral evidence of this hypothesis. To my knowledge, no human remains have been found associated with those of the fossil horse in North America; but I confidently expect that such association will be discovered, as it has been in South America." It is therefore absolutely certain that there were no horses in North America at the time of its discovery by Columbus. Indeed it seems likely that the Indians would have domesticated the indigenous horses, if any such still survived, since they were so quick to tame and utilise at a later date the feral horses of the western prairies. It is with the latter horses and their origin that we are now concerned. It seems certain that the thousands of wild horses that down to sixty years ago roamed the western prairies, were all descended from the horses introduced by the Spaniards, and that accordingly their history is very much the same as that of the baguals of the Pampas. But, whilst we know definitely that the Pampas horses are all sprung from a dozen Andalusian horses, we have no such explicit statements respecting the ancestry of the wild .' . ... , x The Century Magazine, November, 1904, p. 12. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 265 horses of North America. Again, whilst the Pampas horses show a remarkable uniformity of colour, it was very different with their kindred in the North, for they appear to have worn coats of many colours in the vast area over which they ranged from Mexico to the Red River (since, according to Dr Richardson 1 , they never seem to have advanced beyond the 52nd or 53rd degree of latitude). Thus, according to Catlin 2 , these wild horses were of all colours black, grey, roan, and roan pied with sorrel and F. Micheaux 3 describes two wild horses from Mexico as roan, whilst Darwin 4 on the authority of Dr Canfield says that in certain parts they are mostly duns and striped, and Osborn states that "in Mexico and various other parts of America, the descendants of the horses in- troduced by the Spaniards are frequently of a dun colour with distinct dorsal, shoulder, and leg stripes 5 ." Since Darwin adduced these dun-coloured horses of Mexico as cases of reversion to the dun colour of a primitive ancestor, and as the same horses are still being constantly cited in support of the same doctrine, it is most important that we should ascertain as far as possible the history of the horses of Spanish descent in Mexico and other parts of North America. This is all the more desirable in view of the facts which we have already elicited concerning the striped horses of Java and the dun- coloured and striped horses of Kattywar also cited by Darwin, and generally accepted without question as instances of the survival of or reversion to the primeval livery of the horse. It will be noticed that the contention of Darwin and others that in the dun-coloured horses of Mexico and Texas we have instances of reversion assumes that no horses of a dun-colour and having stripes were introduced into North America by the Spaniards. In fact Darwin tacitly assumed that as the Pampas horses are all sprung from Andalusian horses which are normally of a dark colour, the Spaniards brought none others than dark 1 Fauna Boreali- Americana (1829), p. 231. 2 Indian Tribes, Vol. n. p. 57 (cited by Darwin). 3 Travels in North America (Eng. trans.), p. 235 (cited by Darwin). 4 Variation, Vol. i. p. 64. 5 The Century Magazine, November, 1904, p. 14._ 266 THE HOUSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. Andalusian horses to Mexico and Texas. But it would be just as absurd to assume that because amongst the hills and northern states of South America grey and rufous-grey of the Asturian breed are very common, we have here instances of reversion. We have just seen that in addition to the fine dark horses of Andalusia (which have shown no tendency to revert to dun on the Pampas) Spain also possesses horses of all sorts of colours dun, white, dun with stripes, various shades of grey, rufous-grey or roan, brown and black and we were enabled to conclude that all these colours except dun and white and possibly striped dun were due to the intermix- ture of the Libyan and European-Asiatic horses. We also saw that when pied and grey horses were met on the Pampas, they were not reversions or ' sports,' but were invariably animals which had escaped from domestic conditions and were almost certainly of the Asturian and Murcian stocks. Bearing therefore in mind that the horses introduced by the Spaniards into the northern parts of South America were of light and mixed colours, we must be prepared to find that horses of a similar Asturian or Murcian origin as well as Andalusians were brought by the first Spanish settlers to San Domingo, and later to Cuba (settled in 1511), by Cortes to Mexico in 1519, and still later to Florida and to the western bank of the Mississippi. We need not then be surprised, if the descendants of these Spanish horses wear liveries of all colours black, grey, roan, and roan pied with dun (sorrel), dun, and striped dun just like the horses of the northern states of South America descended from the breeds of northern Spain. We must not then hastily assume that the dun horses often with stripes found in Mexico and the Western States are instances of a reversion to a primal colour, when it is far more probable that they have simply retained the livery which dun- coloured striped ancestors brought with them from the sierras of Spain. If it can be shown that the Spanish Conquistadores carried into Mexico and Texas not only Andalusian horses, but also those of inferior breeds, we shall have an easy explanation of the many colours (including striped dun) found to-day in their posterity. Fortunately we have the clearest evidence Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 267 respecting not only the first introduction of horses into Mexico, but even minute descriptions of the animals themselves, whilst there is also reliable evidence for the first carrying of horses to the western bank of the Mississippi, though unfortunately we have no details respecting the colour or colours of these animals. This however is of no great matter since it can be shown that they were the same kind of animals as those brought to Mexico. After Columbus had discovered the New World, the Spaniards first settled in Hispaniola (San Domingo), and hither horses were introduced very soon, for beyond doubt they were already in that island when Diego Velasquez crossed over to Cuba in 1511 and conquered that island with little opposition. As the islands formed the base for all subsequent expeditions to the northern parts of South America, to Darien, to Yucatan, to Mexico, and to Florida and the lands beyond the Mississippi, we need not be surprised to find horses of the same kinds in modern times in the northern parts of South America, in Mexico, and the Western States. The difficulty of transporting horses from Spain to Hispaniola and Cuba in the small ships of the time naturally rendered these animals very scarce and very dear for some time in the islands, as is put beyond all doubt by the fact that when Hernando Cortes set forth (1519) from Cuba to conquer the empire of Montezuma he was only able to take sixteen horses with him. From the statements contained in the depositions at Villa Segura, it appears that the cost of the horses for the expedition was from four to five hundred pesos de oro each 1 . Bernal Diaz, Cortes's comrade, who wrote the immortal account of the conquest of Mexico 2 , was a lover of horses and he has given us in his work a minute account of each of the sixteen horses brought to Mexico. There were eleven horses and five mares and these were of many different colours. There were only two jennets, that is, fine-bred horses, the rest being cross-bred animals. Cortes himself had a chestnut ( without any white ' (zaino), there were two termed simply 'chestnut' (castano), three 1 W. H. Prescott, The Conquest of Mexico, Vol. i. pp. 260-1, note. 2 Bernal Diaz, La Conquista de Nueva-Espana, cap. xxm. 268 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. ' dark chestnuts ' (castano escuro), two bright ' chestnuts ' (cas- tano claro), and one 'perfect chestnut' (perfecto castano); there were three 'greys' (rucia), all being mares, one of which is described as very heavy (muy poderosa) ; and there was one * all dark sorrel/ mane and tail included (alazan tostado), and there was an 'egg-coloured' (overo), i.e. light yellow-dun, and a ' light yellow-dun ' somewhat blackish-red above (overo algo sobre morcillo), and one 'dark '-coloured (escuro). As this passage has such an important bearing on the history of the horses not only of Mexico but also of the northern parts of South America, and the Western States of North America, and as it has hitherto escaped the notice of those who have written about American horses, I subjoin the original in a footnote 1 . 1 El capitan Cortes, un caballo castano zaino, que luego se le muri6 en San Juan de Uhia. Pedro de Albarado y Hernando Lopez de Avila, una yegua castafia muy buena, de juego y de carrera; y de que llegamos a la Nueva-Espana el Pedro de Albarado le compro la mitad de la yegua, 6 se la tom6 por fuerza. Alonzo Hernandez Puertocarrero, una yegua rucia de buena carrera, que le compro Cortes por las lazadas de oro. Juan Velazquez de Leon, otra vegua rucia muy poderosa, que llamabamos la Eabona, muy revuelta y de buena carrera. Cristobal de Oli, un caballo castano escuro, harto bueno. Francisco de Montejo y Alonso de Avila, un caballo alazan tostado : no fue para cosa de guerra. Francisco de Morla, un caballo castano escuro, gran corredor y revuelto. Juan de Escalante, un caballo castano claro, tresalvo : no fue bueno. Diego de Ordas, una yegua rucia, macborra, pasadera aunque corria poco. Gonzalo Dominguez, un muy extremado jinete, un caballo castano escuro muy bueno y grande corredor. Pedro Gonzalez de Trujillo, un buen caballa castano, perfecto castano, que corria muy bien. Moron, vecino del Vaimo, un caballo overo, labrado de las manos, y era bien revuelto. Vaeno vicino de la Trinidad, un caballo overo algo sobre morcillo: no sali6 bueno. Lares, el muy buen jinete, un caballo muy bueno, de color castano algo claro y buen corredor. Ortiz el miisico, y un Bartolom6 Garcia, que solia tener minas de oro, un muy buen caballo escuro que decian el Arriero : este fue" uno de los buenos caballos que pasamos en la armada. Juan Sedeno, vecino de la Habana, una yegua castaSa, yesta yegua pario en el navi6. Este Juan Sedeno pas6 el mas rico soldado, que hubo en toda la Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 269 Cortes set sail from Cuba for Yucatan in February, 1519, with 663 men, 200 Indians, and sixteen horses. In his first battle two horses were killed and in the second another, and all the survivors were more or less severely wounded. Cortes later on was joined by Alvarado at Vera Cruz with twenty horses and one hundred and fifty men. Cortes had mortally offended the governor of Cuba by reporting direct to Spain, and the latter sent out a force under Narvaez, who was to supersede Cortes and send him back in chains to Cuba. Narvaez had eighteen vessels, which carried nine hundred men, of whom eighty were cavalry. Cortes by this time had only five mounted men, but by a successful night attack he captured Narvaez and his whole army. The common soldiers were only too ready to transfer their allegiance to so vigorous a captain as Cortes, and the latter had now eighty-five horsemen. The conquest of Mexico was accomplished in 1521, and adventurers from Spain soon poured in, bringing other horses from the Antilles from time to time. We need not hesitate to believe that the horses brought by Alvarado and Narvaez were of the same kinds and colours as those of Cortes, the colours of which we have just enumerated. As Cuba had been settled from Hispaniola and by 1538 had already great numbers of horses, we may safely assume that the horses brought to Darien, if not by Balboa (1510) most certainly by Pedrarias, who was established there before Cortes sailed for Mexico, and the horses brought into Peru by Pizarro in 1526 were of the same kinds and colours as those described by Bernal Diaz, and in some of which we have recognized the descendants of the ancient grey horses of the northern parts of Spain and of the dun-coloured horses of the same country. We need not then be surprised to find horses of many colours including (striped dun) in Mexico and in the Western States, and it is now certain that the dun horses with black stripes which Darwin and so many others have supposed armada, porque trujo un navio suyo, y la yegua y un negro, e" cazabe e tocinos; porque en aquella sazon no se podia hallar caballos ni negros sino era a peso de oro, y a esta causa no pasaron mas caballos, porque na los babia. For fuller explanation of the horses' colours see Addenda. 270 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. to be instances of reversion to the ancestral type are nothing of the kind, but only the continuance of characteristics brought by the ancestors of such horses from Spain to Hispaniola, and Cuba, and thence into Mexico. It is absolutely certain that the horses of the northern parts of South America, to which we have already referred (p. 266), are descended from animals first brought to those regions by the Spanish colonists. That such was the case not only with the Isthmus of Darien, and the adjacent regions, but also with Peru, is beyond doubt. Francisco Pizarro, the conqueror of the kingdom of the Incas, was already in Hispaniola in 1510, for in that year he took part in an unfortunate attempt to plant a colony at Uraba on Terra Firma. In the following year he was at Darien with the famous Vasco Nunez de Balboa, and accom- panied that bold cavalier when he scaled the mountain ridge of the Isthmus and was the first European to gaze on the limitless expanse of the Pacific. After the gallant Balboa had been put to death by his rival Pedrarias, Pizarro attached himself to the latter, who with a view to pushing forward the discovery of new lands for plunder on the western coast, transferred the capital of the colony from Darien to Panama in 1519, at the very time that Cortes had set forth to subdue the Aztec empire. Pizarro started on his first expedition southwards from Panama in 1524 with about one hundred men in two small vessels, but he does not appear to have had any horses. However, in his second attempt to reach the realms of gold, in addition to one hundred and sixty men he had been able to procure a few horses at Panama l . There can be no reasonable doubt that these horses, like those brought by Cortes to Mexico, had come from Hispaniola or Cuba, and were of the same kind. The important aid rendered to Pizarro by these horses in his wars with the Indians is probably familiar to most readers, for the natives at first supposed that the Spanish cavaliers were a kind of centaurs, and Pizarro was able to extricate his forces from one dangerous position by the consternation that seized the Indians when a cavalier fell from his horse, as they were 1 W. H. Prescott, Conquest of Peru, Vol. i. p. 240. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 271 not prepared for the division of what seemed a single being into two 1 . We thus obtain an easy explanation of the reason, why the horses of the northern parts of South America resemble so closely in their colours those of Mexico. There is another source other than the horses brought into Mexico from which may have sprang wholly or in part the wild horses which formerly roamed Texas and the other regions west of the Mississippi. Ferdinando de Soto had gone to the Spanish Indies when Pedrarias was governor " and there he was without anything of his own save his sword and target." Pedrarias made him captain of a troop of horsemen (which clearly shows that there were already horses at Darien), and by his commandment he went with Pizarro to the conquest of Peru. He was at the capture of the Inca Atahualpa and at the taking of Cuzco and got a goodly share of the booty. He then married the daughter of Pedrarias, and the emperor Charles V made him governor of the island of Cuba and Adelantado or President of Florida 2 . In April, 1538, he sailed from San Lucar in Spain to Cuba and Florida with an armament of 600 men. He arrived at Santiago in Cuba on Whitsunday, and " as soon as they came thither a gentleman of the city sent to the seaside a very fair roan horse, and well furnished for the governor, and a mule for Donna Isabella, and all the horsemen and footmen that were in the town came to receive him at the seaside 3 ." The chronicler then states that " in this country (Cuba) there are many good horses, and there is green grass all the year. There be many wild oxen and hogs whereby the people of the island are well furnished with flesh 4 ." Having sent his ships to Havannah " the governor and those who stayed with him bought horses and proceeded on their journey. The governor's company 1 Prescott, op. cit. Vol. I. p. 252. 2 The Discovery and Conquest of Terra Florida by Don Ferdinando de Soto and six hundred Spaniards, his followers, written by a Gentleman of Elvas, employed in all the action, and translated out of Portuguese by Richard Hakluyt (reprinted from the ed. of 1611 by W. B. Eye : Hakluyt Society), p. 4. 3 Ibid. p. 17. 4 Ibid. p. 19. 272 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. which went by land were one hundred and fifty horsemen 1 ." De Soto and his company reached Havannah in March, 1539, and on May 30th they landed in Florida. " They set on land v two hundred and thirteen horses, which they brought with them, to unburden the ships that they might draw less water 2 ." The horses were weak with travelling upon the sea. It was not the first time that horses had been in Florida, for in 1525 Allyon had sailed thither with six ships, carrying five hundred men and between eighty and ninety horses, but the expedition ^met with nothing but disaster and the remnant got back to San Domingo. In 1527 preparations were made in Spain for a fresh expedition to Florida. Pamphilo de Narvaez set sail from San Lucar in 1527, and after wintering at Cuba he landed in 1528 at Santa Cruz in Florida. He and his comrades were reduced to great straits and had to kill a horse for food every third day, while they were constructing at Baya de Caballos frail vessels in which they hoped to reach the Spanish settle- ments, but most of them were lost at sea. De Soto's men discovered the site of Narvaez' camp at Alpaca and found there skulls of horses 3 . The horses brought by Narvaez cannot then have contributed any element towards the equine population of America. After three years' wanderings, in which he committed the most wanton cruelties on the Indians, de Soto reached the Mississippi, which he crossed about lat. 35 N. in 1541. " He desired to send news of himself to Cuba that some supply of men and horses might be sent unto him." By this time he had lost two hundred and fifty men and one hundred and fifty horses 4 . He wintered in Autiamque and in the next year (1542) he departed from it to see Nilco, which the Indians said was near the great river, "with determination to come to the sea and procure some succour of men and horses, for he had now but three hundred men-of-war and forty horses, some of them lame, which did nothing but help to make up the number : and for want of iron they had gone above a year unshod, and because they were used to it in the plain country, it did them no great harm 5 ." 1 Hakluyt, op. cit. p. 21. 2 Ibid. p. 25. 3 Ibid. p. 43. 4 Ibid. pp. 111-12. . s ludm p> 115 Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 273 De Soto died by the Mississippi, and to conceal his death from the Indians, whom he had persuaded that he was immortal, his followers by night cast his body into the Father of Waters. His goods were sold by auction : they consisted of two men slaves, two women slaves, and three horses and seven hundred hogs, the posterity of the sows which he had brought from Cuba to Florida. " For every slave or horse they gave two or three thousand ducats : two hundred ducats for a hog 1 ." Luys de Moscoso now took the command and determined to return to Minoya and to make ships there. " They shipped twenty- two of the best horses that were in the camp : the rest they made dried flesh of' 2 ." They made their way down the river with great difficult}^ fighting against the river-side natives. Finally, as the canoes in which they were conveying the horses made such slow progress, Luys de Moscoso determined to go on shore and kill them. "As soon as they saw a place con- venient for it, they went thither and killed the horses and brought the flesh of them to dry it aboard. Four or five of them remained on shore alive: the Indians went unto them after the Spaniards were embarked the horses were not acquainted with them and began to neigh and run up and down in such sort that the Indians, for fear of them, leaped into the water, and getting into their canoes went after the brigandines, shooting cruelly at them 3 ." According to another account of the expedition, written by Hernandez de Biedma 4 , when de Soto landed in Florida he had six hundred and twenty men and two hundred and twenty- ' three horses 5 . He says that when they came to the great river " we resolved to make four large pirogues, each capable of containing sixty or seventy men and five or six horses, and we spent twenty-seven or twenty-eight days in constructing them." The river was crossed where it was about a league broad and the depth from nineteen to twenty fathoms. In their subsequent wanderings they reached a place where the 1 Hakluyt, op. cit. pp. 126-7. 2 Ibid. p. 148. 3 Ibid. pp. 153-4. 4 This account is given by Eye in an appendix to his reprint of Hakluyt's translation of The Discovery, pp. 173 sqq. 5 Ibid. p. 178. R. H. 18 274 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. Indians made abundance of salt (salt springs ?), and they spent six months in the construction of the brigandines : " we took with us some canoes, into which we put twenty-six horses 1 ." There is no reason why the half-dozen horses thus abandoned on the bank of the Mississippi should not have become the pro- genitors of all the wild horses of Western America. It is clear that the Indians did not kill them at once, and the horses would thus have had time to escape into the open country, where it would be difficult for the natives to capture or slay them. There was no greater likelihood of their being killed by the Indians than there was in the case of the oft-cited animals abandoned at Buenos Ayres and San Juan Bautista, when these two infant settlements were attacked by Indians. Only one doubt remains. On which bank of the Mississippi were the horses deserted ? The chronicler gives no direct statement, but as the brigandines were built on the western bank, and as the writer does not state that they had crossed to the other side when Luys de Moscoso determined to kill the remnant of the horses, it is probable that the horses were abandoned on the western bank of the great river. As all de Soto's horses like those of Cortes were brought from Cuba, the colours of these animals would have been the same as those of the horses which formed the parent stock of Mexico. Accord- ingly, even if the horses of the Western States are sprung from de Soto's animals, and not from feral horses from Mexico, the occurrence of dun with stripes in such animals is not to be regarded as a reversion to a primitive ancestor. The horses of Sardinia and Corsica, as might naturally have been expected, show much North African blood. The Sardinian seldom exceed 13'2 hands (1'35 m.), and are in colour black, chestnut, and bay, but rarely grey 2 , whilst the Corsican range from 11'2 hands to 13'2 and are black, chestnut, sometimes bay, but rarely grey 3 . They are steady, active and courageous, and capable of enduring cold and hunger. The horses of Sardinia and Corsica had well-known char- acteristics in medieval times, for Stradanus gives a picture of 1 Hakluyt, op. cit. p. 199. 2 Cuyer and Alix, Le Cheval, p. 632. 3 Ibid. p. 613. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 275 the ' Sardonicus ' (here reproduced, Fig. 76) ; whilst Blundeville says that " the horses that come out of the Isles of Sardinia and Corsica, as Volaterranus saith, have short bodies and be very bolde and couragious, and unquiet in their pace, for they be of so fierce and hote cholerike complexion, and there- with so much used to running in their countrie, as they will stand still on no ground, and therefore this kind of Horse requireth a discreete and patiente rider, who must not be overhastie in correcting him, for feare of marring him altogether." FIG. 76. The Sardinian Horse. The Carthaginians had occupied Sardinia from an early time and it is probable that Libyan horses were introduced into that island by them. Whether this be so or not it seems probable that Libyan blood had got into both islands from a comparatively early period, and that partly from it originated the modern breeds. The prevalence of black, chestnut, and bay, and the rarity of grey shows that although the Libyan blood had been crossed with European, the former was really the chief element in the blend. 182 276 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. Corsica was noted in the sixth century A.D. for a very diminutive breed of ponies, for Procopius 1 states that in that island " just as human beings become dwarfs, so are there herds of horses which are but little taller than sheep." The horses of Sicily to-day resemble closely those of Sardinia both in colour, conformation, and character, being black, chestnut, and bay, but rarely grey. As the Carthaginians from an early period had factories in Sicily, and as there was a vast trade between the Cyrenaica and the Greek cities of that island, it seems highly probable that the famous horses of Sicily, which so often carried off the prizes at the great games of Greece, were largely of the Libyan stock. It is very noteworthy that of the fourteen victories with horses and mules celebrated by Pindar, twelve were carried off by animals from Sicily and Cyrene, two only falling to Greeks of Greece proper Megacles of Athens and Herodotus of Thebes. Syracuse, Agrigentum, and Camarina were specially distinguished for their horses, and Pindar praises Psaumis of Camarina " as a man most zealous in the breeding of horses," and it would appear that he had actually entered at the same time at Olympia a chariot, a mule-car, and a race-horse. Agrigentum continued to be devoted to horses until its destruction by the Carthaginians in 405 B.C., for when a citizen named Exaenetus won the chariot-race at Olympia in 412 B.C., he was met on his return and escorted into the city by three hundred chariots each drawn by two white horses. The city was likewise famous for the splendour of the monuments reared over successful race-horses 2 . The coinage of the Sicilian cities amply proves their pride in their horses. Victories in the great contests are frequently commemorated in their types. Thus some Agrigentine coins have a quadriga driven by winged Nike, suggested by such a victory as that of Exaenetus, whilst in the earliest issue of Syracuse (before 500 B.C.) the tetradrachms bear a four-horse chariot, the didrachms a man riding one and leading a second 1 De Bell. Gothico, n. 4, 24: evravda u>We/> &v6puiroi vavvoi yivovrcu, ottrw drj rivuv y-rnruv aytXai dffl r&v 2 Diod. Sic. xm. 82. 6. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 277 horse, and the drachms a horseman. Gela not only prided herself on her racing successes, but on what was far more important, her fine cavalry, for her coins show a four-horse chariot with Nike floating above, and very constantly an armed horseman, spearing a prostrate foe, or else striking downwards FIG. 77. Archaic Metope, showing a Quadriga; Selinus. with his spear. These coins give us some of the earliest numismatic representations of riding. But by far the earliest representation of Sicilian horses now extant is the quadriga on one of the metopes of the archaic temple of Selinus (founded B.C. 628), which date from the latter half of the seventh cen- tury B.C. The metopes, which are in high relief and extremely vigorous in execution, have a special interest as they are the 278 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. most ancient extant specimens of Greek sculpture of the historical period. The quadriga relief which represents a chariot and horses in elevation (Fig. 77) is the most remark- able. The Sicilian horses, to judge by the monuments just cited, as well as the Carthaginian issues of Panormus (Fig. 74 b, p. 255), were cross-bred animals, for doubtless the desire to obtain strength made the Sicilians prefer half-bred to pure Libyan horses. It seems almost certain that the white horses which the Sicilian Greeks, like so many other peoples, esteemed for their colour far beyond their true merits, were derived from central Europe, for we have already seen that Dionysius, the despot of Syracuse, purchased some of their best strain from the Veneti, who certainly possessed white horses. In the fourth century A.D. the Sicilian horses were nearly as much esteemed for the circus as the Cappadocian and Spanish 1 . South Italy shared with Sicily the fame of her riding horses, and from at least the sixth century B.C. the great cities of Magna Graecia, such as Sybaris, Croton and Tarentum, were renowned for their cavalry, which formed their chief arm in war. Before the fall of Sybaris (510 B.C.) five thousand of her citizens used to ride on horseback in procession on high festivals. They taught their horses to dance to music at their banquets, an accomplishment which brought about the de- struction of Sybaris, as the Crotonians before the great battle in which the Sybarites were destroyed caused flute-players to play one of the tunes to which the Sybarite horses were accustomed to dance. As soon as they heard the tune they stood on their hind legs, unseating their masters and rendering them an easy prey to their foes 2 . We have noticed as we advanced that extraordinary docility characterised the Libyan horse and its derivatives, such as the Arab, the Turk of Western Asia, and the little ponies of Java, and we are told by Ibn Batuta 3 that he saw horses (which were certainly Arab) dancing before the Arab sultan of Sumatra, and that he had already seen 1 Veg., Ars Vet. iv. 6, 2 : Cappadocum gloriosa nobilitas, Hispanorum par vel proxima in circo creditur palma, nee inferiores prope Sicilia exhibet circo. 2 Athenaeus, xn. 520; Pliny, H. N. vin. 157. 3 Voyages, Vol. vi. pp. 236-7. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 279 a similar performance taking place before a king of Southern India, where, as we have seen, all the horses were imported from Arabia; again, the Iberian horses, i.e. the horses of Southern Spain, derived directly from Libya, were noted for the same docility, and their descendants, the Pampas horses of South America, retain that quality, whilst the dancing and FIG. 78. Fragment of Sculpture from Tarentum (4th cent. B.C.). performing horses in modern hippodromes seem always to be Arabs. The extreme readiness of the Sybarite horses to learn dancing itself points to their having in their veins a considerable infusion of Libyan blood. Thurii, which was founded on the ruins of Sybaris in 443 B.C., revived the horse-breeding tradition of the older town, and it is most important to note that according to Tacitus 1 1 Ann. xiv. 21. 280 THE HOUSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. the Romans first learned horse-racing (certamina equoruiri) from that city. The Tarentines especially prided themselves on their horsemen, which formed their chief arm in war and one of which was the type on their coins from the end of the fifth century B.C. down to the Roman conquest in B.C. 272. That the best horses of Tarentum were well-bred with a large admixture of Libyan blood is put beyond doubt by a marble fragment procured near Tarentum 1 and now in the British Museum (Fig. 78). The length of the horse's head from the end of the mane over the forehead to the lip is 0*46 m., the height from the bottom of the cheek-bone to the top of the head is 0'34 m. ; the lower lip is gone, and the ears are broken. The bridle, as usual in such cases, was probably added in bronze, as is shown by rivet-holes. From a comparison with Tarentine coins and other considerations the fragment may be placed in the latter half of the fourth century B.C. The head differs from that of the horse of Selene from the Parthenon (p. 299) in the greater length of its fore-part, from which Prof. Michaelis was disposed to infer that the Tarentine horse was of more slender proportions, and furthermore it shows more faithful representation to nature than is seen " in that wonderful com- bination of idealism and realism which is so conspicuous in the head of Selene's horse." The bony ridge below the eye, to which are attached the masseter and zygomatic muscles, is more strongly marked in the Tarentine than in the Parthenon horse ; the nose is slightly curved, the eye is large though not so prominent as in the latter, whilst on the other hand the eyes of the famous bronze horses from St Mark's at Venice lie deep in their sockets, and are overshadowed by rather strongly marked brows. The mane in the Tarentine fragment is cut short, but is not so stiff as is usual with Attic horses, and it falls more freely, hanging in a double forelock over the forehead, as is also the case in several slabs of the Parthenon. If we compare the Tarentine head with that of one of the colossal horses from the Mausoleum (p. 305) and with that of a horse from the Amazon frieze of the same monument, we at once see that the ideal Tarentine horse in the second half of the fourth century B.C. 1 A. D. Michaelis, Jour. Hell. Stud., Vol. m. (1882), pp. 234-9, PI. xxiv. m] AND HISTORIC TIMES 281 was a far better bred animal than the ideal Asiatic horse of the same period. The Tarentine fragment is held to have been part of a chariot group, but there is no reason why it may not have been part of a monument erected over a favourite horse, as FIG. 79. Fresco showing a Samnite warrior: Paestum. was the fashion at Agrigentum (p. 276), or it may have formed part of a dedication, such as a group of horses and captive women the work of Agelaidas of Argos dedicated at a much earlier period by the Tarentines to celebrate their victory over their inveterate foes the Messapians. 282 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. We are fortunately not without good evidence for the colour of the best horses of Southern Italy in the fifth cen- tury B.C., and by implication also of those of Sicily. A fresco from Paestum now preserved in the Naples Museum l shows a Samnite warrior on horseback (Fig. 79). The horse is bay with white stockings. As the painter would take for his model the most typical war-horse of his own time and country, it is clear that the best horses of Southern Italy at that date were good cross-bred horses full of Libyan blood, as we had already inferred from the marble horse's head from Tarentum. We shall soon find that the typical South Italian horses of to-day are also bay in colour. It is most interesting to find that Virgil represents as mounted on such a horse as that ridden by the Samnite warrior in the fresco not merely the Roman youth who took part in the Trojan game, but also Turnus, king of the Rutuli, a fierce warlike tribe of the same Umbro-Sabellian stock from which the Samnites were sprung 2 . In Virgil's day this colour was closely associated with the best horses of Thrace, where, as we shall soon find (p. 304), much fine blood had been introduced from the south by the fourth century B.C. The Roman youth described by Virgil " rode a Thracian steed of two colours, as he had white markings a white forefoot and a white mark on his forehead 3 ," whilst Turnus' charger is also described as a Thracian steed with similar white markings 4 . But, as we have seen that bay with white feet and a star in the forehead is a regular concomitant of the North African horse 1 E. Neville-Bolfe, Handbook to the Naples Museum, p. 19. I am indebted to my friend Mr G. P. Bidder, M.A., Trin. Coll., Camb., for calling my attention to this fresco. 2 Eidgeway, Early Age of Greece, Vol. i. p. 257. 3 Virg. Aen. v. 565-7 : quern Thracius albis Portat equus bicolor maculis ; vestigia primi Alba pedis, frontemque ostentans arduus albam. 4 Virg. Aen. ix. 48 : Improvisus adest, maculis quern Thracius albis Portat equus. In Georg. in. 82 he puts bay first, grey second, and white and yellow-dun last : Honesti spadices glaucique ; color deterrimus albis et gilvo. Cf. Varro ap. Non. 2, 87 : equi colore dispares item nati, hie badius, iste gilvus, ille murinus. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 283 and his derivatives, it is not surprising that Tarentura, Croton, Sybaris, and later Thurii were famous for their cavalry. It is very significant that the best Italian horses in Roman times were those bred in Apulia, where, as Varro 1 tells us, herds of brood mares were pastured. When speaking of noble breeds of horses he only mentioned the names of two Italian kinds 2 the Apulian and Rosean. The Apulian thus stands first of those of Italy, the Rosean horses bred in the fertile district near Reate being placed second, whilst he does not even allude to any breed in Northern Italy. The same practically holds true at the present hour, for Calabria still breeds excellent bay horses, which are of a finer build than those of Central Italy, as for example the horses of the Roman Campagna 3 . The superiority of the horses of Southern Italy continued right down through the Middle Ages, the stock being reinvigorated from time to time by fresh importations from North Africa, especially during the period of Saracen domination, and also from Spain at the time when Naples was closely connected with that country. The fame of the horses of Naples was spread all over Europe, and not only does Stradanus include the Neapolitanus in the 'stable ' (Fig. 80), but Blundeville in 1580 exhorts horse- breeders, if possible, to procure a Neapolitan stallion, and elsewhere he thus praises this horse: ."The Napolitan, which we commonlie call a courser of Naples, is a trim Horse, being both comelie and stronglie made, and of so much goodnesse, of so gentle a nature, and of so high a coureage as anie Horse is, of what countrie soever he be. He is easilie knowne from all other Horses, by his no lesse cleane, and strong making, his limmes are so well proportioned in everie point, and partlie by his portlinesse in his gate, but chieflie by his long slender head, the nether part whereof, that is to say, from the eies downward, 1 Ee Eust. ii. 7 : Horum equorum, et equarum greges qui habere voluerint, ut habent aliqui in Peloponneso et in Apulia, primum spectare oportet aetatem, quam praecipiunt videndum ne sint minores trimae, maiores decem annorum. 2 Id. n. 7, 6 : de stirpe magni interest qua sint, quod genera sunt multa. Itaque ad hoc nobiles a regionibus dicuntur, in Graecia Thessalici, a terra (Apulia) Apuli, ab Eosea Koseani. 3 This fact I owe (through my friend Mr G. P. Bidder, M.A., Trin. Coll., Camb.) to Mr E. Neville-Kolfe, H. B. M. Consul for Southern Italy. 284 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. for the most part is also somewhat bending like a Hawke's beak, which maketh him to rein with the better grace, and yet the Italians do both write and saie, that these coursers be nothing so strong now, as they have been in times past, partlie perhaps for that like industrie of late daies hath not beene used in breeding them, as in times past, and partlie for that nature doth decaie everie day more and more, as well in man as in beast. But howsoever they be, in mine opinion, their gentle nature and docilitie, their comelie shape, their strength, their courage, their sure footmanship, their well reining, their loftie pace, their cleane toothing, their strong gallopping, and their swift running well considered (as which things they have in maner by nature) they excell numbers of other races, even so farre as the faire greihounds the fowle Mastiffe curres." In modern times the horses of Naples are partly imported, partly native-bred 1 . The little carrozzella horses are not Italian, as the best come from Sardinia (supra, p. 274), and the others from Tunis; the latter being known as 'Turkish horses ' (cavalli Turchi). The carrozzella ponies seldom exceed 14*2 hands; they cost from 6 to 16 at three years old when they are taken into work. They are regularly driven with a nose-band, and not with a bit, though some of the nose-bands furnished with teeth (morgi dentati) are as severe as any bit 2 . The native horses of Naples (cavalli nostrali) are bred in Salerno and Calabria and run to fifteen hands high, the average being about 14'2 to 14*3. The outside price is about 40. The prin- cipal horse-fair is at Foggia. The Calabrian horse is usually a dull bay with a black stripe down the back, black legs, and a tan muzzle. As the records of Roman history belong to a period con- siderably later than that from which we have very full and comparatively complete documents for the history of Sicily, the 1 For this information respecting the Neapolitan horses of to-day I am indebted to Mr E. Neville-Bolfe, B.A., H. B. M. Consul for South Italy, through my friend Mr G. P. Bidder, M.A., Trin. Coll., Camb. 2 For this information I am indebted to Mr G. P. Bidder, who has taken much trouble to get me information about the structure and use of the nose- band. He tells me that the riding-horses are controlled by the bit, and that carriage-horses are driven with bits and English harness. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 285 Greek colonies of Southern Italy, and for Greece itself, we shall now resume the history of the horse in Greece proper, and then take up the story of that animal in Central and Upper Italy. We saw that the horses of the Acheans bred in Thessaly and Elis were dun coloured, and that they were not ridden, but driven in pairs under chariots. But the horse and the chariot had already been known in the Bronze Age (Mycenean period), before ever the sons of the Acheans had come. This is proved by the grave-stones found on the acropolis of Mycenae over the NtAPOUTANVS. FIG. 80. The Neapolitan Courser. famous shaft-graves which contained the rich treasures buried with the royal Perseid house, which had reigned in the Bronze Age in Argolis. Several of their stelae (Fig. 47, p. 107) show in low relief a two-horse chariot in which is seated some personage, not unlikely the ancient chief whose mouldering bones were uncovered by Schliemann. Moreover the Homeric poems have at least one reference to the horses kept by the men of the pre-Achean time. The Iliad 1 speaks thus of one steed of that bygone age: "Not even if he drove at thy back divine Arion, 1 xxni. 346. 286 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. swift steed of Adrastus that sprang from the gods." A line in the lost epic called Thebais told how "Adrastus fled from Thebes wearing sorry garments, and with him dark-maned Arion." According to Antimachus Adrastus "was the first of the Danaans that drove two high-praised steeds, fleet Caerus and Thelpusian Arion, whom, near the Oncean grove of Apollo, Earth herself brought forth a wonder for mortals to see 1 ." According to another statement Poseidon himself was the father of Arion, which is not without significance, as we shall soon find the same god as the father of Pegasus by the Gorgon Medusa. According to these stories it was only in the days of Adrastus about 1350 B.C., if we follow the traditional chrono- logy that the horse and chariot first got into Peloponnesus. The fact that a divine origin is ascribed to Arion seems to indicate that the horse had hitherto been as unfamiliar to the people of Argolis as it was to the Aztecs when Cortes landed with his Spaniards and his horses in Mexico. Arion is described as 'dark-maned/ which indicates that his body colour was lighter than his mane and tail, a feature common both to the dun-coloured horses of Europe and Asia and to the bay horses of North Africa. It is worthy of notice that the wheels of the chariots on the Mycenean grave-stones (which may be assigned to the four- teenth century B.C.) have only four spokes like the chariot found in a tomb at Egyptian Thebes (p. 225) said to be about the same period, and in this respect they stand in contrast to the Homeric chariot with its eight-spoked wheels. Centuries before the planting of Cyrene the Greeks had a firm belief that by the side of the Atlantic were bred steeds of surpassing swiftness. Already we have read in Homer of swift horses begotten by the west wind and foaled by a harpy beside the stream of Ocean. But still more significant is one of the most familiar of Greek legends, the myth of Pegasus, the first of all horses that bore a rider on his back. The renowned winged steed, begotten by Poseidon himself on the Gorgon 1 Pans. vin. 25. 7. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 287 Medusa, was born in Libya, where he had sprung from the body of his mother, when that monster fell to the sword of Perseus 1 . Thus, then, this most famous of stories shows clearly that the early Greeks held that not only the best of all horses were bred in North Africa, but also that the Greeks knew not how to ride on horseback until they had borrowed that practice along with the Libyan horse, which was a little taller arid infinitely superior in speed to the little dun horses of Europe. So great a feat was the mounting on horseback considered that Athena herself, according to the myth, had to bridle and subdue Pegasus for her favourite Bellerophon of Corinth 2 . In each case Poseidon who was the chief deity of Libya, as well as of the indigenous population of Greece is repre- sented as the sire of these, the most famous horses of early Greece. The evidence of the myths, as far as it goes, taken along with that of the chariot-wheels, points to North Africa as the region from which the Greeks of Peloponnesus first heard of the horse and the chariot, and later on learned the art of mounting the horse itself. This view is confirmed by certain pieces of evidence derived from recent discoveries in Crete and Cyprus. Even if the Libyan horse had never been seen on the mainland of Greece by Homeric times it is not at all improbable that it was known in Crete and Cyprus, which were not only in close communica- tion with Egypt for many centuries before the Achean conquest of Greece, but had also constant intercourse for trading purposes in Homeric days with the coast of Libya, as is proved by more than one passage in the Odyssey*. We have seen that the Mycenean chariot (Fig. 47), like the Libyan and the earliest Egyptian chariot (pp. 224-5), had only four spokes. It is therefore interesting to find that not only are the chariots in the pictographs found by Mr A. J. Evans in the palace of Cnossus furnished with four-spoked wheels, but that similar chariot-wheels appear on the vases of the late Mycenean period found at Enkomi (Figs. 81-2) and Curium in Cyprus 4 . We 1 Apollod. ii. 3. 2. 2 Paus. n. 4. 1. 3 iv. 85, xiv. 295, xvn. 442 sqq. 4 Excavations in Cyprus, by A. S. Murray, A. H. Smith, and H. B. Walters 288 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. further saw that the earliest representations of Pegasus are found on the pottery from Daphnae (p. 245), and that the winged steed carries his tail like the pure-bred 'Arab/ from which we were led to conclude that the swift Libyan horse had been taken as a model for the winged steed. A vase from Enkomi and another from Curium show horses which carry their tails in the true North African fashion. This clearly '"3 FIG. 81. Vase from Enkomi, Cyprus. demonstrates that about B.C. 1000 the Libyan horse was familiar to the Cypriote vase-painter, although a fragment of another vase (Fig. 82) indicates that he was also acquainted with horses of the ordinary European-Asiatic type, as is shown by the way (1900), p. 49, nos. 981, 1113 (Enkomi), p. 73, no. 136 (Curium). The chariot shown on the carved ivory combined draught-board and box (op. cit. p. 12) found at Enkomi, has wheels of six spokes like the common Egyptian form of chariot evolved from the earlier four-spoked wheel (supra, p. 224). Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 289 in which the tail is set on and carried. As the myth of Pegasus does not appear in Homer, and as the Cyprus paintings come at the close of, or after, the Homeric period, the appearance of the Libyan horse on such vases is quite in accord with the literary data. Meanwhile the Acheans had come down from central Europe with the dun-coloured horses of that region yoked to chariots with wheels of eight spokes. In Homer only dun-coloured horses are known in Greece itself; white horses, though known in Thrace, apparently not yet having been imported into Greece, while the one bay horse mentioned, of which we shall speak at greater length, was bred in Asia. FIG. 82. Vase fragment from Enkomi, Cyprus. We have seen that by the tenth century B.C. Libyan horses were being imported from Egypt into anterior Asia for the kings of Syria and the Hittites, and we have found that bay or chestnut colour, frequently accompanied by a white mark on the forehead and white 'stockings,' is the characteristic colouring of the Libyan horse and his purest derivatives down to the present day, being thus clearly distinguished from the lighter colours dun, rufous-grey, grey, and white which form the liveries of horses either of pure Asiatic and European ancestry, or with but a small infusion of Libyan blood. Now the Iliad yields at least one piece of evidence that the Libyan horse had made its way not only into Syria and the land of the Hittites, but even as far as the north-western corner of Asia Minor before 1000 B.C., R. H. 19 290 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. though it was then extremely rare and therefore very much coveted by horse-fanciers. Like Pegasus and Arion, and, indeed, like most things strange and rare, brought from distant lands, this strain was held by the Homeric Greeks to be of divine origin. The Trojans are regularly spoken of as "tamers of horses" (iTTTToSafioi) and we are told that King Erichthonius, "who became richest of mortal men," had "three thousand mares that pastured along the marsh meadow, rejoicing in their tender foals. Of them was Boreas enamoured as they grazed, and in semblance of a black -maned horse he covered them. Then they, having conceived, bare twelve fillies. These, when they bounded over Earth, the grain-giver, would run upon the topmost ripened ears of corn and break them not; and when they bounded over the broad backs of the sea, they would run upon the crests of the breakers of the hoary brine. Erichthonius begat Tros, the father of Ganymede, who was caught up by the gods to become the cup-bearer of Zeus 1 ." There can be little doubt that these horses were of the European- Asiatic stock. Since horses from the Ocean and from Libya are described as the offspring of Zephyrus, the West Wind, and of Poseidon respectively, so the Boreas-sprung horses of the rich plains of the Troad, peopled by Dardanians and Mysians, who had crossed over from Thrace the home 2 of Boreas, the North Wind were plainly regarded as of Thracian origin. Though Tros had inherited so excellent a breed of horses from his father Erichthonius, he was able to introduce a far better strain into his stud. In his combat with Aeneas Diomede especially wished to capture the horses of the Trojan hero, for, said he to his charioteer, "they are of that breed whereof far-seeing Zeus gave to Tros as recompense for Ganymede, his child, because they were the best of all horses beneath the daylight and the sun. That blood Anchises king of men stole of Laomedon, privily putting mares to them, whereof a stock was born to him in his palace, even six; four kept he himself and reared them at the stall, and the other twain gave he to Aeneas, deviser of 1 Iliad, xx. 219 sqq. 2 Iliad, xiv. 395, xxii. 692. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 291 rout. Them could we seize we should win us great renown 1 ." Diomede accomplished his desire, and the horses of Aeneas became his. One of them is described "as bay all the rest of him, but in the forehead marked with a white star round like the moon 2 ." In the chariot-race at the funeral games held in honour of Patroclus Diomede drove these horses and they easily carried off the first prize 3 from the other Achean chiefs, whose horses had all been bred in Greece 4 and, as we have seen, were all dun -coloured (xanthos). As this is the only bay horse mentioned in Homer, and as it stands in strong contrast to the dun-coloured horses of Achilles and the other Acheans, and to the white horses of Rhesus from Thrace, we may reasonably infer that in this rare strain declared to be sprung from the gods we have the earliest mention of the bay horses of North Africa. But as Pegasus, the winged horse of Libya, was the offspring of Poseidon himself, the poet's reason for ascribing a divine origin to the dark-bay steeds is now obvious. In the determination of Anchises to obtain by fair means or foul the services of a first-rate sire for his mares we see the same anxiety as is now evinced by Arabs of other tribes to obtain the use of Anazah stallions, and by Turcomans and Kurds to secure the use of Arab sires for their mares. We have thus important indications in the Homeric poems that the best horses known to the inhabitants of Greece at the end of the second millennium B.C. were those of Northern Africa; we have also adduced evidence to show that a like belief was held at a later period, and coupled with a further belief that the first horse that was ridden came from the same region. This belief, taken together with the fact that the race with ridden horses was only added to the list of contests at Olympia at a time when not only had the Greeks become well acquainted with North Africa but were already establishing themselves in the Cyrenaica, leads us to conclude that the Greeks not only 1 Iliad, v. 265 sqq. 2 Iliad, xxm. 454-5, 0oii>i = 'date-palm,' hence 'date-coloured' like Arab. ku-mait (p. 177), and.Lat. spadix (borrowed from Sicily) = ' date-palm ' and Lat. badius (whence It. baio, Fr. baie, Eng. bay) from Gr. pdis (from Coptic bai) = ' palm-branch,' and must therefore mean either bay or chestnut (cf. wvpp6s). 3 Iliad, xxm. 512 sqq. 4 Iliad, xxin. 287 sqq. 192 292 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. learned from Libya to yoke four horses to a chariot, as stated by Herodotus, but also learned from thence to ride on horse- back. Nor need we be surprised if the Libyan blood had made its way into Asia Minor at a date anterior to its first advent into Greece, for, as we have seen, the Libyan horses could pass by land into Asia Minor, whilst the broad expanse of sea between Africa and Greece would interpose a formidable barrier to the transport of horses, at least in any quantity, from Libya to Greece, in the days when only ships of small tonnage sailed the seas. It may naturally be said that, if at a comparatively early period the Libyan strain had made its way into Greece, where dun-coloured horses were in general use, we ought to find indications of cross-breeding in the colours, such as have been furnished by the existence of black and grey horses at different points in our wanderings through Asia, Africa, and Spain. First of all let us deal with the question of white horses, which cannot be regarded as tests of cross-breeding, but which must have come down into Greece from Illyria or Thrace, where they were already known in Homeric days ; and then we shall proceed to the evidence for black and grey horses in post-Homeric and classical times. The names of heroes, which occur in early legends, prove that very soon after Homeric days both white horses and black horses, as well as dun-coloured, had become known in Greece. Thus a famous hero, worshipped at Daulis in Phocis, was called Leucippus (" He of the White Horses "), whilst there was a Theban worthy by name Melanippus (" He of the Black Horses "). Now since the myth of Pegasus and the type of Mycenean chariot-wheel indicate that the Greeks early knew the horse of North Africa, and the Homeric poems make it certain that the Acheans had plenty of dun-coloured animals, and as the black horses of Greece must have been a cross similar to those already enumerated, the evidence of Homer and the later myths seems perfectly correct. At what date cavalry began in Greece to replace the chariot in war it is difficult to say with precision, but various considera- Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 293 tions render it certain that it was a fully recognized military arm in the seventh century B.C. It will be remembered that the race with the ridden horse was instituted at Olympia in B.C. 648, a fact in itself sufficient to prove that the riding of horses had become a matter of great importance by that time. Moreover when Solon constituted his four new classes at Athens in the beginning of the sixth century, the second, termed the Knights ('Ivr-Tret?), was composed of those who had suf- ficient property to keep a horse, and serve the State on horse- back in time of war. The Knights naturally were a very aristocratic body, and in the subsequent political struggles they are always found on the conservative side. Just as the medieval gentleman was known by his horse, his hound, and his hawk, so the keeping of horses was the mark of an aristo- crat at Athens and in other parts of Greece ; and as the effigy of a medieval knight is often distinguished by his hound at his feet, or sometimes by his falcon on his wrist, so a horse's head often occurs on Athenian tombstones, indicating that the dead was of a knightly family. Nor was this exceptional. Pausanias 1 the traveller " saw not far from the river Crathis in Achaia a tomb on the right of the road with a faded painting of a man standing beside his horse." The hound too occa- sionally got his place on his master's tomb. At Tritia in Achaia the same writer saw a remarkable monument of white marble, adorned with paintings by the eminent artist Nicias: "An ivory chair is seen with a comely young woman seated on it : at her side stands a maid-servant with a parasol. A young and beardless man stands erect, wearing a tunic with a purple robe over it : beside him is his servant holding his darts, and with some hounds in leash. I could not learn their names, but anyone could guess that a husband and wife are here buried together 2 ." The archaic black-figured vases 3 and those of succeeding 1 vii. 25. 13. 2 vii. 22. 6. 3 British Museum Cat. of Greek Vases, Vol. n. nos. 130, 132 (both show bigae), no. 133 (two youths riding a horse-race), nos. 135, 374, 375 (fight be- tween two warriors on horseback), no. 581 (third horse white), nos. 606, 545, 546, 547 (third horse white). 294 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. styles furnish some evidence respecting chariots and horses from the seventh century onwards. As the four-horse chariot and the ridden horse had been added to the Olympic contests in the seventh century, it is but natural that four-horse chariots and horsemen as well as two-horse chariots often occur on the black-figured and later vases. The horses on the archaic vases are always rendered in black like the chariots and men, but as time goes on we meet representations of chariots in which one of the four horses is white. On a vase representing the death of Hippolytus 1 the quadriga is drawn by two white and two yellow horses. On another vase the quadriga of Helios is drawn by two black and two white horses. On the earlier vases the chariot wheels are either four-spoked or of an ancient form which has no spokes, but has a diametrical bar crossed by two others at right angles, whilst on the later vases eight-spoked wheels make their appearance. When we remember that white horses were held sacred among the Germans, Illyrians, and medieval Tartars, and that the sacred chariot of the Persian Zeus was drawn by sacred white horses, we are not surprised to find that in a representa- tion 2 of a Gigantomachia Zeus is seen in a chariot drawn by four horses of that colour. Moreover, just as the Illyrians and Persians sacrificed white horses, so did the Greeks of the fifth century B.C., in the ratification of solemn oaths 3 . As the vase-painters had no hesitation in representing Achilles in a four-horse chariot 4 , although in Homer that hero like all other Acheans drives only a pair, and as also the painters pourtrayed ancient worthies in contemporary armour rather than in the equipment of the Mycenean and Homeric periods to which they were supposed to belong, so they took for their models the chariots and horses of their own day. The same, as we shall see, holds equally true of the great dramatists, who had as little scruple as Shakespeare and his 1 British Museum Cat., Vol. iv. nos. 279, 305, 258, 487. 2 British Museum Cat., Vol. iv. no. 237. 3 Ar. Lys. 1912 : rls &v ovv yfroir' &v op/cos ; KAA. ei \evxbis irbdev 'iinrov \aj3ovffat rbfjuov 2vTefj.olfji.e0a. 4 British Museum Cat., Vol. n. no. 239. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 295 contemporaries in committing anachronisms. As then both dark, yellow, and white horses appear on the vases, we may infer that not only the old dun, but also white and dark- coloured horses of various hues were very common in Greece by the sixth century B.C. This inference is fully borne out by the literary remains. Thus not only are Castor and Pollux described as riders of white horses by Ibycus 1 and Pindar 2 , but the same epithet is applied to the goddess Persephone by Pindar 3 and to the Day by Aeschylus 4 . As I have already pointed out, the sanctity of white probably gave to white horses a fictitious reputation, and accordingly the epithet ' white-horsed ' is applied to the Thessalians 5 and Thebans 6 by Pindar. The vase showing the death of Hippolytus makes it plain that dun horses continued to be used as in Homeric days, an inference fully borne out by the fact that Xanthippus (" He of the Dun Horses ") was a regular name in the great Attic family of the Alcmaeonidae, the father of Pericles the famous statesman being so named. That horses of good blood had raced and won at Olyrnpia before the close of the sixth century may be inferred with certainty from a group of sculpture the work of the famous artist Ageladas dedicated at Olympia by Cleosthenes of Epidamnus in Epirus, who was victorious with the four-horse chariot in B.C. 516. He set up statues of his chariot and horses, of himself and his charioteer. " The names of the horses also are inscribed: Phoenix (Bay) and Corax (Raven) and on either side of them the side-horses Cnacias (Dun) on the right and Samus on the left." This Cleosthenes was the first horse-breeder in Greece who dedicated his statue at Olympia 7 . The names of the two yoke-horses the most important and therefore the best demonstrate that they had a good infusion of Libyan blood. The description of the chariot- race at Delphi given by Sophocles in his Electra 8 affords some information about the colours of horses in the fifth century, for, as the poet introduces Ismene 9 , the daughter of Oedipus, 1 Fr., 16. 2 Pyth. i. 66. 3 01. vi. 95. 4 Persae, 386 ; cf. Soph. Ajax, 673. 5 Pyth. iv. 117. 6 Pyth. ix. 86. 7 Paus. vi. 10. 68. 8 701 sqq. 9 Oed. Col. 312 : Alrvatas M TrwXov pepwav ; cf. Aristoph. Pax, 73. 296 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. riding on an Aetnaean steed, a breed which only became famous after Hiero of Syracuse (B.C. 478 467) had founded the city of Aetna, we may confidently assume that in his account of the chariot-race and horses he is simply describing those of his own time. There were ten entries for the race, one Achean, one Spartan, two Libyans, Orestes with a team of Thessalian mares, an Aetolian with dun-coloured mares, a Thessalian from Magnesia, an Aenian (also from Thessaly) who had a team of white horses, an Athenian, and the tenth was a Boeotian. It is unfortunate that, though he introduces two Libyan charioteers, he does not tell us the colour of their horses. Yet, since he specially mentions both the white team from Thessaly and the dun-coloured from Aetolia, it is probable that the Libyan horses were neither of these colours, but were bay or some other dark hue. In his comedy of the Clouds (B.C. 423) Aristophanes intro- duces a young spendthrift, who by his passion for horse-racing has overwhelmed his father in debt. The latter is sued by Pasion the money-lender for a sum of twelve minae, which he had borrowed to purchase for his son a ' starling-coloured ' (ifrapos) horse 1 . We have found a similar epithet (vTrotyapos) applied by Strabo to the horses of the Parthians and to those of northern Spain. The excessive price paid for the horse (which was four times the amount of the normal ransom of the heavy-armed soldier during the Peloponnesian War) shows that the animal was plainly first-rate according to the Greek standard of that day; but as 'starling-coloured' means that the animal was a bluish-black with light-coloured speckles all over, in other words, iron-grey, and as we have found this and other shades of grey to be the regular outcome of crossing the Asiatic-European horse with Libyan blood, we may safely con- clude that the best horses of the day were the result of crossing the old dun horses of Greece with the blood imported from Libya. The literary evidence is amply corroborated by the 1 Nub. 1225; Aristotle (If. A. vm. 18) says 5 5e i/'apos iari Troi/a'Xos. In the Nubes we read of other horses, such as Ko-mrarias (branded with a 9)> but it is possible that it might refer to a blaze down a horse's face ; also of a (rayu06/>as (branded with the letter San), but this also might mean some kind of blaze. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 297 monuments. We naturally turn to the horses sculptured by Pheidias to adorn the Parthenon, to the immortal steeds of Selene and Helios on the east pediment, and to the mortal- ridden horses of the frieze (Fig. 83). Pheidias naturally modelled his immortal steeds after the best living horses which he had seen, and these, as we have just shown, must have been good cross-bred horses. A glance at the head of Selene's horse (Fig. 84) shows that it is not the embodiment of the l&ea LTTTTOV FIG. 83. Greek Horsemen from the Parthenon. (the Urpferd) as Goethe held, but is rather modelled after a good half-bred horse, probably such an animal as that for which Pheidippides paid twelve minae. The head is long, the cheek and jaw refined, the eye large and prominent, and the nostril well shaped 1 . We shall presently find that great length of 1 There are earlier remains of horse-sculptures from the Acropolis, and Olympia has also yielded similar remains. Strongylon (who made in bronze a representation of the Wooden Horse of Troy, the base of which has been found on the Acropolis of Athens, apparently dating from the last quarter of the fifth century B.C.) was famous for his sculptures of horses and bulls. 298 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. head is a characteristic of the progeny of thoroughbred and ordinary horses in modern times. If further proof is required that by 400 B.C. the Greeks had plenty of well-bred horses, Xenophon's 1 description of the points of a good war-horse will suffice. The first points to be looked to in the colt are his hoofs, which were naturally of especial importance, as the Greeks never shod their horses, in conse- quence of which the Athenian cavalry horses suffered greatly in the latter part of the Peloponnesian War, after the Spartans had occupied Decelea. As the Athenian cavalry had to be constantly scouting, their horses' hoofs got worn down on the hard ground, and their animals fell lame 2 . "Thick hoofs are to be preferred to thin ones, for they give a firmer tread, and they ought to be high both before and behind, for high hoofs raise the frog far above the ground ; but low ones tread equally on the strongest and softest part of the foot like in-kneed men." An older writer, Simo, cited by Xenophon, declared that horses with good feet may be known by the sound, and Xenophon commends this as a just observation, for, says he, "a hollow hoof rings against the ground like a cymbal 3 . The colt's pasterns must neither be too upright like those of a goat, which renders him uncomfortable for riding, nor too sloping, for then he will scratch and gall his fetlocks when ridden among clods or over stones ; he must have plenty of bone in the leg, supple knee- joints, strong shoulders, a broad chest, which is a mark both of beauty and strength, as it keeps the legs wide apart ; the neck as it rises from the chest should not fall forward like that of a boar, but it should grow upwards like that of a cock, and should have an easy motion at the parts about the arch ; the head should be bony, the cheek small, for then he can see things immediately before his feet, his eye should be prominent, 1 De Ee Equestri, 1. 2 Thuc. vn. 27. 3 This phrase puts it beyond all doubt that the words x a ^ K ^ K P OTOL fo"roi, " horses that stamp with hoofs of bronze " (Ar. Eq. 552), often quoted to prove that the Greeks shod their horses, simply refer to the ringing sound like that of a bronze cymbal produced by the hollow hoof. As Pindar uses the same epithet x a ^ K 6/cporos of Demeter (Isth. vn. 3), in allusion to the use of cymbals in her worship, it is clear that Aristophanes, like Xenophon, means that the horse-hoofs ring like cymbals. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 299 and his nostrils wide. When the upper part of the head is somewhat large and the ears rather small a horse's head is more like what it ought to be." These words of Xenophon would serve well for a description of the head of Selene's steed. " A high shoulder makes the rider's seat more secure and makes the shoulder appear more firmly attached to the body; a double back, that is, when the flesh rises on both sides of the spine, is much softer to sit upon and more pleasing to the eye than FIG. 84. Head of the Horse of Selene: Parthenon. a single one." As the Greeks did not use saddles, they had every reason to dislike a horse ' as lean as any rake.' " The colt should have a good barrel, both for appearance and for easiness of riding ; the loins should be short and broad, for then the horse more easily raises his fore-parts and brings forward his hinder ones ; his haunches should be broad, and well covered with flesh; and if these parts are compact, they will be the lighter for running and make the horse much swifter; the thighs should be broad and straight, for in that case he will set 300 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. his hind legs well apart and will thus have a quicker and firmer step, a better seat for a rider, and will be better in every respect." The description of the head shows that Xenophon knew what a well-bred horse was like, and indeed by his day it is highly probable that the best horses in Greece were more and more saturated with Libyan blood. We saw that various shades of grey, then black, and finally chestnut and bay are the sure tokens of the gradual increase in the amount of Libyan blood in the horses of Asia, North Africa, and Spain. We have had already clear evidence of grey and black horses in Greece, but it is not until the fourth century B.C. that we have undoubted mention of chestnut. That the Greeks of the fourth century B.C. had chestnut horses with yellow manes is rendered certain by a famous story told by Plutarch 1 , how on the eve of the battle of Leuctra Pelopidas dreamed that he saw the daughters of Scedaus lamenting round their graves, and that their father urged him, if he wished for victory on the morrow, to sacrifice a fair-haired (gavQtf) virgin to his daughters. Pelo- pidas told his dream to the seers and chiefs, and they long disputed, one party urging a human sacrifice, the other main- taining that such acts found no favour in the sight of the Father of all. At that moment a filly with bright yellow mane came galloping up and stopped short before them. Theocritus the seer cried out to Pelopidas, " Here is the victim you want. Let us wait for no other virgin; take thou and use God's gift." Again, Aristotle 2 when describing the colour of the bisons (bonasi), which still survived in Paeonia down to his day, says that the colour of their hair was a mixture of ash-colour and red, not such as that of the horses termed paroai, that is, of the colour of the paroas, a reddish-brown snake, sacred to Aesculapius. As red (purros) is the term used for a bay horse in Revelation, it is probable that the Greeks used paroas to distinguish chestnut from bay. As in Homeric days Thessaly had excellent dun and dappled-dun horses, so her horses and cavalry enjoyed great 1 Pelop. 20-2. 2 H. A. vin. 32 : TO d x/ow/xa rov r/3tx c ^A taros ^X ei Tt fltffov re^pou /cat irvppov. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 301 reputation in Greece in classical times. Not only do Thessalian horses figure in the lists of winners at Olympia, but the Thessalian cavalry were by far the best in Greece. We have just seen that Pindar speaks of the Thessalians as riders of 1 white horses/ and that Sophocles represents a chariot from Thessaly as drawn by white horses. Probably soon after Homeric days, the white horses of Thrace had made their way into Thessaly, and they doubtless were improved by superior blood from the south in later times, for not only was Thessaly noted for white horses, but also for grey, a sure indi- cation of crossing with Libyan blood, since Statius describes the Thessalian mares of Admetus as white spotted with black, i.e. 'flea-bitten grey 1 .' Moreover, the studs of Thessaly probably exercised a most important influence on the horses of Macedonia and the rest of the upper Balkan. No better illustration of the horses of that region in the fifth century B.C. can be given than the coins of Potidaea (B.C. 490 432) which show Poseidon Hippios (of the Horse) mounted on horseback with his trident levelled against some foe (Fig. 85). The type 2 was doubtless suggested by the image of Poseidon which stood in front of the city, and we may reasonably believe that FlG 'p 8 ^' d Coin of in the horse on which the god is seated the artist has pourtrayed the best bred horse with which he was acquainted. In Strabo's time 3 (A.D. 1) large numbers of good horses were bred in Greece, especially in Peloponnesus. Arcadia was much noted for its horses. It was then a mere solitude, as many of its ancient cities had been destroyed by constant wars, and the inhabitants of many others had been deported to Megalopolis when that city was founded by Epaminondas to be a bulwark against Spartan aggression. There were therefore wide expanses of pastures given up to herds of mares. On 1 Thebais, vi. 336 : noctemque diemque assimulant, maculis internigrantibus albae. 2 Head, Hist. Numorum, p. 188 ; Herod, vm. 129. 3 378. 302 THE HOUSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. this account, says Strabo, the Arcadian breed of horses is most excellent, as is likewise that of Argolis and that of Epidaurus. Doubtless it is one of those famous Arcadian .horses that we see on a medal dedicated " to the Arcadians " by one Veturius, sometime after the establishment at Mantinea of the cult of Antinous, in the reign of Hadrian *. That bay was the colour of the best Argive and other horses of the Roman world is rendered certain by the description of the steed of Gnaeus Seius, whose owners from Seius down to Antony came to such miserable ends, that he gave rise to the proverb used of an unlucky man, He has Seius horse in his stable*. This horse bred in Argos was of first-rate strain, of " unusual size, carried FIG. 86. Coin of Philip II of Macedon, showing a jockey on a race-horse. his neck well, was of a bay colour, had a flowing mane, and far excelled in every other good point that a horse can have." As in Homeric days, so in later times, mule-breeding was carried on in all parts of Peloponnesus, except in Elis 3 , and flourished espe- cially in Arcadia 4 . The large uninhabited areas in Aetolia and Acarnania in Strabo's time rendered this district no less suited for horse-breeding than the plains of Thessaly 5 . Thrace had been famous for its horses and chariots in Homeric days. At what time the horseman finally displaced the chariot we have no means of judging, but it is probable that from at least the sixth century the war-chariot had been superseded by mounted men. In the 1 Head, Historia Numorum, p. 373. 2 Aulus Gellius, Noct. Att. in. 9. 3: magnitudine inusitata, cervice ardua, colore poeniceo, etc. 3 Paus. v. 9. 2 ; cf. v. 5. 2. * Strabo, loc. cit. 5 Ibid. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 303 times anterior to Philip II (B.C. 359 336) the military force of Macedonia seems to have consisted, like that of Thessaly, in a well-armed and well-mounted cavalry, formed from the sub- stantial proprietors of the country, and in vast numbers of targeteers 1 . But until Philip formed his famous phalanx after the model of the Theban system established by Epaminondas, the Macedonian infantry was little more than a rabble of shepherds and cultivators. Philip did not merely discipline this raw material into the best infantry that the world had yet seen, armed with the sarissa, a pike 21 feet in length, but he paid equal attention to his cavalry, and it was to this arm that he owed largely his superiority over the autonomous FIG. 87. Coin of Philip II of Macedon, showing a horse-soldier. States of Greece and the Illyrians and Thracians. When Philip came to the throne he bestowed great care upon all that appertained to horses and horse-racing. He sent both chariots and ridden horses to compete at Olympia, and, according to Plutarch 2 , he celebrated his victories in the chariot-race on his coins (probably in the biga on the reverse of his gold staters), and he commemorated his victory in the horse-race 3 by placing on his silver tetradrachms a representation of the winner ridden by a naked boy doubtless the jockey bearing a palm or crowning his horse (Fig. 86). The news of this victory reached 1 Demosth. Philippic in. p. 123. 2 Alex. 4 : rets tv ' OXv/mirtq. vlnas r&v ap/j-druv tyxaparruv rots ropfopOffll' ; Alex. 3 : i) 5' 'OXvpirtaviv frnry K^TI veviKTjKtvai. Head, Hist. Numorum, p. 197. 3 Ibid. 304 THE HOUSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. him at the same time as that of Alexander's birth. The jockey was evidently a boy 1 selected for his light weight, for he is much smaller in proportion to his horse than is the Macedonian trooper (Fig. 87). This difference is possibly due not simply to the fact that one is a full-grown man, and the other a boy, but also to the superior size of the race-horse, which is shown by the set-on of its tail and other points to be a far better bred animal than the ordinary cavalry mount. Others of his coins represent one of his famous Macedonian horse-soldiers, bearded, wearing a hat and cloak (Fig. 87). His cavalry was of two kinds: the Sarissophori or Lancers, apparently light-horse, armed with the sarissa, but probably in this case not more than 14 feet long, and the heavy cavalry who carried, not a javelin for throwing, but the xyston, or pike, suited for thrust- ing in hand-to-hand fight. But apparently the best Macedonian horses were imported from lands further south, if we may judge by the fact that ^Bucephalus, the famous charger of Alexander, was bred in Thessaly by Philonicus of Pharsalus. Alexander when a boy saw him and purchased him from his breeder for sixteen talents. The horse derived his name either from his appearance, or from a brand on his shoulder in the form of a bull's head 2 . When Alexander succeeded his father all he had to do was to perfect the military organization which he had inherited. In his vast conquests it would appear that his cavalry was even superior in efficiency to his infantry. The heavy cavalry, which had from of old formed the chief arm of Macedon, and which had been supplemented by the Sarissophori, were known as the Companions. According to Arrian 3 at the battle of Arbela there were eight distinct squadrons of the Companions, most of which, if not all, were named after different districts or towns. There was a distinguished royal squadron called the Agema, or leading body, at ,the head of which Alexander generally charged. Alexander divided these squadrons into half-squadrons in 330 B.c. Not only was the cavalry furnished by Macedonia proper, 1 Cf. Waldstein, Art of Pheidias, p. 415. 2 Pliny, H. N. vm. 42. 64. 3 Anab. i. 2. 89. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 305 but also by the region known as Upper Macedonia, a fact in complete harmony with the evidence of Herodotus, that in the fifth century B.c. all the peoples south of the Danube had discarded the war-chariot, which was only retained owing to FIG. 88. Head of one of the Horses of the Quadriga from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.' the small size of their horses by the people north of that river. The conquests of Philip and his great son must have done much to improve the native Macedonian horses. The former became master of Thessaly and the Thessalian horses, whilst R. H. 20 306 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. the latter secured possession not only of the best breeds of Asia, but was able to add to his stud the best blood of Libya, for instance when he marched into Egypt the Cyrenians sent him a present of three hundred horses, doubtless the best that their land could furnish. The effect of this may be traced in the fact that Thrace and Macedonia continued to be famous for their horses under the Roman domination, and, as we have already seen (p. 282), the Thracian horses were noted for their dark colour, with white feet and a white mark on the forehead 1 , whilst in Byzantine times the emperors of the East kept large studs of brood mares in that region 2 . In Alexander's time the best horses of Asia were strongly- built animals, showing not much breeding, if we may judge from a fragment of one of the horses (Fig. 88) from the famous chariot- group that once surmounted the Mausoleum (built B.C. 351 341) at Halicarnassus. This with the other surviving fragments of the sculptures is now in the British Museum. Thus the suc- cessors of Alexander, whether in Egypt, Asia, or Europe, were equipped with the best war-horses that the world had yet seen, and the Seleucid kings of Syria, who had become the masters of the famous Nisaean race (pp. 192-3), paid great attention to the breeding of horses, a circumstance which probably led them to place a mare suckling her foal as a favourite type on their coins. In the struggle of Rome against the Macedonian and Asiatic monarchs the superiority of the latter in cavalry was one of the chief difficulties with which she had to contend. Let us now return to Italy and trace as far as we can from the scanty records the history of the horse at Rome and in Upper Italy. I have already shown that from the early Iron Age the Umbrians had been using chariots. Accordingly we would be almost justified in assuming that the Romans had done the 1 Virgil, Aen. v. 565: quern Thracius albis portat equus bicolor maculis, vestigia primi alba pedis, frontemque ostentans arduus albarn. 2 Procopius, de Bello Vandalico, i. 12: tird /3curiXei>s iinrois 8n fj.d\ia. See also Bell. Goth. iv. 27. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 307 same, for the Patricians were Sabines in origin, the latter being an Umbro-Sabellian tribe. But the terminology of the chief offices of State under the Republic renders it probable that in early days the leading men of the State rode in chariots and not on horseback. The Consuls, Praetors, and Aediles were termed Curule (from currus, a chariot), and they had chairs called sellae curules (' chariot chairs '), and horses termed Equi curules* (' chariot horses '), were supplied to them at the public expense, even at a time when consuls and everyone else rode on horseback. This seems to point to a time when the chiefs went to war in chariots as did the northern Gauls down to the third century B.C. In the fact that the victorious general down to late times rode in a chariot to the Capitol we may recognise a survival from the time when the chief who had gone forth to do battle in his war car on returning victorious drove his chariot in triumph through the city 2 . All this indirect evidence is strongly corroborated by the fact that the Romans in their campaigns against Pyrrhus in Lucania(278 B.C.) used two-horse chariots of peculiar equipment against that king's elephants 3 . We have seen that not only the Illyrians, but also all the Celto-Teutonic peoples of Upper Europe regularly sacrificed horses. It is therefore but natural to find that the Romans, whose upper classes at all events were closely related to the Celto-Teutonic peoples, should have had the same practice, for Pliny 4 especially points out that when a horse was sacrificed on public solemnities the flamen was forbidden to touch it. Whether the Romans preferred white horses for sacrifice like the Illyrians, Greeks and Persians, we cannot say, but it is absolutely certain that they used them to draw chariots on solemn occasions. Thus the Senate decreed that Julius Caesar after his return from Africa should ride in a quadriga drawn by 1 Livy, xxiv. 18. 2 The dismounted chariot seat would not unnaturally be used as a seat of dignity. 3 Vegetius, in. 24. 12. 4 H. N. xxvni. 9: damnat equinum tantum inter venena, ideo flamini sacrorum equum tangere non licet, cum Komae publicis sacris equus immo- letur. 202 308 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. white horses 1 . The Romans so firmly believed in the superior fleetness of horses of that colour that " to outstrip with white horses" became a proverbial expression for an easy victory 2 , and Virgil 3 represents Turrius, king of the Rutuli, as drawn by horses "which surpassed in whiteness the snow, in fleetness the wind." At what time the Romans began to ride on horseback it is impossible to say, but apparently they had begun to do so early in the regal period. The original legion was said to have been supplemented by three centuries of horsemen the Ramnenses, the Titienses, and the Lucres each supplying one hundred men. In the constitution of Servius Tullius eighteen centuries of horsemen were included amongst the ninety-eight centuries of the First Class. The Romans owed little to their cavalry in their conquests in Central Italy and at no time in their history did their strength lie in their horsemen. The conquest of Tarentum and the rest of Southern Italy furnished the Romans with horses of a better quality for cavalry purposes, and as I have already mentioned, it is very significant that the best horses of Italy in Varro's day were the horses of Apulia, no doubt de- scended from the famous breeds developed by the Greeks of Southern Italy from constant importation of Sicilian and Libyan horses. It is not without significance that when the Romans for the first time issued silver money in 268 B.C. four years after the conquest of Southern Italy they placed on their coins Castor and Pollux (Fig. 89), FIG. 89. Eoman r m Denarius. a tyP e borrowed from coins of larentum or Bruttii. It was but natural that the Romans should keep bringing up the good horses of Apulia to improve 1 Dio Cassius, XLIII. 14: tirl re Xev/cwi' tinrwv KCU //.era paj3dovx<>v KT\. 2 Hor. Sat. i. 7. 7-8 : Sisennas, Barros, ut equis praecurreret albis ; cf. Plaut. Asin. n. 2. 12: nam si se huic occasioni tempus subterduxerit, nunquam edepol quadrigis albis indipiscet postea. 3 Aen. xn. 84: qui candore nives anteirent, cursibus auras. These white horses are said to have been the gift of Orithyia, the wife of Boreas, the North Wind. But Virgil as the practical farmer (p. 282) knows that white and dun horses are inferior to bay. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 309 the native breeds of Central and Upper Italy, and I have shown on an earlier page that in 218 B.C. the horses of the Roman cavalry were superior to those of the Gauls of Northern Italy. We have already seen that from the outset of the Second Punic War the Roman cavalry was inferior to the Numidian and Spanish horsemen in Hannibal's army, and it is highly suggestive that as soon as Scipio conceived the idea of carrying war into Spain, his first care was to secure the alliance of Syphax, the Numidian king, and to enter into relations with the Masaesylian Massinissa. Indeed it was in no small degree to the aid of the latter, who joined Scipio with a few followers when that general landed in Africa in 204 B.C., that the Romans were ultimately successful in the closing scene of the drama which culminated in the battle of Zama (B.C. 202). " The Romans made a province of that part of the country which had been subject to Carthage, and made over the rest to the rule of Masanasses (Massinissa) and his descendants, beginning with Micipsa. For the Romans paid particular attention to Masanasses on account of his great abilities and friendship for them, for he it was that formed the nomads to civil life and directed their attention to husbandry, and he taught them to be soldiers instead of robbers 1 ." During the years that intervened between Zama and the final destruction of the hapless city Massinissa and his Numidians effectually kept Carthage from regaining anything of her ancient power. Before Massinissa died (B.C. 141) he had so extended his kingdom that it completely enveloped the Roman province, since it reached even as far as the western Syrtis, and exceeded both in extent and population the territory ruled by Carthage, even in the zenith of her power. Carthage once destroyed, the Romans began to look with alarm upon the kingdom of Numidia, with its vast hordes of swift horsemen. On Massinissa's death Scipio Aemilianus had constrained his three sons to share the kingdom, but as two of them soon died, the whole had lapsed to the survivor Micipsa. This able man improved his father's capital Cirta (Constantineh), and established there a colony of Greeks, arid he raised it to such importance that it could put in the 1 Strabo, 832. 310 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. field 10,000 horse and twice that number of infantry. Micipsa had two legitimate sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal, and a bastard, Jugurtha, who far exceeded the others in energy and ability. Micipsa at his death divided the kingdom between all three, but quarrels soon broke out, and Jugurtha in no long time became master of the whole. Then commenced the long struggle between Rome and Jugurtha in which the latter routed the Romans more than once, and even made a consular army pass under the yoke. It was not until Rome had found a military genius in Gaius Marius, a rude soldier of fortune, and had been induced by him to remodel her whole military system, that Jugurtha was at last vanquished and led in triumph to the Capitol. I have already shown that Micipsa and his successors paid great attention to the breeding of horses and that no less than 100,000 colts were bred annually in their dominions. It was by means of his overwhelming superiority in cavalry that the Numidian king was able for so long to bid defiance to the legions of Rome. In B.C. 125 the Romans had for the first time permanently established themselves in Gaul, after the overthrow of the powerful Ligurian tribe of Saluvii 1 , and we have seen how in one of their campaigns against the Ligurians a Roman army had been saved from destruction by a body of Numidian cavalry in the Roman service. When Julius Caesar commenced his war of conquest (B.C. 60 56), he found that the chief strength of the Gauls lay in their cavalry, which was composed of the ruling class who had crossed the Rhine and become the overlords of the indi- genous population, the latter forming their serfs and dependents and following them to war. The Gauls, as has been repeatedly shown, possessed horses of fine quality, derived from southern lands at great cost. The conquest of Spain had supplied the Roman army with some good horses and cavalry, and now the 1 W. H. Hall (The Romans on the Riviera and the Rhone, pp. 49, 53, etc.) gives the best account of the Ligurians and the Eoman conquest. As these pages are passing through the press, the news of the sudden death of my gifted friend has reached me. The memory of his rare qualities of heart and brain will be long cherished by his many friends. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 311 subjugation of Gaul gave her henceforth, until the barbarians burst through her frontiers, a practically unlimited supply of serviceable horses. In the time of Augustus the ordinary carriage horse and hackney used at Rome and in Central Italy was a pony 1 termed mannus*. As the word is Celtic, it would indicate of itself that the Romans obtained these animals either from Cisalpine or Transalpine Gaul or from both, even if they were not distinctly alluded to as Gallic in the literature of the time 3 . In their campaigns against the Germans in the first century of our era the Romans seem to have relied entirely on the Gallic provinces for their supply of war-horses 4 , whilst St Jerome 5 writing in the fourth century after Christ, mentions the high value set by worldly men upon Gallic geldings. We shall soon adduce evidence to show that the Roman manni were bred by the Ligurians in what is now north-west Italy and Provence, of which region they were one of the chief productions for export in the first century B.C. (p. 321). The Romans had used geldings for pack-horses from at least the first 6 century B.C. and we know not how much earlier. Indeed Cantherius 7 , 'a gelding/ means properly a ' pack-animal ' and got its secondary meaning from the circumstance that such animals were usually unsexed (cf. p. 167). 1 Isidore, Orig. xn. 1, defines mannus as equus brevior, quern vulgo brunitum, vel brunitium vocant. Brunitum vel brunitium are emended to burrichum vel burrichium, as there is a gloss fiovppixois, but this may be quite unnecessary. 2 Lucr. in. 1076: currit agens mannos ad villam praecipitanter ; Prop. iv. 8. 15: hue mea detonsis avecta est Cynthia mannis (where detonsis means "with hogged manes"); Hor. Od. in. 27. 6: rumpat et serpens iter institutum, si per obliquum similis sagittae terruit mannos ; Id. Epod. 4. 14 : et Appiam mannis terit; Id. Ep. i. 7. 76: impositus mannis; Ovid, Am. n. IQfin. : rapientibus esseda mannis ipsa per admissas concute lora jubas; Sen. Ep. 87: ita non omnibus obesis mannis et asturconibus et tolutariis praeferres unicum ilium equum a Catone descriptum? 3 Hor. Od. i. 8. 6: cur neque militaris inter aequales equitat, Gallica nee lupatis temperat ora frenis. 4 Tac. Ann. u. 5 : fessas Gallias ministrandis equis. 5 ad Zech. ix. 9. 6 Varro, E. E. n. 7. 15, but the cantherii mentioned by Plautus (died 187 B.C.) may be simply pack-animals, not unsexed. 7 From Gk. KavdifjXios = pack-ass (from Kav9-r)\ia, 'panniers'); cf. Cic. N. D. in. 5. 11. 312 THE HOESES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. As by the end of the Republic and the first century of the Empire Rome was mistress of a large part of the known world, and was in a position to obtain not only the best horses within her own wide bounds, but also to acquire their best steeds from those tribes who did not own her sway, and, as in the first century of our era, chariot-racing had become a furious passion at Rome, and immense sums were spent on it by the four great factions of the Blue (Veneta), the Green (Prasina), the White (Albata), and the Red (Russata), so named from their distinc- tive colours, it is obvious that if we could ascertain what was the best breed of racers at this time, we would be justified in concluding that this was the best in the known world 1 . In 1903 several fragments of a long Latin 2 inscription were found at Rome, built into a wall to the north of the castle of St Angelo. They turned out to be part of a document of which other fragments had already been published 3 . The inscription had been set up in honour of Avilius Teres, a renowned charioteer in the second half of the first century A.D., and it contains a recital not only of his racing career and how he first drove for the Blue (Veneta) and then changed to the Green (Prasina), but what is more to our purpose it gives a list not only of the horses' names which he steered to victory, but also mentions the breeds to which each belonged. Although the inscription is very incomplete, yet in forty- two cases adjectives giving the horse's nationality can be read. Thirty-seven horses are described as Afer, i.e. from that part of Libya comprised in the Roman province of Africa and in the modern Barbary States ; one is styled Maurus, Mauritanian, one Hispanus, one Gallus, and two Lacones, i.e. Lacedaemonian. Consequently thirty-eight out of forty-two are actual North African horses, whilst from what we have seen of the history of the horses of Spain we know that the South Spanish horses at this time were almost purely Libyan, and Caesar's evidence respecting the Gallic horses and the constant importation of first-rate horses from the south by the Gauls in the two centuries before Christ 1 Suet. Calig. 55 ; Vit. 7. 14 ; Dom. 7. 2 Eevue Archeologique, 1903, Juillet et Aout, no. 160, p. 160. 8 Corp. Inscript. Lat., vi. 10053, 10054, 33943. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 313 make it equally plain that the excellence of the Gallic horse was due to his Libyan ancestry. Finally, the history of the horses of Greece renders it certain that the best breeds of that country were saturated with the Libyan blood. The absence of all mention of any Asiatic horses Parthian, Armenian, Cappadocian, or Arab is the clearest proof that the racing men of the time did not look to Arabia or any other district of Asia for horses of preeminent speed, and this com- pletely corroborates the evidence of Strabo in the first part of the same century that the Arabs neither bred nor kept any horses at all. It is now beyond all doubt that from the dawn of history down to the early centuries of our era the Libyan horse surpassed all others in swiftness, and that no horse was able to compete with him save those of Spain, Gaul, and Greece, which were themselves wholly or in great part sprung from the same blood. Of course a very different class of horse from the prize- winners of the circus was required for war, hunting, and other practical purposes, and for such the horses of the Parthians, so highly commended by Strabo, and other good breeds of Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy, which we have shown to have been the result of crossing the Asiatic-European horse with the Libyan, were admirably adapted. For the chief breeds of horses in the second century after Christ we have the evidence of Oppian, who flourished about 180 A.D. In his treatise on Hunting (Cynegetica 1 ), he says that though each country has its own breed of horses, he will only mention the most important, and then enumerates the Etruscan, Sicilian, Cretan, Mazicean, Achean, Cappadocian, Mauritanian, Scythian, Magnesian, Epeian, Ionian, Armenian, Libyan, Thra- " cian, and Erembian. His enumeration is not according to order of merit or geographical position, but to meet the exigencies of the hexameter metre. The horses of Libya (by which he pro- bably means the Cyrenaica), the Mazicean 2 (Numidian), and 1 i. 166200. 2 The Mazices of Oppian are the same Numidian tribe as the Mazaces and Mazices of Caesar and Suetonius, and are to be identified with the Libyan tribe of Maxyes, who, according to Herodotus (iv. 191), lived west of the river Triton. 314 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. Mauritanian horses are mentioned separately, in addition to the well-known old breeds of Greece and Asia Minor. It is very significant that in his wide survey of the best breeds of horses Oppian is silent respecting the Arabs, and from this we are justified in inferring that down to the second century A.D., even if the Arabs had by that date begun to breed horses, their steeds were not yet recognized as of any special merit. It will be noticed that the only Italian breed mentioned is the Etruscan, from which we may infer that for practical purposes it had by that date overshadowed the Apulian breeds. We have seen that in Spain, Africa, and in Western and Central Asia black horses are a regular result from the blending of the African with the European-Asiatic horse, and it is probable that the same holds true for Italy. Down to modern times Tuscany, Ancona, and the region of Bologna have been noted for fine breeds of black horses, all of which have been much influenced by African blood derived from Lower Italy. But as the horses of Tuscany were the best Italian breed known to Oppian, it is not unreasonable to conclude that from these horses are descended, in part at least, some of the fine black horses of modern Tuscany. Horses of similar colour but heavier build are found in Lombardy, but these are probably in good part descended from heavy horses brought by the Teutonic invaders of that region, of whose horses we shall soon speak. These horses of Lombardy have been much influenced in later centuries indirectly by Libyan blood through Turkish and Hungarian horses and also by the admixture of heavier horses from Upper Europe (p. 362). Stradanus pourtrays in his Insuber (Fig. 90) a typical example of the Lombard horse of the 16th century. Let us now return to Central and Upper Europe. We saw that the horses on the north side of the Danube were remark- able for their small size in the 5th century B.C., and that down to the time of Caesar the Germans still possessed only their primitive, unimproved, large-headed horses. But as the Gauls beyond the Alps had shown the keenest desire to improve their native breed by importing horses of superior blood at great cost Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 315 from southern lands, we might assume even without evidence that the Gauls of the lower Danube had for several centuries before Christ been importing horses of improved kinds from Macedonia, Epirus, and Thessaly. But there is not wanting evidence that for a good many centuries before our era the Celts, who dwelt in what is now Styria 1 , had begun to ride on horseback. At Strettweg, near Judenburg, in that province, a cremation grave of the early Iron Age formed of large round stones contained a remarkable series of objects, the most FIG. 90. The Lombard Horse. interesting of which was a small bronze waggon. The vehicle is a simple platform on four wheels, each of which has eight spokes. At each end are the heads of two animals : on the middle of the car stands a woman, nude save for a girdle; there are four figures of men on horseback, each of whom carries a round shield with a central boss and wears a conical cap. There are altogether thirteen figures on the waggon. In this vehicle we have probably a model of the waggons on which the Celtic tribes conveyed their women and children as they 1 Kidgeway, Early Age of Greece, Vol. i. p. 428. 316 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. wandered into southern lands. The occurrence of horsemen dressed and armed in the fashion of the early Iron Age proves that the Gauls on the north-east of the Adriatic had learned by that time freely to ride on horseback. But as the tribes on the north side of the Danube continued to fight in chariots because their horses were so small, we may infer that the Celts of Styria had been able to obtain horses of a better kind from the lower Balkan peninsula. It was almost certainly owing to this advantage that the Gauls of that region had been able to develope a very re- markable cavalry organization, which formed the chief element of success in their invasions of Macedonia and Greece. The description of the admirable cavalry system of those who invaded Greece and got as far as Delphi in 279 B.C., de- monstrates that they had long before procured good strains of horses from Macedonia and northern Greece, and had learned to utilise them, just as quickly as at a later time did their kinsfolk in Gaul, as soon as they had obtained horses of superior quality from Italy or Spain : " When Brennus persuaded his people to invade Greece the assembled army numbered one hundred and fifty-two thousand foot, and twenty thousand four hundred horse. But though that was the number of cavalry always on service, the real number was sixty-one thousand two hundred ; for every trooper was attended by two serfs, who were themselves good riders and were provided with horses. When the cavalry was engaged, the serfs kept in the rear, and made themselves useful thus : If a trooper (ol tVTreiWre?) had a horse killed, the serfs brought him a fresh mount: if the trooper himself was slain, the serf mounted his master's horse ; but if both horse and man were killed, the serf was ready mounted to take their place. If the master was wounded, one of the serfs brought the wounded man off the field to the camp, while the other took his place in the ranks. These tactics, it seems to me, were copied by the Gauls from the Persian corps of the Ten Thousand, known as the Immortals. The difference was that in the Persian corps the places of the dead were filled up by enlistment after the action, while with the Gauls the squadron Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 317 was brought to its full strength on the field of battle. This organization they called trimarcisia ('three-horse' system) in their own tongue ; for you must know that the Celtic for a horse is marca 1 ." This valuable passage gives us a picture of a society and a military organization closely resembling the feudal system that sprang up in all the countries conquered by the Teutonic tribes after the downfall of the Roman Empire. We have here the medieval knight attended by his squires, though in the present case the latter are not freemen, but belong to the conquered people, and have to follow their lord to war. But the institution here set forth did not belong merely to the Gauls of the Danube, for it would appear that wherever the Celto-Teu tonic tribes from Central Europe pushed their con- quests, they established a like system. The squires, here termed serfs (douloi*) or bondsmen, are identical with the am- bacti 3 of Gaul in Caesar's time, where there was a ruling class of knights (equites) who had passed over the Rhine and con- quered the old melanochrous population of France, the latter becoming the vassals and dependents of their Celtic conquerors. These Celtic lords spent all their time in war, and the greater each was in birth and power, the more ambacti or clientes had he around him. That the institution of ambacti was no new feature among the Celto-Teutonic tribes is shown by the fact that Ennius 4 , the father of Roman epic poetry (239 169 B.C.), knew of it as a Gallic term. I have elsewhere 5 shown that the fair-haired Acheans of Homeric Greece had come down from Central Europe into Greece, and conquered the old dark Pelasgic inhabitants, making them into their vassals and dependents, and compelling them to follow them to war. We have seen, on an earlier 1 Paus. x. 19. 4 sqq. (Timaeus, of Locri, was probably Pausanias' authority). 2 For this use of SoOXos (and dovXela) for a serf or vassal population cf. Aristotle, Pol. n. 5. 22; Thuc. v. 23. 3 Caesar, B. G. vi. 15: plurimos circum se ambactos clientesque habent. With ambactus cf. Gothic andbahti = service, andbahts = servant. 4 Paul, ex Fest. p. 4 (Muller) : ambactus apud Ennium lingua Gallica servus appellatur. 5 Kidgeway, Early Age of Greece, Vol. i. pp. 337 sqq. 318 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. page, how one of these dependents of Agamemnon had to purchase exemption from following his lord to Troy by pre- senting him with a famous mare. It is clear then that long before the Christian era the plains of the Danube were producing horses of excellent quality, and this they continued to do under Roman rule 1 . The Huns of course brought their own hardy horses from the steppes, but it is almost certain that these were soon improved by crossing with the already improved breeds developed by the old Celtic occupants of that region. Certainly by the fourth century A.D., when Vegetius 2 wrote, the Huns were famous for their horsemanship, and he praises the horses of the Huns and other northern peoples for their hardiness and freedom from disease, though left out on pasture through the winter frosts, and never stabled. He remarks that from the example of the Huns the Romans of his own time, who wished to save expense in matters of careful grooming and horse-doctoring, pretended to follow the example of the Huns, whose horses, though left uncared, had such excellent constitutions 3 . But Vegetius points out that the northern horses were naturally of a hardier stock, whilst the Roman horses were not only of a more delicate constitution, but were reared more tenderly, being housed from the time they were foals. Accordingly when he describes the chief breeds of horses fitted for the war, the race-course, and for the road, he puts the Hunnish horses at the head of the war-horses, next in order being the Thuringian and the Burgundian, and thirdly the Frisian 4 . He 5 gives a very full account of the Hunnish horse, which I give here in Thomas Blundeville's admirable version. 1 E.g. Dalmatian and Epirote horses (Veg. Ars Vet. iv. 6). 2 Re Mil. in. 26. 15. 3 Ars Veterinaria, in., prol., sect. 1. 4 Veg. Ars Veterinaria, iv. 6. 3. The MSS. read Frigiscos. The Frigisci cannot mean anything else than Frisian, for they must be a northern breed owing to their association with Toringos. 5 Ars Vet. iv. 6. 5: Hunniscis grande et aduncum caput, extantes oculi, angustae nares, latae maxillae, robusta cervix et rigida, iubae ultra genua pendentes, maiores costae, incurva spina, cauda silvosa, validissimae tibiae, parvae bases, plenae ac diffusae ungulae, ilia cavata, totumque corpus angu- losum, nulla in clunibus arvina, nulli in musculis tori, in longitudine magis m] AND HISTORIC TIMES 319 " The Hungarian hath a great and hooked head, and his eyes stand almost without his head, his nostrils are narrow, and his jaws broad, his neck is long and rough, with a mane hanging down nearly to his knees, he hath a large bulk, a right back, a long bush tail, his legs be strong, his pasterns small, and his hoofs full and broad, his guts are hollow, and all his body is full of empty corners, his buttocks are not filled with fat, neither do the brawns of his muscles appear, of stature he is more in length than height, and therewith somewhat FIG. 91. The Hungarian Horse. side-bellied, his bones are also great, he is rather lean than fat, which leanness is so answerable to the other parts of his body, as the due proportion observed in his deformity, maketh the same to be a beauty. And as touching his inward dis- position, he is, as Vegetius saith, both temperate and wise, and able to abide great labour, cold and hunger, and very meet for the war." " Camerarius also saith that they be very swift, and quam in altitudine statura, propensior venter, exhaustus, ossa grandia, macies grata, et quibus pulcritudines praestat ipsa deformitas: animus moderatus et prudens, et vulnerum patiens. 320 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. if they be provoked by some injury, they will both bite and strike, otherwise not. Their pace is a trot." The Hungarian horses have been continually improved by the introduction of Libyan blood, derived largely in later centuries through Turkish channels. Accordingly it is not surprising that the Hungarian horse, drawn by Stradanus (Fig. 91), in the "Stable of Don John of Austria," shows little resemblance to the animals described by Vegetius except as regards the copiousness of the mane and tail, which were probably inherited from the ancient horses of the Danubian region. The old Hungarian horse was usually of a bay colour and without any white on the legs, but grey, dun, and chestnut were likewise often found. Since the early part of the last century this type has been entirely changed owing to the constant importation of English thoroughbreds, when the Government began to breed for military purposes and en- couraged the farmers to do likewise. " In almost all cases the Government stallions were half-bred English, and these were placed at breeding depots all over the country 1 ." As is well known, Hungary at the present time supplies some of the best cavalry horses in the world. I have already pointed out that the black horses of Western Asia, Spain, and Italy all result from a mixture of the African bay with the indigenous horses of Asia and Europe. If this principle is sound, the same colour ought to characterize strongly the horses of the Upper Balkan and Danubian regions. But large black horses are so distinctive a feature not only of this area, but also of those lying to the east, that the cavalry of Austria and Russia has been regularly mounted on horses of this colour. Our evidence now makes it clear that black is not an original colour of the horse either in Europe, Asia, or Africa, but that it is an artificial product arising from the mixing of the African stock with the Asiatic-European indigenous horses in the three southern peninsulas of Europe, in Syria, Anatolia, and other parts of Western Asia. Let us next pass into Northern Italy and France. Now 1 Hayes, Points of the Horse (ed. 3), pp. 531-2, embodying the notes of Mr Reynolds (M.R.C.V.S.). Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 321 since the horses of the Celtiberians, who occupied all Northern Spain, were iron-grey, and as the horses of Southern Spain were bay, and occasionally black, and as the Gauls were import- ing horses of superior blood from the south from 172 B.C. and probably much earlier, and in Caesar's time were paying large prices for horses from southern lands, it is but reasonable to expect that some of the oldest breeds in France should show characteristics similar to those of the cross-bred horses of Spain. All French authorities are agreed that the fine breeds (races Ugeres), of which there were several of great antiquity and excellence in France, are derived from the ' Oriental ' or ' Arab,' or in other words from the Libyan horse. In Strabo's time 1 the Ligurians were noted for a particular breed of horses called ginniy i.e. jennets, which the geographer (probably following Posidonius) mentions amongst the chief products and exports of that region. That these jennets were not mules but ponies is made absolutely certain by the statement of Aristotle 2 that "the animals called ginni are stunted horses and bear the same relation to horses that dwarfs do to well- grown men." It is therefore certain that the Ligurians had an excellent breed of ponies before the Christian era, and as these ponies were sent down into Italy, we can have little doubt that they were the manni of the Roman writers of that period. The Ligurians, who lived on the Italian side of the Alps, in their struggle against the Romans seem to have had no cavalry, but when in 125 B.C. the Romans undertook for the first time to carve out a province on the Gallic side of the Alps, they came into contact with the powerful tribe of Saluvii, whose capital was Arelate (Aries), and who were well mounted on the horses which they bred in the plains east of the Rhone. To-day in the same district we meet the horse known as the Camargue. It is reared in a half- wild state, and its origin is ascribed " to the introduction of Arab or Numi- dian blood in the neighbourhood of Aries in 125 B.C., when Fulvius Flaccus, the Roman general, occupied the country." 1 202. 2 Hist. Animal, vi. 24. R. H. 21 322 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. The original Libyan blood thus obtained is supposed by French writers to have been augmented by the establishment of the colony of Julia (circ. 24 B.C.), and later at the time of the Saracen occupation of Provence (730 A.D.), and later still at the time of the Crusades. The Camargue is a small horse (1*32 34 m. = 13'1 hands). His head is a little big, but well set on. His feet are large and often flat ; his coat is alwa} 7 s grey. His head and feet point clearly to his European ancestry, whilst the modification of his colour points equally clearly as in the horses of Northern Spain, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor, to his Libyan blood. As we have shown that not only were Gallic chieftains importing horses across the Alps long before the Roman occupation of Provence, but that the Celtiberians by the beginning of the first century B.C., and we know not how much earlier, possessed a breed of grey horses, it is more than probable that Libyan blood had been introduced into the region of the Rhone at a time long anterior to 125 B.C. Again, as we have seen that the osseous remains of the horses used by the Helvetians in the first century B.C. (p. 93) are declared by Dr Marek to agree in their fundamental characters, size excepted, with the so-called Oriental races of horses, whose typical representative is the 'Arab,' and as this Helveto-Gallic horse was 1*35 to 1*41 m. in height, almost the same as that of the modern Camargue, we are led to conclude that the Ligurian ginni of Strabo's day were not only the ancestors of the modern Camargue but were the same breed as the horses whose bones have been found in the settlements of the La Tene period. The crossing of the Camargue with the Arab in modern times has given excellent results 1 . The Basses Pyrenees and the Hautes Pyrenees are the seat of an ancient breed known variously as that of Navarre, Tarbes, or Bigourdan 2 . It was derived from Andalusia according to some at a period later than the Arab conquest of Spain, accord- ing to others at the same time, but from what we have already seen it is probable that it had imbibed much Libyan blood 1 Cuyer and Alix, Le Cheval, p. 613. 2 Cuyer and Alix, op. cit. p. 609. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 323 at a far earlier date. In form it is said to fall about midway between Arab and Andalusian. The breed was decadent by the close of the eighteenth century, and has since then been greatly modified by being crossed with Arab and English thoroughbred stallions, the former being used exclusively under the Empire and the Restoration, but in 1833 the English horses were introduced, and since then the horse of Bigourdan has gradually supplanted that of Tarbes, being taller than the latter. The crossing has increased its height, which is now 1*60 m. (16 hands), and its head is longer than that of the thoroughbred. In the Eastern Pyrenees we meet the horses of Ariege, which are reared on the plateau of Laderg, at a very consider- able height above sea-level. They have all the characteristics of a mountain type being ugly and angular, but very hardy and useful. Their relatively large size (1'45 50 m. = 15 hands at most) is due to the excellence of the mountain pastures. "Everything points to the belief that they are Spanish in origin," for they preserve in great part the character of the Andalusian. The coat is generally black 1 . The Limousin horse was the glory of old France, for it was esteemed above all others for the saddle, and the royal stables were filled with animals of this breed. The majority of hippo legists are agreed in dating the origin of the Limousin stock to the conquest of Spain and Southern France by the Saracens in the beginning of the eighth century A.D. It has the distinctive characteristics of the Barb. The chief centre for its breeding was in Haute Vienne. It was in full decadence in 1770, and in modern times it has been much crossed with Arab, Spanish, and English thoroughbred blood, and has consequently lost its ancient shape and qualities. Since 1830 English thorough- breds have been exclusively used and have given the race greater size, but not so good a barrel. The Auvergne horse is also * Oriental,' i.e. Libyan, in origin, being absolutely identical with the horse of Ariege, its colour being generally black. They are not so fine as the Limousin, 1 Cuyer and Alix, op. cit. p. 609. 212 324 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. for the head is larger in proportion to their size, but in modern times they have been modified by English thoroughbred blood 1 . The Landes furnish a breed of horses without doubt partly Libyan in origin. They are reared in a half-wild state, de- pendent entirely on the scanty pasture of their native wastes. They are of small size (I'lO 30 m. = 11 13 hands) with small square heads. They are hardy and untiring. The results from crossing them with big breeds, especially the English thorough- bred, have always been bad, but when these little mares are mated with an Arab, whose height and feeding is much more on a par with their own, the results are excellent. The horses bred in Bas-Medoc are the result of crossing the indigenous mares with English thoroughbred or Anglo-Norman stallions. Their height should make them suited for cavalry of the line, but in every other respect they are ill-suited for this purpose, being ugly, awkward, nervous, and bad-tempered 2 . The horses of Morvan (whose seat is in Saone-et-Loire and Nievre) are ' absolutely identical ' with the horses of Auvergne and those of Ariege (Eastern Pyrenees). This breed had a great reputation under Louis XV, and is still valued, though degenerate 3 . Though the departments of Western France supply but few fine horses, yet Brittany from time immemorial has had an excellent breed, 'absolutely identical' with that of Morvan, Auvergne, and Ariege. The best French authorities maintain that the Breton horses are ' Asiatic,' i.e. Libyan, in origin. According to M. Sanson the introduction of this type must go back to the Celtic epoch, and he places it under his E. c. hibernicus (p. 2). These horses, known as bidets, are reared everywhere in the mountains and plains of Brittany, especially near Guingamp, Cartaix, Loudeac, Brest, Morlaix, and Redon. They have short, square heads, and they do not exceed T50 m. (15 hands) in height. They have been spoiled to a certain extent by the introduction of English thoroughbred stallions 4 . This breed, which thus extends right across France, from Ariege through Auvergne, and down the Loire into Brittany, 1 Cuyer and Alix, op. cit. pp. 605-6. 2 Cuyer and Alix, op. cit. p. 609. 3 Cuyer and Alix, op. cit. p. 63 7. 4 Cuyer and Alix, op. cit. p. 614. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 325 we shall find to be of great importance when we come to inquire into the origin of the Irish Hobby and Ewart's Celtic pony (p. 18). The little horses of the Meuse, Moselle, and Meurthe (the ancient province of Lorraine), are held by Sanson to be ' Arab ' in origin. They have great toughness and endurance, though ugly in shape. They are now only to be found amongst the poorest people. Their decadence commenced with the intro- duction of Ukraine blood in 1757, and has been aggravated by the introduction since 1807 of Belgian, Percheron, and Anglo- Norman blood. Alsace formerly possessed a breed of small horses of 'Asiatic' type, but at the present day the Alsatian horses are of little value 1 . The breeds of which we have just been speaking are all of a dark colour, like the horses of North Africa and Andalusia, from which they are sprung, and indeed they are commonly black. But, as in Spain we found not only the pure or almost pure Libyan horse of a dark colour, but also a grey breed, partly Libyan and partly derived from the old European stock, which still exists in Northern Spain, the land once occupied by the Celtiberians, and as we have already found such a grey breed in Provence, it is but natural that breeds of a similar origin and colour may be found in Central France also. The most famous of all the French half-bred or intermediary horses is the Percheron, who is as much renowned in his class as the English race-horse is in his. The centre of production of the Percheron is what was formerly the little province of Le Perche, distributed now between the departments of Orne, Sarthe, Eure-et-Loire, and Loir-et-Cher, the actual geographi- cal area of the breed only covering a portion of each of these departments 2 . The principal breeding centres are Mortagne, Bellesme, Saint-Calais, Mont Doubleau, and Courtomer. There are two kinds of Percheron, the little and the big. It is the small or Percheron postier, that was so universally used for posting and for coaching. The head is a little large, souvent 1 Cuyer and Alix, op. cit. p. 617. * 2 Cuyer and Alix, op. cit. p. 640. 326 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. camuse, the forehead large, the eye small but quick and in- telligent, the neck of moderate length with a long fine mane, the back short, the croup round and muscular, and well-rounded sides, the tail set a little low, strong legs with large joints, short pasterns. It is generally grey. The little Percherons horse the Paris omnibuses and the French artillery. Various theories have been advanced touching the origin of the Per- cheron, some holding that he is an Arab become heavy under a particular kind of work and feeding in the course of some centuries, others consider him the outcome of the blending of the Breton with the Boulonnais, whilst M. Sanson 1 makes it into a separate species, E. c. sequanius, and holds that it de- veloped in the Parisian basin of the Seine (Sequana). MM. Cuyer and Alix 2 accept this view, believing it to be confirmed by the discovery at Grenelle of a skull of Equus caballus, the only quaternary skull of Equidae known up to the time when they were writing (1884), of which the typical characteristics are those of the Percheron breed. Though it is possible that this skull may be that of a cross between the ' Celtic ' pony and the heavy built horse of the Solutre type, yet the grey colour of the Percheron taken in conjunction with that of the Camargue, and the same colour in the horses of Northern Spain, about whose ancestry we are fairly certain, render it far more likely that the Percheron is the outcome of blending the old heavy European horse with Libyan blood derived through Spain and Italy. There are also horses known as the large Percheron, but they must not be confounded with the small or true Percheron, for in the plain of Chartres there are horses of various other breeds, some of them very large and heavy Breton, Boulon- nais, Flemish, Picard, Norman but as the mode of rearing tends to assimilate all these horses to the older breed, they are commonly called Percherons and sold as such. It will be remembered that by 100 A.D. the German tribe of Tencteri, who had settled on the left bank of the Rhine, were distinguished from all other German tribes by their love of 1 Zootechnie, Vol. HI. p. 105, 2 Op. clt. p. 641. Til] AND HISTORIC TIMES 327 horses and their finely organised cavalry (p. 115). It was pointed out that their superiority in horses over their kindred was due to the fact that they had been able to obtain a better class of horses from their Gallic neighbours, who had been importing at great cost fine horses from southern lands long before the time of Caesar. By the third century the Tencteri, like the Ubii and other tribes, who dwelt on the left bank of the Rhine, had lost their identity under the common term of Franks, which had gradually supplanted the older name of Germans 1 . But their kindred on the other side of the Rhine from the Main down to the sea maintained their autonomy in their ancient seats from which they were one day destined to sally forth to conquests pregnant with empire. Next to the Franks on the east lay the Thuringians, whilst on the south from the Main as far as Basel came the Burgundians. As the Tencteri had been able to obtain superior horses and to organise a fine cavalry in the first century A.D., it was but natural that some of the other tribes should soon follow their example. It is not then surprising to find that Vegetius 2 (circ. 380 A.D.), in his list of breeds suited for war, places the Thuringian and the Burgundian next after the Hunnish, and gives the third place to the Frisian. Unfortunately, Vegetius does not mention the characteristic colour or colours of these different breeds of war-horses, but it is not improbable that many of them were already of a dark colour. Certainly by the beginning of the sixth century a dark colour with blaze on the face characterised the best Roman war-horse of the day. This is rendered clear by the story of the famous fight which took place near the Tiber, when Belisarius, Justinian's great general, with a thousand of his cavalry came suddenly upon a party of the Goths, who were bent on the capture of Rome and had already crossed the river. Belisarius himself fought like a 1 Procopius, de bello Gothico, i. 12: 'P^oj dt & TOV uKeavbv rets eKjSoXds TTOiemu, \LfJLvai re tvTavOa, ov 5rj Tep^avol rb TrdXai&v $KI)I>TO, pdpfiapov {Qvos, 01) TroXXoO X670U rb Kar' dpxas &ioi>, ot vvv Qpdyyoi /caXoOircu. 2 Ars Veterinaria, iv. 6. 2 : ad bellum Hunniscorum longe primo docetur utilitas patientia laboris, frigoris, famis. Toringos deinde et Burgundiones iniuriae tolerantes. Tertio loco Frisiscos non minus velocitate quain continua- tions cursus invictos. Postea Epirotas, Samaricos, ac Dalmatas, licet contu- maces ad frena, habiles armis [ac bellis] asseverant. 328 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. common soldier. "He happened to be riding at that moment a horse well tried in war and who knew well how to carry his rider through in safety. All his body was dark-coloured, but his face from the top of his head to the nose was pure white. Such a horse the Greeks called phalios ('bald') and the barbarians balas ('bald'). This horse was recognised by deserters from Beli- sarius, who had joined the Goths, and they immediately shouted out, "Strike the bald-faced horse." Nothing but the devotion of his body-guard saved Belisarius and his noble charger 1 . The gallant war-horse here described must have differed essentially from the ordinary post-horses of the day, which were kept at the public expense along the great roads of the Empire, and on which Belisarius himself once made a memorable journey, when Justinian, on hearing that the Persians had invaded his dominions, sent Belisarius to oppose them. "Riding on the public horses which are commonly known as veredi (German Pferd), inasmuch as he had no army with him, with great speed he reached Euphratesia 2 ." As we may assume that Belisarius' well-tried charger is a fair representative of the best war-horse of the time, it is now clear that already by the beginning of the sixth century a dark-coloured animal, probably either dull black or dark- brown with a white blaze on the face, features which we have seen to characterise the large cross-bred horses of Asia, North Africa, and Spain was already the typical war-horse of Europe; and it is not improbable that the Thuringian, Burgundian, and Frisian horses, so highly praised as war-horses by Vegetius, may well have been of a similar dark colour, especially in view of the fact that from before the Christian era the fine cross-bred horses of Northern Spain were iron-grey, a colour which easily passes into black. The Roman contorniates (Fig. 92) of the 1 Procopius, de bello Gothico, I. 18 : 2ruxe ^ I'TTTTV rrjviKavTa \iav tfjnrelpy Kal 5ia rb (rw/ict 0cuds TJV, rb HTUTTOV de awav K /ce0a\^s dxpi es pivas Xeu/cds fj.d\t Hepcrwv godov 'lovariviavbs /3a Greece, Italy, and Spain, is fully explained by the abundant evidence of the introduction of the heavy horses of Asia and Europe into that region. IV] THE ORIGIN OF THE LIBYAN HORSE 469 Again, although ergots (fetlock callosities) are generally present in all domestic horses, Prof. Ewart has shown that they are frequently absent in Icelandic and occasionally in Hebridean and Connemara ponies, whilst Captain Hayes 1 has " noticed their frequent absence in pure-bred Arab horses and ia thoroughbreds." The same great authority observes that "the nearer a horse approaches the heavy draught type, the thicker is the growth of the callosities on his legs." In view of the complete absence of hock callosities and also of ergots in many horses of the same race, and the fact that such callosities seem universal in Prejval sky's horse and the Mongolian pony, and that the more nearly a horse approaches the coarse type, the larger are such callosities, and the nearer he approaches the Libyan and Celtic types (in which they are sometimes completely absent), the smaller they become, the evidence indicates that E. c. libycus either had completely discarded or had a general tendency to get rid of both hock and fetlock callosities. In the Libyan horse and its derivatives the Arab, the Andalusian, and the English thoroughbred the tail is different in structure, in its covering and in the manner in which it is carried (Figs. 58, 68, 78, 75) from that of the Prejvalsky's horse and the Mongolian pony (Figs. 18, 53). Yet this is no more a mere outcome of artificial breeding since the Christian era than is the bay colour and the star in the forehead, for we have found the same feature in the horses driven by Seti I (p. 217), in those under Cypriote chariots on vases dating from 1000 B.C. (p. 288) and in those ridden by Libyans (p. 243) pourtrayed on the pottery found at Daphnae and dating from 600 B.C. Look at the well-bred Sicilian horse on the coins of Panormus (p. 255). The animal carries his tail in the characteristic fashion that we associate with Arabs, Barbs, and thoroughbreds. We have already seen (p. 143) that since my paper appeared Mr Lydekker, in view of the facts that Hipparion had a deep pre-orbital pit for a gland, that E. sivalensis, an Indian fossil horse, had a rudimentary pre-orbital pit, and that he himself 1 The Points of the Horse, pp. 319-20. 470 THE ORIGIN OF THE LIBYAN HORSE [CH. had found a similar depression in the skull of ' an Indian domesticated horse' and also in that of Bend Or, had sug- gested that the ' blood-horse,' unlike the * cold-blooded ' horse of Western Europe, may possibly have been the descendant of E. sivalensis. As these pages are passing through the press Mr Lydekker announces 1 that he and Dr Ray Lankester have found that a like depression occurs not only in the skulls of the racers Bend Or and Stockwell, but also in those of Eclipse, Orlando, and Hermit, as well as in that of an Arab horse, and that "at present they fail to detect it in any of the ordinary English and Continental horses. It appears to be also lacking in horse-skulls from the drift and turbary of Europe. On the other hand it exists, in a less rudimentary condition, in the fossil horses of India," and Mr Lydekker repeats his suggestion that the ' blood-horse ' is of Indian origin. But I have already shown (p. 143) that it is most unlikely that 'the Indian domesticated horse' on whose skull Mr Lydekker's argument depends was of pure Indian or Asiatic origin, since all Indian country-bred horses are saturated with so-called Arab blood, and accordingly this skull cannot be taken as a link between E. sivalensis and the Arab. On the other hand we have seen that Hipparion was common in Europe and Africa, that E. stenonis (a species closely related to E. sivalensis), which is found both in Europe and Northern Africa, had a deep pre-orbital depression, and that its later ally, E. quaggoides, had a similar feature, that Mr Lydekker himself (following Dr Forsyth Major) has pointed out the existence of this depression in the now extinct quagga, and also in the skull of an ass, and that Mr Pocock (p. 76) has shown a similar depression in the skull of a male Grant's zebra. Now as all the living Equidae which show this feature and whose origin is known the quagga, Grant's zebra, and the ass (Nubian) are African species or subspecies, the occurrence of such a character- istic in any of the living Equidae is a prima facie indication that it is African in origin. But as Mr Lydekker and Dr Ray Lankester have now shown that such a depression occurs in all 1 Times, 14 February, 1905. IV] THE ORIGIN OF THE LIBYAN HORSE 471 the skulls of Arabs and thoroughbred horses which they have examined, we have another clear indication that the ancestors of the Libyan horse had long lived on African soil. But as E. stenonis of Southern Europe and Northern Africa and its later ally E. quaggoides had a pre-orbital depression as well as E. sivalensis, there is no need to go to India for the fossil ancestors of the Libyan horse, and the true explanation of the presence of such a depression in * an Indian domesticated horse ' is to be found in the historical facts that the Arabs got their ' blood-horse ' from North Africa, and that for ages these so-called Arab horses have been pouring annually into India and are there crossed with the dun-coloured Asiatic horses. If we could rely on the statement or rather on the reading of the text of Strabo in the passage where he declares that the Libyan horses have longer hoofs than those in any other region, it would further support the view that that animal has been specialised in Africa, where all the Equidae have hoofs of a longer conformation than the horses of Asia. It is certainly a fact of considerable interest that in some high caste Arabs the hoofs are longer than in the quagga 1 . It would seem there- fore that Strabo's statement had a basis in fact. Nor is it only in colour and other external respects that the Libyan differs from the Asiatic horse. As the cry of the quagga, from which that animal derived its name, was distinct from that of the zebra (p. 73 n.\ so the voice of the Libyan horse differs from that of his vulgar Asiatic brother. This is rendered clear by the evidence of Major-General Tweedie already cited (p. 180), who, as before remarked, may be regarded as a hostile witness. In speaking of the Kuhailan horse he thus writes 2 : "The stallion picketed beside the tent is as good as a sentinel. The first sound of an intruder brings him to attention. Generally he will stamp with one fore- foot and challenge ; not braying like a kadish, but sounding one or two short and sharp notes, to intimate that he will make no terms. "..."His gentle salutations of 1 Ewart, Exper. Contr., p. 21. 2 The Arabian Horse, pp. 267-8. 472 THE ORIGIN OF THE LIBYAN HORSE [CH. passing mares are widely different sounds from the bagpipe- like squeals of the I'raki stallion." We have thus the un- impeachable testimony of a first-rate observer who has had exceptional opportunities over a long period of years for study- ing the Kuhailan and the kadishes (common Turkish horses) and the half-bred horses of the Euphrates region, and who, in spite of his preconceived notion that the Kuhailan has been produced by purely artificial breeding from the common horses of Asia, has nevertheless been forced to point out the remark- able difference in voice between the pure-bred Arabian and the horses of undoubted Asiatic lineage. Not only physical characteristics, but also temperament must be taken into consideration in discriminating between species and sub-species, as is clearly shown in the cases of the intractable Mountain zebra and the more docile Burchell species. The difference in disposition between the Asiatic- European horses and the Libyan and its derivatives has been noticed, as we passed in review the breeds of various regions. The Libyan down to the Christian era and probably long after rode his horse without a bit, simply guiding it with a nose-band or a switch (p. 240), the Egyptians seem to have used the former contrivance for controlling their chariot-horses (p. 228), the ancient Andalusian horses were noted for their docility (p. 256), and their descendants the Pampas horses of South America, after having regained their liberty for three centuries and a half, are the most docile in South America ; the ancient and medieval Irish rode their Hobbies with a mere halter unprovided with a bit, and the Arab to this hour employs only a nose-band to steer his foray steed ; Col. Hamilton Smith has pointed out that frequent crossing of the Turcoman with Arab blood has rendered the well-bred Turkish horse almost as docile as his Arab ancestors, and the extraordinary tractability of the Prussian Trakehnen breed derived from English thoroughbreds and Arabians is a well known feature at the present moment. The ease with which Arabs and thoroughbred horses are broken in compared with cross-bred and inferior horses is a matter of common notoriety amongst horse-breakers, and we observed that horses of Libyan blood have, been constantly taught to IV] THE ORIGIN OF THE LIBYAN HORSE 473 dance to music and to perform tricks. On the other hand Prejvalsky's horse is remarkable for its indomitable temper, and the Mongolian pony is famous for its bad manners ; as the horses of Libya were proverbial for their gentleness before the Christian era, so on the contrary the horses of North- western India are specially mentioned by Aelian on account of their violent tempers and the difficulty of riding them, which necessitated the use not merely of bits but of muzzles to control them (p. 153), a fact in itself sufficient to disprove Mr Lydekker's theory of the Indian origin of the Arab horse ; that the horses of Eastern Europe were of a similar tempera- ment is rendered highly probable by the statement of Strabo that the Scythians and Sarmatians were the only peoples who habitually castrated their horses, which they did to make them more easy to manage (p. 25), and we have seen that the term kadish applied to common Turcoman horses seems primarily to have meant a gelding. The legend of the flesh- eating mares of Diomede of Thrace points to a general belief in the savage nature of the ancient horses of that region, whilst in Roman times the horses of Dalmatia and Epirus, which were heavy horses fit for war, were noted for their bad tempers 1 , and the cross-bred horses of Persia descended from the Upper Asiatic stock were noted for their intractability 2 . Finally we have seen that cantherius, the Roman term for a gelding, meant originally a pack-horse, and therefore an inferior animal of the Upper European type. We have seen the Libyans, Egyptians, medieval Irish and modern Arabs all riding and driving the Libyan horse without a bit, but on the other hand the Homeric Acheans were using bronze bits to control their dun-coloured horses before 1000 B.C., and bits of a primitive kind made not only of bronze or copper but also of horn and bone are found in the Lake- dwellings of Switzerland and in the pre-historic graves of Russia and Central Asia, whilst the Massagetae in the fifth century B.C. rode their horses with copper bits (p. 130), and 1 Vegetius, Ars Veterin., iv. 6. 6: postea Epirotas, Samaricos, ac Dalmatas, licet contumaces ad frena. - Ibid., nisi labore subigetur assiduo, adversum equitem contumax. 474 THE ORIGIN OF THE LIBYAN HORSE [CH. the peoples of North-western India used not merely bits but muzzles to control the Upper Asiatic horses. It seems there- fore certain that the invention of the bit at so early a period by the peoples of Asia and Europe was due to the intractable nature of the indigenous horses, whereas the Libyan horse and his descendant the Arabian is ridden to this hour with nothing more than a nose-band. We have in this another specific difference between the two animals. If the Libyans had obtained the horse already in a state of domestication from Asia or Europe, they would probably have borrowed the bit, and it is inconceivable that they could in a short time have influenced the stubborn temper of the Asiatic horse to such a degree that not only their own horses, but all the descendants of these animals down to the present, even after they have been feral for centuries, are stamped with extraordinary docility and good temper. It is clear that the difference in temperament between the Libyan and Asiatic horse has not been acquired under domestication, but is fundamental, and this of itself is a sufficient indication that the Libyan horse is a naturally differentiated species or variety. It is significant that the 'Celtic' pony, which may be in part descended from a northern branch of the same variety as the Libyan horse, is also remarkable for its docility. We have noted the well known belief that chestnut horses are frequently bad tempered, even when well bred, and reason has been given for thinking that chestnut colour in English thoroughbreds and even in Anazah horses is the outcome of a small strain of Asiatic blood. Now that we realise the funda- mental difference in temper between the Asiatic and the Libyan horses, we at once understand why a cross temper should be a concomitant of chestnut colour. Moreover if, as is commonly held, the ' Arab ' horse is more prolific in Barbary than in other regions where it at present exists from India to the British Isles we may reasonably infer that as North Africa is best suited for its propagation, it was there that the stock was originally differentiated 1 . 1 Col. Hamilton Smith, "The Horse," Naturalist's Library, Vol. xn. p. 214. IV] THE ORIGIN OF THE LIBYAN HORSE 475 Finally, how comes it that no breed of Asiatic horse has ever been so improved by careful selection, or even by the admixture of African blood, as to be able to contend in speed with the latter, unless it be that the North African horse has been differentiated from the Asiatic horses during a very long lapse of time ? It has been pointed out that the English thoroughbred only really arose when mares as well as horses of North African blood were imported by Charles II, and it is a well-known fact that no three-quarters bred horse has ever beaten a thoroughbred. The astonishing superiority in speed of North African horses over all others seems to indicate that that strain is the outcome of natural specialisation carried on through countless generations. We have now examined the available data for tracing the history of the thoroughbred horse, and we found that the historical evidence put it beyond doubt that it originated in North Africa, from whence it has gradually kept spreading northward and eastward from at least 1000 B.C. The evidence of its characteristic bay colour, the not unfrequent occurrence of stripes on its head, body and legs, its dark skin resembling that of the zebras, its special fecundity in North Africa, all point to its being no merely artificial breed formed under domestication by careful selection by man, but indicate clearly that it is a distinct variety developed during a long succession of time in Libya, under conditions similar to those which have produced some of the zebras with their finely-formed limbs, their dark skin, and striped bodies. The only other conceivable alter- native is that domestic horses from Asia were crossed in North Africa with some variety of striped African Equidae. I men- tioned this as a not wholly impossible alternative when writing in 1902, for the fecundity of zebra-horse hybrids had been held as not impossible by leading experts 1 , and as an animal deposited by the King in the Zoological Garden, Regent's Park 2 , in that year was alleged by some to be the offspring of a horse and a zebra-hybrid. But as Prof. Ewart has now demonstrated the sterility of zebra-horse hybrids, and since the animal sent home 1 Ewart, Guide to the Zebra Hybrids (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 34. 2 Proc. ZooL Soc., 1902, Vol. n. p. 225. 476 THE ORIGIN OF THE LIBYAN HORSE [CH. to England from South Africa by Lord Kitchener as the re- puted offspring of a horse and a zebra-horse hybrid, has been proved to be only a zebra-horse hybrid (Fig. 136) 1 , this alterna- tive must be summarily rejected. All zoologists are agreed in regarding the African wild ass as a species distinct from the Asiatic group of asses on the grounds that it is grey instead of being rufous-brown, that it has a shoulder stripe, that its ears are a little longer, and that it has more frequently dark bars on its lower limbs. Mr Sclater holds that the Somali ass is a species separate from the Nubian because it is more grey in colour, has no shoulder stripe, has numerous black markings on the legs, smaller ears and a longer marie, and some make the Asiatic ass into three separate species, whilst those who do not, make them into three or more sub-species or varieties; and some have even made four valid species out of the Burchell group of zebras. Mr Lydekker holds that the Burchell zebra and the Quagga are specifically distinct on the grounds that (1) the pattern on the forehead of the Quagga forms a shorter and more regular diamond than in the Burchell zebra (Bonte quag go) and that in the former the centre of the diamond is a pale stripe with four or five dark stripes on either side of it, whereas in all Bonte quaggas or Burchell zebras the diamond is made up of from five to nine stripes, the middle line being black with from two to four stripes on each side, and (2) on the ground that quaggas may be distinguished from Burchell zebras by the presence on the skull in front of the orbit of a depression (p. 76) ; and the same authority regards as " subspecifically distinct from the kiang of Tibet " a wild ass from Mongolia which differs simply in colour from the kiang (pp. 44-5). Now as the Libyan horse differs from the Asiatic by being bay instead of yellow-dun, by the shape of its head, by a pre-orbital depression in the skull, by the set of its ears, by frequent tendency to stripes on the back, legs, shoulders and face, by having typically white 'bracelets/ by having usually a white star or blaze on the forehead, by its dark skin, by the absence of hock callosities, by the absence 1 Proc. Zool. Soc., 1903, Vol. i. p. 2, fig. 1. The animal is the offspring of a male zebra and a common pony. IV] THE ORIGIN OF THE LIBYAN HORSE 477 or small size of the ergots, by the length of the hoof, by the covering and set-on of the tail, by its voice, by its disposition, and by its speed, I submit that if the African ass is a distinct FIG. 136. Zebra-pony Hybrid. species from the Asiatic, a fortiori, Equus caballus libycus must be considered a distinct species, or at least a distinct sub-species. It is for others to decide on the cogency of my arguments. CHAPTER Y. SUPPLEMENTARY. THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION. The antique Persians taught three useful things, To draw the bow, to ride, and speak the truth. BYRON, Don Juan. ALTHOUGH the art of equitation does not fall strictly within the scope of the present work, yet, as it has been necessary in the course of our historical survey and in discriminating between the Asiatic and Libyan horses to mention the various methods of capturing, controlling and utilising the steed em- ployed by the horse-owning peoples of the ancient world, it will riot be out of place if we sketch briefly the chief steps in the evolution of equitation. It is not improbable that amongst the Turko-Tartaric tribes the horse was first domesticated not for locomotion, but, like the ox amongst other races, for the sake of its milk and flesh, and just as at a later stage the cow-keeping peoples began to use the ox to draw the plough and cart, so the Turko-Tartaric race began gradually to use their horses as a means of transport and locomotion. The deeply-rooted love of mares' milk which still characterises Kalmucks and other Tartars seems to indicate that it has formed a substantial part of the nutrition of their race through long ages. The horse was ready to hand on all the vast plains of Upper Asia, where neither wild sheep, goats, nor cattle were to be had. On the other hand neither the Aryans of the Rig-veda nor the Libyans seem ever to have drunk mares' milk, probably because they had possessed cows, sheep and goats, and had been accus- CH. V] THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION 479 tomed to drink the milk of these animals before they had mastered the horse. The Lasso. The capture of the wild horse was of course the first step towards its domestication. This must have been accomplished either by the capture of foals or of animals not yet full-grown. This could hardly have been effected without employing a rope or cord of some kind, and as in modern times when man desires to domesticate either zebras or feral horses, he always resorts to the lasso, and as I have offered abundant proof of the use of the lasso amongst various peoples of the ancient world (pp. 49, 117, 130, 192), it seems certain that when man first essayed to tame the steed he used a rope with a running noose to ensnare his victim. The Whip. From the inherent tendency in mankind, especially in the lower stages of civilization, to beat unmerci- fully domestic animals, we may without hesitation assume that the lassoed horse was well belaboured with stick and cudgel to cow and subdue him, and as all forms of the whip have grown out of the primitive stick or switch, we are justified in giving the whip precedency over the halter. This is rendered all the more probable by the fact that the Libyans frequently guided their docile horses solely by a switch (p. 240) and that the medieval Irish often controlled the descendants of the Libyan horse by a rod with a crook at one end (p. 389). The Bridle. In each region where the horse was domes- ticated, it seems certain that the first device which can be properly termed a piece of harness was the halter or headstall. For it is most unlikely that man after capturing the horse with the lasso, would have ventured either to mount on the back of his new possession or to yoke him to any kind of wheeled car without some means of controlling him. Thus though the Libyan horses were so docile that the rider could guide them with a switch, yet their masters regularly used halters (p. 240), as did also the medieval Irish. Indeed the straw halters still to be met in some remote parts of Ireland remind us of the rush halters of the Libyans and may be regarded as the most primitive representative still surviving of the earliest step in horse trappings. 480 THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION [CH. The Bit. It has been shown that the Libyan horse, whether driven under the chariots of Egyptian kings in the second millennium B.C., or ridden by the native Libyans in the centuries before Christ, or in the present day when ridden by Arabs or driven under the Neapolitan carrozzella, was and is controlled by a noseband without any bit, and the evidence is equally clear that from the earliest times the Asiatic-European horses have had to be controlled by a bit at first made of horn and bone and later of copper, bronze and iron, whilst in at least one case it was found necessary in ancient days to muzzle the horses of North-western India. The primitive bits found in Asia, Russia, and in the Swiss Lake-dwellings consist of two side pieces and a cross piece, a type which survived in the bits brought by the Huns into Europe. The earliest literary evidence for the use of bits is furnished by the Iliad, for in one passage the bronze bits are placed between the jaws of the horses. As regards the shape of those bits we have no means of judging, but as they were used to control the dun- coloured horses of Upper Europe brought down by the Acheans into Greece, there is a prima facie probability that they were of the type found in Central Europe. Bits of this type were pro- bably known to Xenophon 1 , for though he holds that it was necessary for a horseman to have two kinds of bits one with smooth and moderate-sized links, the other with heavy links, with sharp points (in order that when the horse takes the latter into his mouth he may be offended with its roughness and con- sequently let it go), and after he has been trained with the rough bit, he may be ridden with the smooth, yet he emphati- cally urges "that whatever sorts of bits may be used, they should all be flexible, for wherever a horse seizes a rigid bit, he has the whole of it fast between his teeth, as a person when he takes up a stick wherever he lays hold of it, raises up the whole. But the other sort of bit is similar to a chain, for of whatever part of it a person takes hold, that part alone remains unbent, but the rest hangs." The bits used in North-western Europe in the early Iron Age (pp. 96, 98) were more or less flexible, for in the middle they were either single jointed or double jointed (Fig. 45). 1 De re equestri, 10. 6. V] THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION 481 The Chariot. We have already seen that in most regions men employed the horse for draught before they habitually rode upon his back, not because they were afraid to mount him, but because he was either too small to be used effectively as a charger, or because where he was of sufficient size to carry a man easily, it took a long time before men were able to devise weapons and methods of warfare suitable for a man mounted on horseback. For example, peoples who carried large oblong shields, like the Egyptians, the Greeks of the Mycenean (Bronze) Age, or the Assyrians, would have to discard their national shields and adopt a new shape better adapted for a horseman. How unsuited the large oblong shield was for cavalry, is proved by the fact that although the Roman infantry carried the scutum, the cavalry carried the round shield, though even the latter was not the best possible shape for a horse- soldier. Accordingly the Teutonic peoples, such as the Normans, who had once used circular shields, when they began to fight on horseback, devised a shield large at the top and tapering towards the bottom somewhat like a boy's kite. Such are the shields carried by the Norman knights on the Bayeux tapestry, and from this type came the later medieval shield, which through its importance in heraldry has become the conventional idea of a shield in modern times. This shield tapering towards its lower end was admirably suited for horseback, its broad upper part protecting the bearer's body, whilst the tapering lower part fitted down along his thigh, thus obviating the incon- venience arising from a circular shield of any size, the lowest part of which, if it covered the wearer's body, would have had its bottom resting on the front of the saddle ; if to obviate this it was worn to one side, it would leave a considerable portion of the body exposed. Again, tribes whose chief weapon was the bow, like the Scythians and many other nations, would have to learn to shoot from horseback before they could use their horses effec- tively in warfare. On the other hand the archer had little difficulty in shooting with precision from the chariot, as was the practice with the Egyptians (p. 217) and the Hittites (p. 215). R. H. 31 482 THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION [CH. Where the bow was not the national weapon it was long before man was able to develop weapons adapted for horseback, the warrior simply used the chariot and horses as means of rapid locomotion to meet the foe, whom once reached, he dis- mounted in order to do battle with the arms long used before the advent of the horse. Such seems to have been the case not only in Europe but also in Africa, whilst it seems equally true of the peoples of Asia Minor and of the Vedic Indians, though it is possible that the Turko-Tartaric tribes of Upper Asia may have ridden the horse from the outset. Yet as the Scythians down to the fifth century and later lived in waggons drawn by oxen, it is not improbable that they once lived in waggons drawn by horses, and that it was only when they got cattle at a later time they yoked the more patient and steady-going ox instead. Though indeed the Sarmatians, both men and women, rode on horseback it must not be assumed that they never had passed through a previous waggon-living stage like that of the Scythians, for although the Libyans, men and women alike, all rode on horseback in later times, yet it is certain that in the earlier period they habitually used chariots. The Sarma- tians may therefore once have used the horse under the chariot, as did the Vedic Indians and the Libyans. The Sledge. Hitherto it has been a generally received article of faith that wheeled vehicles and the modern spoked- wheel have had an evolutionary history much as follows. First men fastened to poles their scanty household goods and either themselves dragged them along (or more probably made their wives do so), when they shifted from one camp to another ; in some cases they may have utilised their dogs for this purpose, as was perhaps the practice of certain North American Indians before they had tamed the feral horses of the prairies, an event which wrought a marvellous revolution in the social life of the Indians of the West, who from being feeble com- munities, dwelling along the banks of the great rivers, which yielded them abundance of fish, and who but rarely could kill a bison, were suddenly metamorphosed into powerful tribes of horsemen faring well on the flesh of the vast herds of bison, V] THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION 483 and who made their tents from, and clad themselves and their families in, the warm robes of their noble quarry. After these Indians had become possessed of horses it cer- tainly became their practice on striking camp to pack up all their goods and chattels in the skin tents and tie the bundle on the pole, and trail the poles behind their horses, whilst the dogs were even employed to draw smaller loads on trailing stakes. From such a rude beginning as that last mentioned it seems fairly certain that the Eskimo of the Far North developed their famous dog-sledges. There can be no doubt that the sledge is the first step in the evolution of the wheeled vehicle. The sledge or slide-car 1 has played a considerable part in the life of the more remote districts of these Islands down to our days, for such were still in use in Strathglass, Kintail, and elsewhere in Scotland in the years 1863 and 1864. It con- sisted of two shafts, the body being formed by two pieces of wood bent in a semicircle, the ends of which were fastened to the shafts, the one close behind the pony, and the other a little distance behind ; the arches were steadied at the top by a piece of wood running from the one to the other. Thin slats of wood formed the bottom of this primitive contrivance. This vehicle is still in use in the glens of Antrim under the Gaelic name of carr sliunain. The Wheel. It is assumed that the next step was to place beneath such a sledge or slide-car a roller formed out of the cylindrical trunk of a tree, but as 13r Haddon well remarks, " there does not appear to be any positive evidence to render this view absolutely certain." Herr Stephan described a very primitive car that he saw in Portugal : a log is cut from a large tree, the central portion is hacked away so as to leave a solid disc at each end, joined together by an axle. The next step was to form the block wheels of two separate cross- sections of a tree trunk, but fixed firmly on a separate axle- 1 For the following account of the slide-car and other primitive vehicles, as well as block wheels, I am indebted to the admirable statement of the traditional view given by Dr Haddon in The Study of Man (London 1898), pp. 161199. 312 484 THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION [CH. tree, the wheels not yet revolving on the axle. Then to get greater lightness two or more holes were cut in the solid wheel, the solid portions left being the precursors (as is supposed) of the felloe and spokes made of separate pieces. Finally, the axletree no longer revolves, but is firmly fixed to the cart, and the wheels, now made of spokes, revolve upon it, being kept in their places by linch-pins inserted into a hole in each extremity of the axle. At first sight nothing can be more plausible than this hypo- thesis, but when it is closely examined it must be confessed that there are but few facts to support it, and that those few are capable of other explanations. In the preceding pages we have passed in review the earliest vehicles used by the horse-keeping peoples of the world, and in every case where we had any evidence in Egypt under the xvmth dynasty, in India under the Vedic Aryans, amongst Hittites, Assyrians, Persians, Libyans, Mycenean Greeks (Bronze Age), Homeric Acheans (Iron Age), the Gauls of Northern Italy, as well as those of Gaul itself, ancient Britons and ancient Irish everywhere the chariot wheel is formed of a felloe, a hub or nave, and of spokes ranging in number from four to ten or even twelve. It is therefore clear that the chariot is never found with solid wheels such as are supposed to have been the forerunners of the spoked wheel. Nor is this a matter for surprise. The horse, as we have seen, was throughout early and medieval times used almost solely for war. As speed and mobility were the grand requisite in the war-chariot, it is obvious that solid wheels, such as those used under Portuguese and Chinese ox-carts, would have rendered the vehicle useless for war. We may, therefore, safely con- clude that from the first the war-chariot never had block wheels. But it may be said that although the war-chariot from the first was fitted with spoked wheels, nevertheless the solid wheel had long preceded it, having been invented for purposes of agriculture, and that doubtless the ancient ox-cart, which was not built for lightness and speed like the chariot, was furnished with clog wheels. Yet if the reader will look at the picture of V] THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION 485 the Thracian ox-cart (p. 106), the oldest representation of any such vehicle that has reached us, his faith in this second hypo- thesis will be shaken on discovering that this ox-cart runs on four-spoked wheels. If it be said that this cart belongs to a comparatively advanced period, and that in earlier days, when agriculture was in its infancy, the carts used had solid wheels, I at once reply that amongst two at least of the great races which at the dawn of history had domestic horses the Libyans and the Turko-Tartaric peoples agriculture was scarcely, if at all, practised, for both were essentially nomadic ; whilst though the Scythians in later times at least used four- wheeled waggons to convey their families, the Libyans never used either ox-cart or ox-waggon for that purpose. It must also be clearly borne in mind that primeval agriculture had no need for the cart. Corn was not bound in sheaves as with us and carried home on carts or waggons. The ears of corn only were snipped off, gathered into baskets and carried to the threshing-floor or garner. Indeed, in the days when North Africa was one of the chief granaries of Rome, a basketful of corn-ears was placed as the symbol of Africa on a coin of Hadrian. Again, as there was no manuring in the common field system, there was no need of a cart for manure. The functions which in our minds are so inseparably associated with carts and waggons were in the earliest stages of society discharged by human beasts of burden, as they still are over a large part of Africa, and later on by pack-animals, as they were in medieval Europe and are in wide regions of the earth down to this very hour. These facts sufficiently refute Dr Harm's 1 theory that wheeled vehicles did not arise from the sledge fitted with a roller, for in that case (said he) wheeled vehicles would have arisen wherever rollers have been employed. He main- tains that the waggon arose only in the district from which agriculture originally spread, which he assumes to be Greece. He believes that the waggon was primitively a holy imple- ment, consecrated to Demeter, the great goddess of agriculture and fertility, and that it only subsequently became a secular 1 Demeter und Baubo (1896, Liibeck) ; Haddon, op. cit. pp. 170-1. 486 THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION [CH. farm implement. He avers that the waggon came into being because miniature wheels in the form of the common spindle whorls were already in general use. Dr Hahn points out that he deals only with the four-wheeled ox- waggon, which was used for religious purposes. But, as it has just been shown, there is no evidence for the use of either the two-wheeled ox- cart or the four-wheeled ox-waggon in primitive agricultural communities, whilst it seems certain that the Libyans, who never used ox-carts at all, had invented a very light form of spoked wheel at least by B.C. 1500. Dr Haddon 1 has already pointed out that there is no reason to believe that agriculture was discovered only in some area of Eurasia, and that the art thence spread over the greater part of the habitable globe, and " it seems more in consonance with what we know of the history of sacred institutions and implements that the waggon had an industrial origin and that it may well be that it arose in close connection with agriculture." But though it may well have arisen in connection with agriculture, as Dr Haddon says, yet it may have come into use at a comparatively late period, and long after the invention of the war-chariot. The ox-cart or ox- waggon indeed was certainly in use in Greece in the seventh century B.C., for a certain Argive lady wished to go to the festival at the Argive Heraeum in a waggon and pair. When the oxen did not arrive in time from the pasture, her two sons, both distinguished athletes, yoked themselves to the waggon and drew their mother to the temple 2 . But if Dr Hahn's theory is sound, we ought to find the ox- waggon not merely in the early classical period, but in Homer. Yet neither the two- wheeled ox-cart nor the four-wheeled ox-waggon appear in the poems, though the four-wheeled mule-waggon plays a conspicuous part. In such a vehicle Priam brought with him the rich gifts with which he set forth to the camp of the Acheans to ransom Hector's body from Achilles. (i Thus having spoken fleet Iris departed from him and he bade his sons make ready the smooth-wheeled mule-waggon (amaxa) and bind the wicker carriage thereon 3 . 1 The Study of Man, pp. 170-2. 2 Herod, i. 0. 3 II. xxiv. 188-90. V] THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION 487 " Thus spake he and they fearing their father's voice brought forth the smooth -running car, fair and new, and bound the body thereof on the frame ; and from its peg they took down the mule yoke, a boxwood yoke with knob and well fitted with guiding-rings ; and they brought forth the yoke-strap, of nine cubits with the yoke. The yoke they set firmly on the polished pole on the rest at the end thereof, and slipped the ring over the upright pin, which with three turns of the strap they lashed to the knob, and then belayed it close round the pole, and turned the tongue thereunder. " Then they brought from the chamber and heaped on the polished car (apene) the countless ransom of Hector's head and yoked strong-hoofed mules that work in harness, which on a time the Mysians gave to Priam, a splendid gift, but for Priam they yoked the horses that the old man kept for his use and tended carefully at the polished crib 1 ." That Priam's mule-car had four wheels is shown by another passage 2 . In the Odyssey 3 we hear of " two-and-twenty excellent four-wheeled waggons (amaxai)" and apparently such too was the vehicle in which Nausicaa set out with her maidens to wash linen in the river 4 . It was " a high waggon (apene) with good wheels and fitted with an upper frame." " Without the palace they made ready the smooth-running mule-wain (amaxa) and led the mules beneath the yoke and harnessed them under the car, whilst the maiden brought forth from her bower the shining raiment." From these extracts it is clear (1) that the amaxa (waggon) is identical with the apene or car commonly drawn by mules also in the classical period. Thus in B.C. 500 a race for mule- cars was established at Olympia (abolished in B.C. 444). Anaxi- las, the despot of Rhegium, not many years after won the prize with his mule-car, and commemorated this event, as well as the fact that he was the first to introduce the hare into Sicily, by placing his victorious mule-car and the hare as types on his coins (Fig. 137). It will be seen that this mule-car has four-spoked wheels, and, as the epithet " easily running " is applied to the 1 II. xxiv. 265-80. 2 Ibid. 324. 3 Od. ix. 242. 4 Od. vi. 68 sqq. 488 THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION [CH. mule-car in the Homeric passages just cited, and we also learn that Nausicaa's mules trotted briskly off with the waggon, it is most unlikely that the Homeric waggon had block wheels. Now, as the Homeric mule-car, the classical mule-car, and the Thracian ox-cart about B.C. 500 all have spoked wheels, there is therefore no evidence for the existence of the use of solid wheels under either mule-car or ox-cart in early times in the countries round the Aegean. If such did once exist there before the invention of the spoked wheel, it must have been at a time anterior to the appearance of the horse both on the monuments of Egypt and on the tombstones of Mycenae. But it has just been shown that the use of the ox-cart for agriculture at so early a period is extremely unlikely. Accordingly, so far from the ox-cart with solid wheels being the precursor of the chariot, it is most likely that the latter was the first to be in- vented for purposes of war, and that later a stronger and cheaper form of vehicle for oxen was modelled after the chariot for everyday use a simple platform on which a wicker creel or crate like that of the Homeric mule-car could be placed. Of course it will be said that block wheels survived in the British Isles down to our own time, that in 1775 goods were conveyed about Dublin on carts furnished with solid wheels about 20 inches in diameter, that solid-wheeled carts may still be seen in the North of Ireland from Donegal to Down, and that two kinds of block-wheeled carts were in use in Inverness about 1730, both of them being simply modifications of the slide-car still surviving in Antrim, with wheels about a foot and a half high, but which were soon worn very small. Yet it must not be assumed that such wheels were the first kinds known in all these localities. It is most improbable that any kind of wheeled cart was in use in Ireland in early times, yet there were war-chariots with spoked wheels in Ireland at the time of Christ. Again, it is on record that in Borrowdale wheeled vehicles did not make their appearance until about 1770; and when these novelties did reach the lakes they were clumsy and awkward in character. Clog- wheels were the first type used on farm carts, yet spoked wheels had long been in general use all over England, and had been known in the island from V] THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION 489 before the Christian era. It is most important that cheap sub- stitutes be not taken for genuine survivals of a primitive type. To the former category we may assign not only the block-wheels of Borrowdale, Inverness, and Ireland, but also certain wheels seen on Greek vases consisting of a felloe and two parallel cross-pieces, crossed by another at right-angles (a variety in which some have recognised the first step towards a spoked wheel). To the same category I would likewise refer the Portuguese wheels made out of a single piece of wood in which two elliptical holes are cut, the wheel itself being clamped with bands of iron. This wheel and others like it have been supposed to be a first step towards a spoked wheel, but they are rather to be regarded as cheap and clumsy substitutes, as are also the solid wheels built up of three pieces of plank common FIG. 137. Coin of Messana. in Galicia, the Canaries and amongst the Zuni Indians in Mexico, who have borrowed them from the Spaniards. These wheels are regularly clamped together by iron bands, although in Mexico they are said to be sometimes unshod. In all cases of solid wheels the wheel is fixed on the axle, and does not revolve on it. Yet in the Florentine and Homeric chariot the wheels play freely on the axle. It can therefore hardly be maintained that we have genuine survivals of the first stage in the evolution of the wheel in the Portuguese and Spanish waggons with their revolving axles and wheels fixed to the axle, for it is clear that the principle of the wheel revolving on the axle has been known from an age far anterior to any evidence of the existence of an ox-cart with solid wheels. But it is not in itself probable that solid wheels were evolved at a date when iron was not yet known, and copper was com- 490 THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION [CH. paratively scarce in most parts of the ancient world. The hewing of a section of a tree trunk two feet in diameter to serve as a solid wheel rather indicates a period when tools of a superior kind were available, or otherwise the task would have been so difficult that man would probably have resorted to some other method of shaping discs on which to set the frame of his car, though of course it is not utterly impossible that man by dint of hacking with a bronze, copper, or even a stone axe, could have managed to rough-hew a pair of solid wheels con- nected by an axletree out of a tree-trunk. But as such wheels could never have been of practical use for war-chariots, and the Libyans, who had never any ox-cart, had devised for themselves long before they had metal in any quantity beautifully light chariots, in the structure of which no metal was employed, it is most unlikely that their spoked wheels were evolved from an antecedent block wheel. In the Florentine chariot the wheels are four-spoked and are 38 inches in diameter, both felloe and spokes being made of rods about one and a half inches in diameter. The spokes fit into a hollow hub formed of a wooden cylinder about nine inches long, with fairly thick walls through which the axle runs. The whole structure of this chariot is that of wicker and meshwork (p. 225). It is therefore far more probable that the spoked wheel was an adapta- tion from a circular piece of wicker-work, such as might be used for a shield or for some other purpose. The simplest form of such a circular frame consists of a rim strengthened and kept in shape by two other rods crossing each other at right-angles, thus forming four radii or spokes. The four-spoked wheel is found in the oldest representations of the chariot in Egypt, in Crete, Cyprus, and on the mainland of Greece. That it was considered by the Greeks the most ancient form of wheel is shown by the fact that in the myth of Ixion that miscreant is represented as bound to a four-spoked wheel. As the wheels of the Florentine chariot revolve on the axle, there is no reason to believe that such wheels only came into existence after a long period during which block wheels fixed to the axle had been in continuous use. We may reasonably conclude that the light war-chariot was invented long before the ox-cart or mule- V] THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION 491 cart, and that so far from the spoked wheel having been evolved from the block wheel, the converse is really the case. In the tomb of the father and mother of queen Teie, the wife of Amon-hotep III and the mother of Amon-hotep IV, Mr Theodore M. Davis has just found a pleasure chariot broad enough to hold two persons, richly painted and encrusted with gold. The leather work belonging to it is still as fresh as when it was first made. It is fitted with six-spoked wheels still covered with their wooden tires 1 . This fresh discovery shows that the conjecture of Mr Carter and Mr Newberry that the wheels of the chariot of Thothmes IV had been fitted with metal tires is wrong. There is no reason now to doubt that it, like the newly discovered chariot and that at Florence, had no metal shoeing on its wheels. We have seen that the mule-cart in Homer is fitted with wheels of lightness and elegance, and there is really nothing to distinguish them from those of the chariot. We have a full description of the Achean chariot in the Iliad, for we cannot doubt that the chariot of the goddess Hera is a faithful copy of those used by her worshippers, save that the car of the immortals is represented as being made of precious metals. "So Hera the goddess queen, daughter of great Cronos, went her way to harness the gold-frontleted steeds ; and Hebe quickly put to the car (ochos) the curved wheels of bronze, eight-spoked, upon their axletree of iron. Golden is their felloe, imperishable, and tires of bronze are fitted there- over, a marvel to look upon; and the naves are of silver, to turn about on either side. And the body of the car (diphros) is plaited tight with gold and silver straps, and two rails (antiuc) run round about it. And a silver pole stood out therefrom ; upon the end she bound the fair golden yoke, and set thereon the fair breast-straps of gold, and Hera led beneath the yoke the horses, fleet of foot, and hungered for strife and the battle- cry 2 ." This description when compared with actual specimens found in Egypt gives us a very clear view of the structure of the chariot, the plaiting with straps of gold and silver at once 1 Times, 10 March, 1905. 2 II. v. 721 sqq. 492 THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION [CH. recalling the floor of the Egyptian chariots with their plaited leather meshwork (p. 225) in which we may recognise the first step towards leathern springs. The Harness. The elaborate account of the harnessing of Priam's mules above cited when taken in conjunction with other passages in Homer, with the harness found in the tomb of Thothmes IV, and representations of Egyptian chariots (Fig. 68), with the description of the Assyrian chariot-harness (pp. 195-196), with the Hittite (Fig. 67), with the Persian (Fig. 61), and with numerous representations of Greek chariots in classical times, enables us to form a clear idea of the nature of the harness used in early times and the method of attaching the horses to the car. Whilst the harness seen on the monument of Seti I and found in the tomb of Thothmes IV belongs to a date anterior to Homer, that seen on the Assyrian monuments falls several centuries after that period. It is therefore but natural to find that whilst the Egyptian and Homeric horses are attached only by breast-straps, the Assyrian have also elaborate body bands which may be taken as the forerunners of the saddle or straddle of modern harness. The Rein-rings. Attached to the yoke of the Florentine chariot (Fig. 69) are seen two Y-shaped objects, which must have hung down from the yoke or some other part of the harness or chariot. They are of wood, and the arms of each are pierced with holes near the extremity. The height of the whole is seven inches, the width from hole to hole not being more than four inches, and the tail ends in a large round bone stud, one and a half inches in diameter, which shows that the object was not meant to be inserted into a hole in any part of the yoke or chariot. They cannot have been collars (as com- monly supposed) to rest on any part of the horses' necks, for they are obviously too small for that purpose, and are quite different from the actual collars found in the tomb of Thothmes IV figured in Mr Davis's publication (p. 227). Associated with the pairs of bronze bits not unfrequently found in Ireland are usually pairs of spur-shaped bronze objects (Figs. 138, 139). THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION 493 Each of the specimens here shown (Figs. 138, 139) is one of a pair found along with the pairs of bronze bits, examples of which are given (p. 98, Fig. 45). These objects could not have stood upright on the yoke or anything else, for the two arms are neatly rounded off (see Fig. 138 B, where an end is shown in detail) : again, the tail could not have been inserted into a hole in the yoke or anything else, for in both the examples FIG. 138. Ancient Irish Rein-ring (all-dual) ? figured the end is ornamented, more especially in Fig. 138, where, as will be seen (Fig. 138 A), ifc is beautifully ornamented in the ' late Celtic ' style, as are also the ends of both arms, one of which, as already stated, is shown in detail (Fig. 138fi). As this curious piece of metal work could not have stood up on either end, and as neither end was meant to be inserted into any other object, clearly these mysterious implements were suspended with the tail hanging free, as is demonstrated by the 494 THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION [CH. fact that the extremities of the two arms are always furnished with means of suspension. Some are perforated close to the extremity (Fig. 138 B), as if meant to be suspended. In most specimens, however (as in Fig. 139), there is a groove on the inside of the upper portion of each arm extending for some distance, and this groove is crossed a little below the end by a bronze loop (Fig. 139 B) which could be slipped on a hook, thus enabling the whole to be attached to the lower side of some object such as the yoke. In specimens of the second class where the loop has been accidentally broken off, its place has been supplied by a hole bored right through, which is plainly meant to admit the passage of a hook. When once the hooks fastened into the under side of the yoke were slipped through the loops or holes in the extremities of the spur-shaped objects they could not easily jump off. The analogy between these Irish bronzes and the primitive wooden pair found along with the Florentine chariot is very close, and they would both seem to have fulfilled a like function. We may take it that the harness of the Homeric mule-car was practically identical with that of the Homeric chariot, for otherwise the harness of Priam's chariot would probably have been described. Now, we are told that the yoke was 'well- fitted' with oiekes, literally 'steerers,' which are explained by the ancients themselves as "a kind of rings through which the reins were passed." This fact shows that from very early times it was found necessary to have some kind of rings attached to some part of the harness through which the reins might be passed, and thus kept them in place and free from entanglement with the horses' manes, and give more power to the charioteer. The reins in the Assyrian chariot seem to have passed through some such contrivance fastened to the under-side of the yoke (Fig. 62). In the Egyptian, Mycenean, Hittite, and Assyrian chariot the yoke, as was the case in Homer, was the only part to which such 'steering-rings' could be attached, though the reins might have been passed under a strap going round the horse's body, as is the case on the monument of Seti I (Fig. 68). As apparently no such rings were ever fitted into the yoke of the Florentine chariot, any such contrivance for guiding the THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION 495 reins must have been either suspended from the yoke or attached to it by strings. The two Y-shaped objects were probably suspended from the yoke, much as they are at present (Fig. 69), and through them the reins were passed and kept in their place. The more elaborate bronze objects found in Ireland probably served a like purpose, for as already argued they must certainly FIG. 139. Ancient Irish Eein-ring (all-dual) ? have hung down. This view can be supported from the oldest Irish texts in these the name for reins is all : thus Laeghaire Buadach's chariot "had two pliable beautiful alls," and it had likewise "two rich yellow all-dualach" literally, "two rich yellow rein-loops," or "rein-rings" Dr Sullivan thought that these rings were on a straddle, but as it is very unlikely that the Irish chariot-horses wore straddles, it is far more 496 THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION [CH. probable that the all-dualach were attached in some way to the yoke, as was the case with the Homeric steerers. We may therefore conclude that the curious wooden objects on the Florentine yoke were really a primitive contrivance for keeping the reins in place, and that the Irish implements are simply more elaborate forms of the same type. The Scythed Chariot. The addition of scythes probably prolonged the use of the chariot for war, as such " scythe-bear- ing chariots" became a formidable arm when driven against bodies of footmen. Thus, although owing to 'villainous salt- petre' the medieval knight with lance in rest has long departed, nevertheless lancer regiments still linger on in the armies of modern Europe, partly as a survival, and partly because they are found useful in certain conditions of modern warfare. Certainly, whenever we hear of the employment of war- chariots at a late period they are usually described as 'scythe- bearing.' The chariots used by the Persians at the battle of Cunaxa were so equipped, and chariots still more elaborately armed were employed in Syria at a much later date. Thus in the great battle between Eumenes of Pergamus and Antiochus of Syria, the latter placed in the front of his line four-horse chariots, furnished both with scythes and spears. Spears fastened round the pole projected like horns ten cubits in front of the yoke to transfix everything that came in the way; two scythes were attached to each end of the yoke, one fixed on a level with the latter, the other sloping towards the ground, the former being meant to cut away every obstacle from the side, the latter to strike foes already prostrate, or endeavouring to escape by passing under the more elevated blade, whilst from each axle two other scythes extended set at different angles like those attached to the yoke. But Eumenes managed to stampede the chariot-horses of his adversary, which turned round and dashed into their own ranks, and Antiochus suddenly found his army panic-stricken and routed by the engines which he had devised for the destruction of his foes 1 . Doubtless such occurrences as this were always liable to 1 Livy, xxxvu. 41. V] THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION 497 occur and accordingly we hear little of scythed-chariots in the armies of the civilised peoples of the Mediterranean from this time forth. The war-chariot only lingered on among the more barbarous peoples of the north-west of Europe, and amongst the remote Libyan Phanisii, by the latter of whom also it was now furnished with scythes. Riding. When men began to ride regularly on horseback at first they sat simply on the bare back of the steed, which in Asia and Europe, as we have seen, was from the first controlled by some form of bit, though the Libyan used at most but a noseband. The Greeks of the fifth century paid great attention to the shape of the bit, as is made clear by the elaborate directions respecting it given by Xenophon \ The Horse-cloth. The first step towards a saddle was naturally some kind of cloth placed on the horse's back for the greater comfort of the rider. The Assyrians had already made this first advance by the eighth century B.C. (Fig. 64), and it was certainly known to the Greek settlers in Egypt by B.C. 600 (Fig. 72), whilst it had become a fully recognised part of the equipment of the Greek and Macedonian horse-soldier (Fig. 87) by the beginning of the fourth century B.C., if not earlier. The earliest literary testimony is that of Antiphanes 2 , the comic poet, who began to exhibit plays in 387 B.C., and his contemporary Xenophon 3 . The former speaks of "the coverlet for a horse." But bare-backed riding was still regularly practised, as we know from the latter writer 4 , and apparently the jockeys in the races at the great festivals of Greece rode bare-backed (Fig. 86), as is the case in Mongolian horse-races held at temple feasts at the present hour (p. 139). The cloth known as an ephippion (horse-cover) had come into universal use amongst the Romans by the time of Caesar (cf. p. 114), though the German tribes considered it disgraceful and a mark of laziness to use it, and were always ready, riding 1 De re equestri, 10, 6. 2 Meineke, Com. Fragm., in. p. 3, TO tLiriri.ov OTP&/J.O.. 3 Eq. vii. 5, rb 4 loc. cit. R. H. 32 498 THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION [CH. bare-backed, to attack any number of cavalry so equipped (ephippiati l ). The Saddle. It seems certain that attempts to make the horse-cloth more comfortable for the rider were made from time to time, and that it was gradually turned into a sort of pad. This is the stage in which the Arab who rides on a cotton pad and without stirrups still remains. Although there is a well-known representation of a Scythian saddle closely resembling the modern type, there is no evidence for the existence in the Roman empire of a saddle with a regular tree until the fourth century A.D., when on the column of Theodosius (A.D. 380) the true saddle with bow behind and before appears for the first time, and it is seen placed over the old horse-cloth from which it had been itself evolved. Henceforth it is known as the chair (Latin sella, whence French selle). The Stirrup. Although objects which might be taken for stirrup-leathers are seen attached to the Scythian saddle mentioned above and to a Roman ephippium on a coin of Labienus, stirrups (staffae, stapides) are not mentioned in literature till about A.D. 600. It is significant that there is no native word in either Greek or Latin for the stirrup, and the names for it in French as well as in English are of Teutonic origin. The English stirrup is simply a contracted form of Early English, stige-rap (from stigan = ' to mount/ and rap = ' rope'), i.e. ' mounting-rope.' Again, the French etrier is from the Old High German estrifa (modern Germ. streif= Engl. strip), a strap of leather. The original form was estrivier, the v of which survives in etriviere, the stirrup-leather. This evidence, taken in combination with that of the Scythian saddle and the coin of Labienus, makes it fairly clear that the first stage in the development of the stirrup was the attachment of a rope or a strap of leather to the riding-pad to assist the 1 Ephippium is glossed by Nonius as " tegimen equi ad mollem vecturam paratum"; cf. Horace, Ep. i. 14, 43, "optat ephippia bos piger, optat arare caballus." In the Digest stragula is used for a horse-cloth (cf. Martial, xiv. 86 : ' stragulum veredi '). V] THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION 499 rider to mount. The Germanic origin of the names for the stirrup and the known difficulty in mounting on horseback and retaining the seat when mounted experienced not by the Germans of the south and west, whom Caesar knew, but by those of the north-west such as the Angles and their immediate kindred (p. 353), clearly indicate that the stirrup was the inven- tion of the large-limbed heavy-built Teutonic tribes of the Lower Rhine and the contiguous region, from whence it gradually spread southwards and eastwards along with the con- FIG. 140. Persian Stirrup (bronze inlaid with silver; 15th century). quests of the Franks. The next stage was to attach to the strap or rope a piece of metal in which the foot might rest more comfortably and securely. This stage can be clearly seen at the present day in Abyssinia, where the stirrup-leather and stirrup consist of a rope and a metal ring just large enough to receive the great toe. The next step would be to insert the whole of the bare foot in a larger ring. A reminiscence of this step can be seen in medieval Persian stirrups, which are formed of a circular piece of bronze with a plate for the foot shaped and ornamented to resemble a naked foot, as is 322 500 THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION [CH. the case in a pair dating from the fifteenth century from Gwalior in my own possession (Fig. 140). The Spur. The Greeks of classical times do not appear FIG. 141. Prick-spurs. 1. Ancient Koman. 2. Norman spur, Castle Jordan, Co. Westmeath. 3. Norman spur. 4. Tuddenham Kiver, Suffolk. 5. Medieval English spur. to have used the spur. Xenophon certainly does not mention it as part of the horseman's equipment, although he recomends the use of top-boots. But it seems to be indicated on the foot THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION 501 of an Amazon seen on a Greek vase dating from the century (4th B.C.) in which Xenophon lived. Bronze spurs have indeed been found at Dodona, but they probably belong to a com- paratively late period. The Romans used spurs from at least B.C. 200, and probably much earlier, for there are constant references to them in litera- ture from Plautus (B.C. 200) downwards, and many specimens are extant (Fig. 141, no. 1). They are all prick-spurs, a form which continued in use everywhere in Europe down to at least the thirteenth century. Thus the Norman prick-spur from Castle Jordan, Co. Westmeath (Fig. 141, no. 2), must be later than FIG. 142. 1. Medieval Kowel-spur. 2. Fifteenth Century Bowel-spur. the Norman conquest of Ireland (1172), as the native Irish rode in their bare feet. I here figure various forms of the prick-spur, three of which are from the fine collection of Mr W. B. Redfern, one (no. 2) from the Murray Collection in the Cambridge Archaeological Museum, whilst no. 4 is a fragment (iron) found in Tuddenham River, Suffolk, now in my own possession. It was gradually felt that the prick-spur was too severe, and Fig. 141, no. 5, shows the first step taken towards a less severe type, as the prick is now prevented by a sort of rosette from furrowing too deeply the horse's flank. It was no great step from this form to the rowel-spur, which has continued in use ever since (Fig. 142) \ The great 1 Both these specimens are in Mr W. B. Eedfern's fine collection. 502 THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION [CH. development of horse-armour in the fifteenth century rendered it necessary to elongate to an extraordinary degree the heel of the spur (Fig. 142, no. 2), in order that the rider might be able to reach the unprotected lower part of the horse's body. But with the disappearance of horse-armour the heel soon shrank to the proportions which it has practically retained ever since. The Horse-shoe. It was maintained in the sixteenth century by the famous Gesner that horse-shoes fixed on with iron nails were not employed down to the time of Vegetius (circa A.D. 380). There is indeed clear evidence that the Romans in the first century B.C. did place some kind of shoes on oxen and mules, for Columella speaks of hempen shoes (soleae sparteae) being used for oxen, while Catullus alludes to a mule losing its shoe (solea) in the mud. But it is almost certain that the shoe was a slipper made of hemp or leather tied on the animal's foot, just like the boots placed on horses employed to draw mowing machines on large lawns. In the first century after Christ Nero, who travelled with a train of one thousand carts, had his mules shod with silver soleae, whilst his wife, Poppaea, outdid him by having her mules fitted with shoes of gold. It is probable that the silver and golden shoes were simply leather slippers such as those just referred to, the upper portions of which were covered with plates of precious metal, but it is possible that soleae made altogether of metal may have been used, and that the golden and silver shoes just mentioned may have been all of metal, something like those shown in Fig. 143, nos. 5 and 6. Such a type ought certainly to be the first step in advancing to metal from the hempen or leathern slipper. But as such a metal shoe would not give a secure foothold for the animal, the next step would be to cut a portion out of the middle of the sole, thus both saving metal and giving the horse a surer footing. Once such a step was made, less and less metal would be placed under the horse's foot, until finally the shoe was nothing more than a rim of metal which was not carried round the heel. The attach- ment to the foot would then be made by nails driven through the outer part of the hoof. The later steps in this supposed evolution, as I have given it, are of course only hypothetical. THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION 503 There is however no reason to doubt that iron shoes have been found in France associated with objects indicating that FIG. 143. Old English Horse-shoes. they were in use during the Roman period, and certain horse- shoes remarkable for their small size, narrowness, and wavy 504 THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION [CH. outside margin (produced by the stamping of the nail-holes, in which process the iron bulged out along the edge) may be assigned to that age. There are also small iron horse-shoes found at Silchester which certainly must have been used during the Roman occupation of this island. It is probable that the practice of employing some kind of protection for the feet of mules and horses in Italy and elsewhere in Roman times was due to the great paved roads which formed the high- ways of the Empire, and along which the public post-horses were constantly passing. But it must still remain an open question whether the iron horse-shoe was invented in Italy, or in some other southern land, or north of the Alps among the Celts in the regions where iron had probably first been systematically worked and used by that people. As the Angles had no horses when they came to Britain it is most unlikely that they brought any peculiar shape of horse-shoe, and Prof. McKenny Hughes is probably quite right in main- taining that many ancient horse-shoes found in England and commonly denominated Saxon, belong to a period posterior to the Norman Conquest 1 . But it is probable that although the shoeing of horses has been continuously practised in this island from the Roman period downwards, the majority of horses in medieval England went barefooted, as was the case not only over most of the world in medieval times, but is still universal among Arabs, Tartars, Gauchos of the Pampas, and in the Western States of America. Ornaments. As man attached to his own person certain objects for protection and decoration, so he not unnaturally treated his horse in the same fashion. We have seen tassels on the Assyrian horses, which of course may have been simply ornaments, but in the light of what we know of such ap- pendages to the harness of horses, asses, and camels in modern times, it is much more likely that they were some form of 1 ''On Ancient Horse-shoes," Proc. of Cambridge Antiquarian Society, Vol. x. pp. 249-58 (with a plate of illustrations, for the use of which in this work I am indebted to my friend Prof. Hughes, and the Council of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society). V] THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION 505 amulet. I have elsewhere tried to show that jewellery and all ornament originated not in aesthetic but in magic, and that probably holds true to a large degree of the ornaments on horse-harness. The modern Italian attaches a piece of badger's hair or a tooth to his horse's bridle in order to avert evil. The ancient Italian used a piece of wolf-skin or a wolf's tooth for the like purpose. The modern Greek places an elaborate amulet to his horse's neck ; the modern Kabyles of Kairwan hang round their asses' necks a thick woollen cord (purple and white), to which is attached two triangular amulets covered with purple velvet, embroidered with imitation Arabic writing in gold thread, and having a small round button between them ; whilst the Arab regularly fortifies his camel against ill luck by an amulet attached to its neck. It is therefore not un- likely that the tassel attached to our modern cavalry bridle may be a survival of some such amulet, whilst, as has been already pointed out by others, the brass ornaments on the blinkers of our dray-horses may be survivals of similar protective charms. At the same time it must be borne in mind that our draught-horses are the descendants of the medieval war-horses, who not unfrequently had ornaments attached to their bridles consisting of their owners' arms on a small shield. The pieces of brass on the blinkers of modern draught-horses, with their conventional ornament, may in part at least be only debased imitations of medieval heraldic decorations. ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA. P. 58. I here add a summary of the facts about the Abyssinian zebra collected by Job Ludolphus to which attention was first called by Mr Edward Bidwell (Field and P.Z.S., 1901, n. 2), and which were printed very fully by Mr H. Scherren in the Field (March 4, 1905). Job Ludolphus summarised the information collected by the Jesuits concerning the Abyssinian zebra in his Historia Aethiopica (1681). In his C ommentarius (1691) he added much interesting matter, some of which he gleaned from Abyssinians, whom he met at Rome while collecting material for his Aethiopic Grammar and Lexicon, and perhaps from some of the Jesuit fathers. In his Commentarius he deplores the fact that on account of its large head and long ears this beautiful creature should be called an ass, by people ignorant of its proper name that is as stated in the Historia (i. 10), zecora in Abyssinia, and on the Congo zebra. Then he quotes Philostorgius, an ecclesiastical writer (circ. 385-425), to the effect that the country produces very large wild asses, black and white, not spotted but zoned from the spine on to the sides and belly. Jacobus Gothofredus, who annotated Philostorgius, thought these were onagroi, wild asses of the Western Asiatic race, adding that no one else had so described their coloration. Ludolphus points out that Philostorgius does not use the ordinary Greek name onagroi, but onoi agrioi (and insists on their size). * This animal,' he says, "was not unknown at Rome, whither all wonderful things were sent," thus anticipating Mr Lydekker's suggestion (Royal Natural History, n. 505), that the hippotigris of the Roman circus was an Abyssinian zebra. He also suggests that it was confused with the onager by those who had not seen that species or that it was called onager because people did not know its real name. Martial (xm. 101) is cited and due stress is laid on the epithet 'beautiful' ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA 507 applied by that author to the beast. Once more he deprecates its being called an ass and says that the ears by which it is disfigured might be cropped as is done in Germany with horses that have very long ears. " And it has a horse-like head somewhat too long, as I have seen here (quod hie vidi)." Father Tellez in a report to the Superior at Rome speaks of the beauty of the animal, the equal width of the stripes, which seem to form curves on the flank " as the picture will show you better than any description could do." Ludolphus may have used this picture for the illustration in his Commentarius reproduced by Mr Scherren in the Field (March 4, 1905, p. 375). Though the animal in Ludolphus' plate differs in many important respects from Grevy's zebra, there can, as Mr Scherren maintains, be no doubt that it was intended for that species. Ludolphus lays stress on three characteristics its great size, for in the Historia he says that it was as big as a mule, its equine head, and its long ears. The animal in the plate more nearly resembles a Grevy zebra than does that figured by Pigafetta resemble any variety of the Burchell zebra, for one of which it was undoubtedly meant. These Abyssinian zebras even reached Japan, for Ludolphus learned from one Emmanuel Nawendorff, a native of Altenburg, resident in Batavia, that King As-saghedus sent some to the Governor of the Dutch East India Company at Batavia, who in his turn pre- sented them to the Emperor of Japan. In return the emperor sent 10,000 silver taels and thirty Japanese dresses, so, as N'awendorff says, they were amply paid for. One specimen at least had reached Europe alive before the time when Ludolphus wrote, for a French writer had seen the animal alive at Constantinople. He said that among other gifts brought by the Abyssinian envoy to the Grand Seigneur was an ass with a very beautiful skin, if indeed it were natural. This however he declined to vouch for, not having examined the animal, but he noted the more than ass-like size, the large head, long ears, and the regularity of the stripes "of the breadth of a finger," though he called the dark stripes chestnut-brown instead of black. Tellez also thought that he detected a reddish tinge in them. Ludolphus suggests that the discrepancy might be due to the differences of age or perhaps to geographical distribution (vel pro diversitate regionum di versos habeat colores). The Abyssinian envoy had started with three zebras as gifts for the Sultan, but two died on the way. These were flayed and the skins were presented 508 ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA with the survivor to the Grand Seigneur. Ludolphus was quite right in his suggesting that the difference in coloration was due to difference environment, for (as stated above, p. 58 n.) the Somali race of E. grevyi has the ground colour pale brown or ochre with chocolate stripes. P. 64. Ward's Zebra. This sub-species, named after Mr Ward by Prof. Ewart, " is found in the vicinity of Lake Nakuro to the north of the Lombori Hills not far from Naivashi and the Uganda Railway. In its long ears, narrow hoofs, and gridiron it approaches the mountain zebra, and it is practically the mountain zebra of the Naivashi plateau." Prof. Ewart (who has kindly supplied me with this note) will shortly publish a full paper. Equus Foai. Mr Pocock has kindly furnished me with the following very complete note on this most important sub-species. EQUUS FOAI. PRAZAK and TROUESSART, Bull. Mus. d'Hist. Nat., Paris, v. pp. 350-354, 1899. Ground colour ochre yellow ; of belly white. Stripes black, narrow and numerous, those on the body meeting the mid-central line. Legs completely striped externally and internally to the fetlocks ; pasterns black. Muzzle deep chestnut-brown, without yellowish tan colour above the nostrils. On the neck thirteen stripes cross the mane between the ear and the shoulder stripe. Behind the shoulder stripe there are from 8 to 10 complete vertical stripes, with their dorsal extremities at right angles to the spinal stripe, which is in contact with only the first and second of these (1 to 9). The last body stripe with its dorsal end turned obliquely backward on to the croup and running parallel with the spinal stripe towards the root of the tail. The hind-quarters from the croup down to a point in a line with the belly, marked with about 9 obliquely longitudinal stripes. The upper two are united by 7 or 8 very short transverse stripes like the so-called gridiron of Crawshay's zebra. The anterior extremities of the upper 2 or 3 meet the last body stripe ; but none extend for more than a few inches beyond the haunch on to the body. There are no " shadow stripes." The spinal stripe is narrow behind the withers but expands on the croup to 4 or 5 cm. Except for a short distance behind the withers it is isolated from the body and croup stripes throughout its length. Tail striped, its tuft black. Ears with ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA 509 basal and subterminal black patch, the extreme tip white. Chestnuts small, somewhat as in E. grevyi. LOG. Mountainous country opposite Tete on the north bank of the Lower Zambesi. Differs from all the races of E. burchelli in the presence of a much greater number of principal stripes upon the body and hind- quarters and in the fact that the dorsal extremities of all the body stripes with the exception of the last do not bend obliquely back- wards towards the croup but are approximately at right angles to the spinal stripe. In this particular it resembles both E. grevyi and E. zebra ; but differs from both in that on the croup, the stripes adjacent to the spinal stripe are parallel with it, and point towards the root of the tail, as in Burchelli, instead of being at right angles to it. Hence there is no "gridiron," such as is found in E. zebra; and no trace of the circular or annuliform arrangement of the stripes round the root of the tail which is characteristic of E. grevyi. Also in the size and shape of the head and ears and in general build it approaches E. burchelli much more nearly than E. zebra or E. grevyi. P. 76. The pre-orbital pit in the skulls of Quaggas. Mr Pocock (Ann. and Mag. of Natural History, Vol. x., series 7, May, 1905, p. 516) now believes that Sir W. Flower was right in saying that no trace of the pre-orbital depression seen in the skull of Hipparion is to be found [in the adults] of any of the existing species of Equidae. The dissection of the skulls of horses slaughtered in the Garden has shown that the depression is sometimes present but more often absent : it exhibits indeed every gradation between a hollow perceptible to the eye and touch and a perfectly flat bony surface. From this hollow or from the corresponding area of the skull arises a long muscle which passes forwards to supply the upper lip and nose; and he "believes that its sole significance is to give an increase of surface for the attachment of muscular fibres." He therefore thinks that this pit never contained a gland, though the large depression in the skull of Hipparion was probably not for muscular attachment but for a gland as hitherto supposed. Ono- hippidium has a pit even larger than that of Hipparion and it lies higher on the face, in correlation with the extremely elevated fronto-nasal region of the skull, but in two casts of the skull of Onohippidium there may be noticed a little below and in front of the orbit an additional quite shallow depression, forcibly recalling 510 ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA both in position and development the pre-orbital muscular de- pression that exists in some skulls of recent Equidae. Mr Pocock points out that in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons there are skulls of two stallion quaggas and in neither of them is a trace of the depression perceptible. P. 97. British Chariots. There are the remains of two chariots in the British Museum, and Mr R. A. Smith, of the Department of Prehistoric British and Medieval Antiquities and Ethnography, has kindly given me the following measurements of their tires. 1. Arras (Green well, British Barrows, p. 455). These are in diameter 2 feet 10 inches; in width 1J inches. 2. Beverley (British Barrows, p. 456). The tires are in diameter 2 feet 8-9 inches, and in width 1J inches. P. 1OO. Mr R. A. Smith has kindly given me the measurements of the tires of a Gaulish chariot from Somme Bionne now in the British Museum (Morel, La Champagne Souterraine, p. 29). The tires are 36 inches in diameter, and in width one and one-fifth inch. Canon Greenwell's measurements for the Arras specimen are not quite the same, but rust and distortion render any measurements merely approximate. P. 218. No representations of Egyptians on horse- back. Though no Egyptians are ever seen on horseback my friend Dr Garstang has just called my attention to the fact that on the outer North Wall at Karnak, which has been lately cleaned by Mr Legrain for the Egyptian Government, in the picture of Seti I that monarch is seen in pursuit of the " vile Kheta " (Hittites). He himself is in his chariot (cf. p. 217). but some of his fleeing enemies are riding on horseback. It does not of course follow that because fugitives are seen on horseback they habitually rode, for in their flight they might well cut loose the horses from the chariots, and leap on their backs as did Odysseus and Diomede after the capture of the steeds of Rhesus (p. 109). It is quite possible, as I have said, that some of the Asiatic peoples who kept horses may have ridden on horseback from the first, but as the Hittites were using war-chariots several centuries later than the time of Seti I (cf. p. 215), it is not very probable that they habitually rode on horseback in the time of that king. P. 236. With reference to my argument that the xvnth and xvmth dynasties were Libyan in origin, my friend Mr F. W. Green ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA 511 points out that it gains support from the fact that the worship of Ammon, whose name appears in the names of various kings of the New Empire, rises into special prominence under those dynasties. For there was not only the great oracle of Ammon in the Oasis of Siwa (p. 239), but there was also a shrine of that god in the Great Oasis. Now, as the Libyans regarded the shrine in the Oasis of Siwa with special veneration, it is not at all likely that it was simply established there for the first time by an Egyptian king, and it is not more probable that the cult of Ammon was not native in the Great Oasis and had only been established by an Egyptian monarch at a later period. The fact that Ammon seems especially the god of horses under the New Empire is not without significance. The Libyan god would naturally be the patron of the Libyan horse. Accordingly, just as the names of its kings are compounded with the name of Ammon, so too were those of the royal horses, e.g. "Ammon bestows strength," and "Ammon entrusts him with victory" (p. 218). P. 239. For "Oasis of Suva" read " Oasis of Siwa." Pp. 265 sqq. Prof. Ewart, who during the past winter and spring has been studying the horses of the West Indies and Mexico, on his return wrote to me as follows respecting the statement of Bernal Diaz which I have cited, and my conclusions respecting the horses of Spain and those brought by the Spaniards to the West Indies and Mexico : "I have seen hundreds of horses, many most interesting. Towards the south of Mexico, especially in the Mitla region, a very considerable percentage of the horses are without ergots and hind chestnuts, or have them very small. In north Mexico, where American blood prevails, wartless ponies are extremely rare. In Mexico and Jamaica alike reversion seems to have been at work, producing a primeval beast suited to a warm dry climate in the one case, a warm moist climate in the other. Doubtless the reverts are a mixture of Spanisli and Libyan types. I think all the evidence I have collected may be said to support your view about a Libyan variety (or species) a variety which has been modified in various directions by the Arabs" (May 1, 1905). "The colours are very much what Diaz noted, but the nearer the Libyan type the less the evidence of striping, the nearer the cart type the commoner the vestiges of stripes. In the south of Mexico striping was less in evidence than further north. Prof. Osborn, who went specially 512 ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA in search of striped primeval forms, came across nothing worth photographing. In the ' Forest ' variety still found in western Ross the striping is far more complete than in any horses seen in the West Indies or Mexico" (May 24, 1905). Prof. Ewart's results will shortly be published, in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. P. 402. Spanish blood in the Hebrides. Prof. Ewart has supplied me with the following note from Walker's History of the Hebrides, Vol. n. p. 160 (Edinburgh, 1808). Walker, who was Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh, had visited the Highlands and Islands six times between 1760 and 1786. The Spanish blood was introduced by Clanranald, who on returning from Spain a short time before he was killed in 1715 at the battle of Sheriffmuir " brought with him some Spanish horses, which he settled in his principal island of South Uist." These in a con- siderable degree altered and improved the horses in that and the adjacent islands. Even in the year 1764 not only the form but the cool, fearless temper of the Spanish horse could be discerned in the horses of that island. These at the time both in figure and disposition were the best horses observed in the Highlands, and though of low stature were judged more valuable than any other horses of the same size. As the Spanish horses brought by Clanranald exercised such an important effect on the ponies of the Hebrides and Highlands, and as their descendants are recognized in modern Hebridean ponies of the ' Celtic ' type (lacking hock callosities and having no ergots or very small ones), but which are black in colour, such as that figured on p. 22, and in view of the fact lately ascertained by Prof. Ewart (p. 511) that the horses of Libyan type brought to Southern Mexico by the Spaniards frequently lack hock chestnuts and ergots, we are still further justified in holding (1) that black ponies such as that driven by Cuchulainn, the black Irish Hobbies of medieval times, and the black Connemara ponies of to-day are descended from Libyan blood derived through Spain and Gaul before the Christian era, and (2) that the absence of hock callosities in the ponies of the ' Celtic ' type is certainly due in a large part to the presence of this African blood. \ INDEX. Aahmes I, 215 Abdul Kadir, 167, 206 Abeyan strain, 169 Abraham, had no horses, 204 Abyssinia, ass of, 52 Acarnania, horses of, 302 Achaia, tombs in, 293 Achean horses, dun-coloured, 110 Acheans, 110, 251, 289; horses of, 285; use bits, 473 Achen, Sultans of, 142; kept high- class horses, 142 Achilles, 218, 294; horses of, 110 Adamnan, abbot, 418 Aden, horses exported from, 147 Adham (colour), black and brown, 178 Adhils, king of Sweden, his horses, 118 Adrastus, first of the Danaans to drive a chariot, 286 ; his horse Arion, 285 Adustion, 372 Aediles, 307 Aelian, account of horse, and ele- phant, 153; describes Indian horses, t&.; on Venetian horses, 104 Aelius Gallus, expedition into Arabia, 213 Aeneas, horses of, 290 Aeschylus, 199 Aetna, city of, 296 Aetnaean steed, 296 Aetolia, horses of, 302 Afghanistan, horses of, 447 Africa, horses of, 184 African, blood, 373; horses, 312 Agamemnon, 112 Agasse, his drawing of Lord Morton's quagga, 77 Ageladas, the sculptor, 295 Agher, Co. Westmeath, 413 Agricultural Society, Eoyal, 386 Agriculture, Irish Department of, 405 Agrigentum, white horses at, 105 Ahmar, bay, 177 ; denotes a European, 178 Alba, 393 Albino horses, 142 Alby Hall, 384 R. H. Aleppo, 176, 384; Darley Arabian obtained there, 188 Alexander the Great, 153, 253, 306; his political genius, 220 Alexandria, 220; its library, 220 Ali, his charger, Egyptian in origin, 212 Alix, 342 Al-Khamseh, 205, 381; names of, 166; origin of, 167; original stock, still in North Africa, 207 ; strains freely mixed, 170; sub-strains of,t&.; colours of, ib. ; the strains of, 165 ; unknown in North Africa, 247 Almaine, the, 337; High, 377 Alsace, horses of, 325 Altai Mountains, 27, 135 Altamira, cave of, 87 Alvarado, 269; joins Cortes, 269 Alzada, of Pampas, 262 Amasis, 244 Amazon, 384 Ambacti, of Gauls, 317 Amblere, 359 Amblers, Celdones and Asturcones, 258 America, 4 ; fossil horses of, 8 ; North, feral horses of, 440 ; horses of, 265 ; South, horses of, 261, 271 American, thoroughbreds, 385; trot- ting horse, 464 Ammon, oasis of, 239, 511; shrine of, 222; temple of, 238 Anatolia, horses of, 188 Anazah, 169; horses so called, in Syria, 182; stallions most prized, 183; tribes, 161; their migration, 161 ; occasionally have black horses, 177 Anchises, horses of, 290; mares of, 291 Anchitherium, 6 Anchorites, Irish, 418 Andalusia, horses of, 258, 259, 323, 387 ; colours of, 257-8 Andalusian type, supposed in Conne- mara, 403 Angles, 334, 335; begin to ride, 330; not able to ride, 353 33 514 INDEX Angli, 329, 335, 353 Anglo-Norman horses, 324 Angola, 59; zebra of, 55 Annandale, Mr N., 21 Antilles, horses from, 269 Antimachus, 286 Antimony, 165 Apis, 222 Apocalypse, horses of, 209 Apollo, 286 Apulia, horses of, 308 Aquitania, 332 Arab, blood, 142; merchants, 151; honesty in horse-dealing, 177; horse, 5; horses, 161, 344; in Irak, 161; of coarse type, have large hock callosities, 250, probably cross-bred, ib. ; spoiled by crossing, 175; strains inferior, 173; three kinds of, 168; with large hock callosities, 38; with large under-lip, 38 Arabia, 145; horses exported from, 148; its description, 200; no horses, 201 ; no mules, ib. ; no swine, ib. ; no wild horses in, 165; three kinds of horses in, 161; Central, 161; lack of food in, ib.; Peninsula of, never had wild horses, 207 ; Turkish, horses of, 182; sent to India and Constantinople, 182 Arabian, 163, 381 ; Darley, 382 ; Mark- ham, 364, 378; horse, 164; defini- tion of, 161; described, 171, 180; differs from Iraki stallion, 180 ; horses, colours of, 177-9; height of, 173; inferior strains of, 173; in Irak, Syria, etc., 180 Arabs, Anazah tribes of, 161; con- quests of, 213 ; do not contribute horses to Xerxes' host, 198 ; in Su- matra, 145 ; method of tracing pedi- gree, 187 ; predilection for white or grey horses from religious mo- tives, 186 ; supply camel corps to Xerxes, 199 ; their conquests due to the acquisition of the horse, 213; truth of, 168; reluctant to sell mares, ib.; tribes of interior deserts, 164 Araxes, river, 129 Arbela, battle of, 304 Arblast, 140 Arcadia, horses of, 301 Arcelin, M., 83 Arcesilas, 253 Archers, horse, 194, 196; Scythians, 482 Arches, on forehead, 445, 452 Archipelago, Indian, horses in, 144; Islam in, 145 ; horses not indigenous in, 145 Aretas, Nabataean king, 202 Argolis, 285; horses of, 302 Ariege, horses of, 323, 398 Arion, the horse of Adrastus, 285 Aristophanes, 296 Aristotle, 296, 300; describes wild mules, 49 ; on horses, 188 Aries, 321 ; races at, 330 Armada, 402 Armagh, brooches found near, 396 Armature, of Irish, 389 Armenia, 132 ; horses of, 18, 192, 446 Armenian horses, in modern times, 193 Armour, 336, 355, 389; discarded, 366 ; horse, 132 ; not worn by Irish, 388; Persian, 188 Arras, chariot burial at, 97, 510 Arrian, 190, 400 Arrow-shooting, 117 Arrows, poisoned, 140 Aryans, drive chariots, do not ride, 151; kept horses, ib.; sacrificed horses, ib. Ashkar, chestnut, 178 Asia, horses of, 306; Central, 164; Western, horses of, 160 sqq. ; Western, origin of horses of, 188 Asia Minor, 132, 199 Asinus, 12 Ass, African, 52; differences from Asiatic, 53; Asiatic, 12; African, ib. ; Somali, ib. ; domestic, in Egypt, 218; hybrid, 37; hair of, ib.; hy- brids, 35, 36, 39 ; in Homeric Greece, 112; shoulder stripe of, 450; So- mali wild, 53-4; wild, 208, 476; Asiatic, habits of, 50; capture of, in Assyria, 49 ; domesticated by Arabs, 52 ; in Scythia, 50 ; not so swift as horses, 50; old stallion emasculates young ones, 50 ; west of Nile, 56 ; asses, 7, 47, 204; Asiatic, division of, 43; Asiatic, two species of, 52; domesticated, in Western India, 47; draw Indian chariots, 192; of Job, 203; of Persia, 149; sacrificed to war-god, 150; used by Carmanians, 49; wild, 43 sqq., 202; wild, in Dzun- garia, 43; wild, in Syria, 49; with horns, 56; without horns, 56; with six lumbar vertebrae, 42 Assouan, 238 Assur-bani-pal hunting, 49 Assyria, wild asses of, 49 Assyrian, empire, 230; horses, 194; horses, origin of, 198 Asturcones, 258, 388 Asturia, horses of, 258, 266 Atahualpa, the Inca king, 271 INDEX 515 Atavism, 76 Athlone, 83 Athy, priory of, burnt, 412 Atteschi, of Arabia, 161 Atymon, 98 Augeas, 251 Australia, feral horses of, 431; wild horses of, 18 Australian, race-horses, colours of, 441; thoroughbreds, 385 Austria, horses of, 345; ponies of, 345 Auvergne, horses of, 323 ; colour of, ib. Avaris, capital of Hyksos, 230 Avebury, Lord, horse, late in Britain, 92 Avilius Teres, the charioteer, 312 Azara, 8, 9, 125, 152, 262, 428, 434 Azov, Sea of, 126 ; siege of, 30 Aztec empire, 270 Babylonia, horses of, 161, 198 Babylonian monuments, horse on, 235 Bactrians, 157, 192 ; furnish horsemen but no chariots to Xerxes, 152; supply camels, 199 Badius, 291 Bagdad, 161, 162; horse, compared with Syrian, 186; horses of, 184; Pasha, horses of, 183 Baguals, 18, 429; Pampas horses, 262 Bai-chataine, 434 Baines, Mr, his journey, 66 Baio, 291 Balances, 210 Balas, 'bald,' 328 Balboa, 269; his death, 270 Bald-faced charger, 328 Bald Galloway, 382 Balkan, horses in, 105 Baluchistan, horses of, 159, 447 Balzano, 373 Barb, 323; crossed with Yorkshire cart-mares, 386; described, 249; Button's, 248-9, 381-2 Barbarian, 377 Barbary horses, 248, 376 Baroda, 158 Barra, ponies of, 18 Basclenses, 388 Bas-Medoc, horses of, 324 Basques, 388, 389 Basra, 167 Bas-reliefs, 194; Hittite, 215 Bateman, Mr, 92 Bath, Wife of, 359 Battak, ponies of, 141, 156 ; colours of, 141, 156; mouse-grey, 142, with dorsal stripe, ib. Battle, of Arbela, 304; of the Boyne, 413; of Crecy, 359; of Falkirk, 356-7 ; of Hastings, 354 ; of Leuctra, 300 ; of Poictiers, 333 ; of Toulouse, 332 Battus, king of Cyrene, 238 Bavaria, horses of, 344; their docility, ib. Bay, 193, 258, 261, 262 ; chief colour of Kuhailan, 174; Cleveland, 386; colour, 156, 302; colour, origin of, 434 ; colour of the Markham Arabian, 378; horse, 359; horse, in Iliad, 289 ; horse, of Diomede, 291 ; horses, 173, 211, 357-8; inherent in North African stock, 187; of Kuhailan breed, 173 ; offspring from bay stal- lion and chestnut mares, 374 ; origin of the various terms for, 291 ; stock, of Libya, 248 ; the best colour, 175 ; with black points, 170; bays, 385; numerous in Kuhailan, 169 Bay Malton, 381 Bayeux tapestry, 354 Beards, of Mauri, 240 Bechuanaland, 59 Beddard, Mr, 5, 200 Bede, 330, 354 Bedford, Duke of, 26, 44 Bedouins, 164 Beetewk, breed of, 351 Behring's Straits, 10 Belgic tribes of Britain, 351, 393 Belgium, horses of, 341 Belisarius, 327; his charger, 327-8 Bells, on horses, 195 Benat-el-Ahwaj strain, 207 Bend Or, 159; skull of, 11, 470 Beowulf, 120, 344 Berberah, 58 Berenger, Richard, 384 ; on Godolphin Barb, 384 Berkshire, White Horse of, 353 Bernese Jura, 345 Bernie, shirt of mail, 331 Berwick, Duke of, 382 Bevan, Prof. A. A., 146 Beverley, chariot at, 510 Bhotan, 153, 156; ponies of, 134 Biddell, Mr Herman, 370 Bidder, Mr G. P., 283 Bidets, 324 Bidwell, Mr E., 506 ; on Abyssinian zebra, 58 Biedma, Hernandez de, 273 Bigourdan, horse, 322 Bison, 9, 428; in Paeonia, colour of, 300 Bit, Assyrian, 195; invention of, 474 ; not used by Arab, 176; not used by 332 516 INDEX Libyans, 472; bits, liorse, 129, 473; of horn, 93 ; of bone, of bronze, ib. ; Mongolian, 139 ; not used by medie- val Irish, 389; of bronze, 98; used by Acheans, 473 ; used by Assyrians, 196; used for Asiatic horses, 473, 480 Black, 258; colour of Ariege horses, 323 ; found in inferior Arab strains, 173 ; not original colour, 261 ; Heb- ridean ponies, 402, 512; Highland ponies, 402, 512; horse, 346, 397; horse, syn. of Great Horse, 366; Irish ponies, 401 ; horses, 177, 210, 250, 335, 341, 342, 344, 346, 347, 357-8, 369, 397 ; as cavalry mounts, 368; come from West, 133; in France, 325; in Greece, 292; in Morocco, 248 ; Jelfon strain, 181 ; large, 335; not pure Al-Khamseh, 181; of Germany, Holland, Flan- ders, Friesland, Denmark, 331; re- sult of mixture, 186 Black Agnes, 463 Blanford, Dr, 426 Blaze, 384; on face, 327; on fore- head, 374, 465 Bleeding Childers (or Bartlett's Chil- ders), 384 Blood, 386; esteemed above all things by the Arabs, 176 Blow-fly, 9 Blundeville, Thomas, 318, 336, 371, 376 ; on colours of horse, 372-3 ; on English horse-breeding, 363; on Flemish horses, 337; on Friesland horse, 340; on Spanish jennet, 259, 340; on Turk horse, 189 Blunt, Lady Anne, 161, 162, 208 Blunt, Mr W. S., 162, 165, 166, 206, 445 ; doctrine of origin of Kohl breed, 207-8; on Kadish horses, 163 ; on white horses, 186 Boats, 115 Bohemia, 345 Bombay, 149 Bone-caves, of Britain and Belgium, 89 Bones, burnt, in tumulus, 399; horse, in tumulus, 398; metacarpal and metatarsal, 152; of horse, 84, 85; of horse found with his master, 354; of reindeer, 84 Bonte quagga, 476 Book of Kelts, 390 Boots, Norman, 354 Bordeaux, 333 Boreas, sire of horses, 290 Bos, gaurus, 4; grunniens, ib. Bosnia, ponies of, 345 Botletle, river, 66 Boudissy, a Coptic king, 56 Boulonnais, 2 Bows, 240, 481 Boyne, battle of the, 414 Bracelets, on horses, 373 Breastplates, for horses, 130, 132 Breeding, not understood by Arabs, 176 Brenda, 463 Brennus, Celtic king, 316 Breton pony, 3 Breul, M., 87 Bridegroom's gifts, 115 Bridle, 479 ; Assyrian, described, 195; bridles, 254 ; not used by Numidians, ib. ; made of rush, 240 ; Mongolian, 139 ; on Irish crosses, 390 Brigandines, 273, 274 Brighton, 'Elephant-bed' at, 11 Britain, 393; Belgic tribes of, 351; no horses in, 353 British, charioteers, 98; horses, on the Continent, 361 ; Isles, horses of, 352 Britons, use chariots, 95 Brittany, horses of, 324 Broncho, 264 Bronze Age, axe of, 390; stations in Switzerland, 92 Brooch, from Navan Rath, 396 ; leaf- shaped, 396; penanular, used in Ireland, 396 ; brooches, Gallic, 394 ; gold, 248; La Tene, 396; penanular, 396 Brood mares, in Thrace, 306 Brown, found in inferior Arab strains, 173; not in Al-Khamseh, 383 Brumbies, 18 Brunchorst, Dr, of Bergen, 120 Brunn, Mr Daniel, 124 ; his book, 24 Bucephalus, bred in Thessaly, 304 Bucket, at Sesto Calende, 103 Buckingham, Earl of, 379 Buckley, Mr, on Chapman's zebra, 66 Buenos Ayres, 262 Buffalo, 140 Bullock, plough, cart, 413, 414 Burchell zebra, 20, 59, 68, 445; de- scribed, 66 Burckhardt, on Arab horses, 162 Burgundian horses, 318, 344 Burgundians. 327; conquered by Franks, 329-30 Burial customs, 128 Burial of horses with their masters, 128 Buriat, horseman, 135 ; women, 139 Burmese ponies, 141, 448 Burnt Njal, saga of, 122; horse-fight, 122 INDEX 517 Bussorah, dealers of, 161 Byerley, Capt., owner of the Byerley Turk, 413 Byerley Turk, 378, 382, 413 Byzantine emperors, 306 Cabul, horses of, 159 Caesar, 93, 334, 351, 393, 401 Call, city of, 148 Caledonians, 352 ; horses of, 95 Caliphs, Arab, conquests of, 214 Callimachus, 253 Callosities, 12, 14; of Prejvalsky's horse, Clydesdales and Shires, 38; scarcely perceptible on hind legs of tangums, 154; absence of, 23, 476, 511; absent in the following: Celtic pony, 18; Connemara ponies, ib.; Faroe ponies, ib.; Hebridean ponies, ib. ; Iceland ponies, 18, 420 ; Irish ponies, 409 ; Welsh pony, 18. Hock, 156; in hybrid, 39; on fetlocks, 12; absence of, 250; absent in North African horses, 468; callosity, 7; hock, minute on Onager indicus, 37 (cf. Chestnut and Ergot) Caltu, port of, 148 Calzeti, 374 Camargue, 399; grey, 402; of Pro- vence, 321 Camarina, horses of, 276 Camel, Bactrian, 199 ; -breeding, 201 ; corps, Arab, 199 ; domestication of, 200; in Egypt, ib.; statuette of, ib.; camels, 199 ; used in war, 202 ; wild, 26, 199, 202; in Lobnor, 200 Camerarius, 259, 319 Campbell, Mr C. W., 140, 426 Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, 238 Canfield, Dr, on colours of prairie horses, 265 Canoes, 273 Cantherius, meaning of, 311 ; its pri- mary meaning, 473 Capitan, M., 87; on supposed domes- tication of horse in Palaeolithic times, 90 Car, sacred, of Zeus, 191 Caracalla, 55 Carajan, 140; horses of, ib. Carian mercenaries, 243 Carmania, 47; asses of, 150 Carmanians, a warlike people, 49; sacrifice asses to war-god, ib. Carni, 101 Carpus, 8 Cars, at Sentinum, 100 ; four-wheeled, 487 Carter, Mr Howard, finds a chariot, 227 Carthage, 239, 253, 309 Cart, Portuguese, 483; see Ox-cart Cart-horse, 355 ; with stripes, 451 ; English origin of, 372 Cart-mare, Irish, 414 ; Lady Douglas, 463; Yorkshire, 385-6 Carvings, hi bone, 86 Casperians, 192 Caspians, 192 Cassius, 101 Castor, 8 Castor and Pollux, on Roman coins, 308; ride white horses, 295 Castration, in England, 360; of horses, 125 ; of horses, practised by Gauchos and Pampas Indians, 125 ; practice of, 473 Catlin, 265 Cattle Baid of Cualnge, 396 Caucasus, 126 Cauchois horse, 2 Cavalarice, of G. Markham, 377 Cavalry, Assyrian, 196; Athenian, 298; English, 368; Macedonian, 303, 304 (described); Numidian, 310; of Celts, 316; of Goths, 329; of Macedon, 303; of Narvaez, 269; of Porus, 153 ; of Sybaris, Croton, and Tarentum, 279; of Thessaly, 303 ; rise of, in Greece, 292 ; Roman, 100, 309 ; Thessalian, 301, 481 Cave-dwellers, 240 Caves, Altamira, 87 ; Chabot, Cress- well Crags, 83 ; Kent, 11 ; Kessler- loch, 86 ; Kirkdale, 83 ; La Mouthe, Pair-non-Pair, 87 ; Combarelles, 86 ; Font-de-Gaune, 86; La Madelaine, 85; Laugerie, 85 Cecil, Lord Arthur, 35 Celdones, of Gallaecia, 258 Celebes, horses in, 144 Celle, horse-breeding of, 342 Celtiberian horses, 256, 260, 321 Celtic, cavalry, 316; dog, 398; pony, 18, 352 ; pony, differs from Arab and Barb, 421 Celts, did not tattoo, 105; of Italy, 100; of Noricum, 101; of Dan- ube valley, 101; of Styria, 315, 316 Central Arabia, horses of, 162 Centuries of horse, 308 Cervus tarandus, 85 Chain-mail, 355 Chaldean type of horse, 164 Champagne, tumuli of, 99 Chandu, 134 Chapman, Mr J., his journey, 66 Chapman's zebra, 463; its distribu- tion, 65 518 INDEX Charigt, 305, 355 ; at Florence, 323 ; described, 223-4; burials, in Thrace, 106; fittings, 93; fittings, in Thrace, 107; four-horse, 238, 251; four- horse, invented by Libyans, 247; made without metal, 226; of Sesto Calende, 103 ; of Thothmes IV, 227 ; price of, 214; -race, 295; -race, at Olympia, 276; racing, at Borne, 312; scythed, 247, 393, 496; two- horse, 252, 285, 481 sqq.; chariots, 151, 152, 157, 351; Assyrian, 194; of Acheans, 289; with eight-spoked wheels, 289; of Britons, 95, 97, 510; of Britons not scythed, 98; in Champagne, 100; Egyptian, 223- 6; of Gauls, 95, 510; of Indians drawn by asses or horses, 192 ; Irish, 98, 397; Irish fight from chariots in Cuchulainn Saga, 393; of Irish crosses, 390; of iron, 226; of Lib- yans, 192; on Mycenean grave- stones, 107; of Sigynni, 94; on vases, 352 ; remains of, 95 ; scythed, 240 ; Thracian, 109 ; used by Britons, 393 ; used by Eomans, 306 ; Yorkshire, 95 Charioteer, a famous Koman, 312 Charles I, fond of horses, 366 Charles II, his stud, 380 sqq.; his Boyal mares, 381 ; horses and mares of, 188 Charles Martel, 332-3 Chartres, horses of, 326 Chatti, 115; famous for their infantry, 115 Chaucer, 359 Chauci, 335 Chestnut, 8, 178, 193, 248, 300, 375 ; dark copper-coloured not common in Kuhailan, 178 ; due to mixture, 187; fine bright, 374; found in strains outside Al-Khamseh, 174; horse, 122; horses, bad temper of, 474; horses, in Greece, 300; hunt- ing gelding for James I, 379; mare, 171, 184; Mongol mare, 35; origin of, 212 ; red, 376 ; now typical colour of best Suffolk Punch, 376 ; -roan, 141 Chestnuts, 13, 14, 37, 385; absence on fore-legs, 13 ; hind, absence of, 13; of ass hybrid, 37 Chigetai (Dzeggetai), 44; voice of, 52 China, borders of, 31; Great Wall, 140; ponies, 139, 449 Chinese emperors, tombs of, 236 Chinghas Kaan, 134 Chivalry, Teutonic, 331 Choenix, 210 Christy, Mr H., 85 Chuzo, 429 Cilicians, pay tribute of white horses, 190 Cimarrona, of Pampas, 262 Cincibulus, a Gallic chief, 101 Circus, factions in, 312 ; rider, 252 Cirta, 239, 309 Clanranald, 512 Clarke, Sir Ernest, 364, 370, 377, 378, 386 Cleosthenes, the horse-breeder, 295 Cleveland Bays, 386, 449; origin of, 386 Cleves, duchy of, 338 ; the horse of, 338 Clifden, ponies of, 407 Cloak, dark grey, 396 Clonmacnoise, cross of, 389, 390 Cloth, saddle, 197 Clovis, 329 Clydesdale, breed, 368, 409; horses, 402 Clydesdales, in Ireland, 413 Coach-horse, Yorkshire, origin of, 386 Coach, horses for, 379 Coaches, stage, 366 Coffey, Mr George, 392, 398, 402 Coin, of Potidaea, 301 ; with mare and foal, 306 Coins, Gaulish, 102; of Carthage, of Panormus, 253; of Sicilian cities, 276; Koman, 307 Co., King's, 389 Colonists, stupidity of, 77 Coloration, of zebras, of Libyan horse, 439-40 Colour, certain colours indicate mixed breed, 43; dark, 174; grey, 174; white, 174; bay, 174; of African ass, 53; of Asiatic, ib.; of Arab horses, 174; of Byzantine war- horses, 328; of Celtiberian horses, 256, 257; of horses, 30; of Karadagh horses, 193; of Kattywar horses, 156; of kiang, 46; of onager, 46; of Kurdistan ponies, 160 ; of Nisaean horses, 194; of Norwegian pony, 452; of Onager indie us, 47; of Par- thian horses, 190 ; of Prejvalsky's horse, 152; of Vedic horses, 152; received from sire, 178 ; terms for, used by Arabs, 177; of Turcoman horses, 133; white legs, 35 ; colours of Arabian horses, 175, 177-182; of Barbary horses, and Moorish horses, 248 ; of Libyan horses, 248; of Con- nemara ponies, 403; of English race-horses, 385 ; of horses, 186, 261, 348, 371, 373, 398; of horses killed at Falkirk, 357; of horses INDEX 519 of Mexico and Texas, 266; of modern Spanish horses, 258; of Pampas horses, 262; of prairie horses, 265 ; of Shire horses, 368 ; of wild horses, 32; table of, 441-3; the best, 372 Colton, John, Archbishop, 412 Colt's head, symbol, 215 Columbus, 264 Conchobar, king of Ulster, 396, 400 Coneyskins, 382 Congested Districts Board, 402 Congo, 59; zebra of, 55, 60 Connemara, Celtic pony of, 18; pony, 40, 388; ponies, 402 sqq.; absence of hock callosities in, 409; colours of, 403; origin of, 405-6; so-called 'Eastern' type, 408 Connemara- Welsh pony, 20 Conquests, Arab, due to acquisition of horse, 213; due to horses, 218 Constable, Mr A., 388 Constantineh, 239 Constantinople, 161 ; horses sent to, 182 Consuls, allowed horses, 307 Contorniates, 329 Con way, Prof. R. S., 223 Copper, 130 Copperthwaite, Mr K. H., 441 Corax, a black horse, 295 Corn Laws, 414 Corsairs, plunder ships, 149 Corselets, linen, 117 Cortes, 266; his horses, 269; sets sail for Mexico, 269 Cossacks, 31 Cotton, pad of, used for riding, 177 Cow, flesh of, 222 Cox, Dr Michael, 387, 392 Cradock, zebras near, 62 Crannog, horse skulls from Irish, 391 Crawfurd, John, 144 Crawshay, Mr, 68 Crawsb.a'y's zebra, 61, 68 Crecy, battle of, 359 Cremation, 398 Cresswell Crags, cave in, 83 Crete, 220 Crisp, Mr, his Suffolk stallion, 374 Croesus, horses of, 194 Cro-Magnon, rock shelter, 85 Cromwell, Oliver, 366; buys a black horse, 380; his Commissioners, 412 Cross-bred horses, 324 ; taller and stronger, 174; cross-breds, 160,248- 50; head longer in, 323 Cross, at Clonmacnoise, 389; Irish, 390 Cualnge, Cattle Raid of, 396 Cuba, 266, 269; conquered, 267; horses, wild oxen, and hogs, 271 Cuchulainn, 98, 396; his horses de- scribed, 397 ; Saga of, 393 sqq. Curium, vase of, 289 Curule, offices, 307; horses, ib.; chariots, at Rome, ib. Cutch, 158; asses of, 47- Cuvier, Prof., 82 Cuyer and Alix, 322, 342 Cu'zco, 271 Cyprus, vase-paintings, 289 Cyrene, 238, 251, 253; its horse- breeding, 238 Cyreneaus, send war-horses to Alex- ander, 253, 306 Cyrus, 129, 191; crosses Gyndes, 191; horses sacrificed to, 190 Czerski, Dr, 43; on tarpan, 42 Dalmatia, horses of, 318, 327; bad temper of, ib. Dam, supposed to be the more im- portant parent, 188 Danes' Graves, chariot burial, 97; chariot from, 95 Daniell's quagga, 75 Danish horse, 2 ; horses, 342, 343 Daphnae, 242 Dappled-dun horses, Beowulf, 120 Dappled horses, 111 D'Arcy, Royal mare, 382 D'Arcy Turk, 382 Darien, horses brought to, 269 Darius, 211; signet of, 192 Darley Arabian, 169, 382 ; his portrait and colour, 384 Darley, Mr, 384 Darwin, Charles, 3, 9, 151, 152, 157, 265, 433-4, 444 sqq. ; cites striped ponies of Java, 142; on origin of Arab horse, 209, of English thorough- bred, ib. Date colour, 177 (cf. Spadix) Date-coloured horses, 348 Davis, Mr T. M. , excavates a tomb, 227 Dawkins, Prof. Boyd, 83 Day, Mr A., has a horned horse, 152 Debae, use camels in war, 202 Decius Mus, 100 Defenneh, 242 Deli, 141 Delphi, 316 Denarius, Roman, 308 Denmark, 118 Depression, in horse skulls, 470; see Fossa Derby, winners of, 441 Descent of a horse, 168; through males, 381 520 INDEX Desert, Gobi, 32; Mongolian, ib. ; Pal- myrene, 161; Syrian, ib. Desmatippus, 6 Destriers, 147, 355 Devonshire Childers, same as Flying Childers, 384 Dextrarii, 355 D'Hobsonville, 154 Diaz, Bernal, on horses, 267, 511 Digits, 13; lateral, 8; primal, 7; primal five, 6 Dio Capsius, 95; mentions zebra (hippotigris), 55 Diodorus, 99, 105 Diomede, captures horses of Aeneas, 290 Dionysius, of Syracuse, imports Ve- netian horses, 104 ; his white horses, 278 Dioscuri, 308 Dobrusky, M., 107 Docility, of Bavarian horses, 344; of Libyan horse, 472 ; of Spanish jen- net, 340 Docking, of horses, 140 Dog, 4; Celtic, 398; Gunnar's Irish, 419; interbreeds with wolf and jackal, 426; dogs, Celtic, 400; Irish, 419 ; wolf, 401 Dolon, 108 Domestic horses, earliest, 4 Domesticated Indian horse, 159 Domestication, of horse, 128; of ox, 128 Don, river, 51, 126 Dongola, breed of, 2, 219; a cross, 250; horses, described, 249 Dordogne, caves of, 85 ; figures in, 84 Dorsal stripe, of hybrid ass, 37, 386, 445 ; in Cleveland Bay, 386 Draught-horses, 346 Drenthe, breed of hearse horses, 342 Dshigguetei, 44 ( = Dzeggetai) Dsjulfa, 170; strain "of, 167 Dublin Co., 393, 488 Ducaila, Sultan of, 248 Duck, Aylesbury, 460 ; Muscovy, wild, ib. Duckworth, Mr W. L. H., 436, 451 Ducrost, M., 83 Duke of Newcastle, 378 Dukhova Moghila, barrow of, 106 Dun, 175; striped, 260; striped, in Mexico, 269 ; the worst horses, 260 ; Mongol pony, 39 Dun-coloured horses, 110, 296, 357, 465; of Acheans, 289; of Spain, 257; with dorsal stripe, 257, 348; in Beowulf, 120 ; in Veda, 152 ; on vases, 294; with stripes, 274; with stripes, in North America, 265 Dupont, M., 89 Durr grass, 58 Dutch, stupidity of Dutch colonists, 77; horse, 368; horses, 341, 350 Dynasty, Egyptian, xvnth, xvinth, xixth, 236 Dzeggetai, 44, 52 ; of Mongolia, 44 Dzungaria, wild horses of, 26 Ears, projecting outwards, 38 Earth, mother of Arion, 286 Eastern, blood, so-called, 10; sires, 381 Eclipse, pedigree of, 382; his pos- terity, 384; skull of, 470 Edom, 202 Edward I, 356 Edward III, promotes horse-breeding, 358 Edwards, Mr, 445, 446; first de- scribed quagga, 72 Egypt, 161, 204 ; exports horses, 251 ; horse in, 215 Egyptian, conquests, due to horses, 218 ; horses, 215-6, 229 ; horses, dark colour of, 218 ; kings, tombs of, "236; terms for chariots, 215, for charioteer, 216 ; xvnth dynasty Libyan in origin, 236 Egyptians, did not ride, 216, 510 ; who they are, 222 Eight-legged horse, its origin, 347 Eisir, 118 Elements, doctrine of the, 371 Elephant, 153; at Borne, 55; birth of, 148 ; skin of, used as shield, 240; elephants, 307 ; in India, 153 ; in Java, used in war, 146 Elephant-bed, of Brighton, 82, 421 Elephantine, 222, 238, 243 Elis, 251 ; horses of, 285 Elizabeth, queen, on progress, 362 Elk, Irish, 85 El Masudi, on zebras, 56 Emain Macha, modern Navan Eath, 400 Emir, Wooing of, 393, 400 Ernir, Fai-sal of Najd, his view of horses, 178 Emmanuel College, 412 Enactments to raise the standard of horses, 360 English Colonists, stupidity of, 77 English, great horses, 355-6 ; horses brought to Ireland by Dr Winter, 412; race-horse, 212; thoroughbred, 323, 324 ; thoroughbred, crosses of, 324 ; thoroughbreds, 350 ; thorough- breds, effect on progeny, 323 Engravings on bone, 86 INDEX 521 Eocene, 6 Eohippus, 6 Epaminondas, 301 Epidaurus, horses of, 302 Epirote horses, 327 Epirus, horses of, 318 Equidae, ancestor of, 444 ; striping of, 79-90 ; the existing, 12 sqq. Equitation, 478 sqq. Equus, africanus, 2 ; antiquorum, 61 ; aryanus, 3; asiaticus, 2; asinus, 52; belgicus, 2 ; Boehmi, 61 ; britannicus, 2 ; Burchelli, 59 ; c. germanicus, 342 ; c. hibernicus, 401 ; c. libycus, 469 ; c. mongolicus, of Pietrement, 229 ; caballus, 12, 16 ; caballus celticus, 12, 18 ; caballus libycus, 425 ; Chap- mani, 61, 65; complicatus, 8^ 263; Crawshayi, 68 ; excelsus, 264; foai, 64, 508; fraternus, 8; frisius, 2; germanicus, 2 ; hemionus, 43, 45 ; hibernicus, 2 ; kiang, 12, 43 ; won- golicus, 3 ; namadicus, 10 ; occiden- talis, 8 ; onager, 43 ; pacificus, 264 ; pectinatus, 264; Przewalskii, 12; quagga Danielli, 75 ; quaggoides, 143, 470; robustus, ligeris, 10; Se- lousi, 61 ; sequanius, 2 ; sivalensis, 10, 11, 142, 470; had pre-orbital pit, 469; sornalicus, 12, 53 ; stenonis, 10, 143, 462, 470; tow, 8; JF 64 ; zebra, its description, 62 ; Hartmanni, 62 ; zeftra Penricei, 62 Eratosthenes, 51 Ergot, 13, 15 ; absence of, 13 ; ergots, absence of, 477 ; absence of, in Celtic pony and in Arabs, 19 ; frequently absent in Icelandic, He- bridean and Connemara ponies, in pure bred Arabs and thoroughbreds, 469; of ass hybrid, 38; see Cal- losities Erichthonius, mares of, 290 Erlenbach, black breed, 345 Erman, Prof., 216 Esau, 204 Escholtz Bay, 8 Esher, port of, 148 Esseda, Gallic, at Sentiuum, 100 Essex, Pleistocene beds of, 11 Este, 103 Estremadura, horses of, 258 Ethiopians, 240; Troglodyte, 238 Etruscan, horses, 314 Eudes, 332 Eunuch, Ethiopian, 238 Euphrates, 161 ; horses of, 198 Eurasia, 7 Ewart, Prof. J. C., 5, 7, 40, 55, 59, 61, 64, 66, 68, 79, 152, 403, 421, 445, 450, 452, 457, 508, 511-12; his Celtic pony, 18; experiment with Asiatic ass, 35 ; experiment with chestnut Mongol pony, 40 ; his zebra hybrids, 463 Ewe-necked horses, 182 Exaenetus, of Agrigentum, 105, 276 Exchequer Eolls, 355 Exmoor pony, 399 ; has good blood, 39 ; her hybrid, 35 ; ponies, 39 Export of horses, forbidden, 360 Eyzies, 85 Ezekiel, 193, 196 Fairs, horse, 193 Falkirk, battle of, 357 Fallow-dun cob, 450 Faraday, L. Winifred, 396 Faroe islands, 22; origin of ponies of, 418 Faroe, ponies, 22, 352, 416; pony, 23, 24; without callosities, 23 Fatima, Arab filly, striped, 445 Feet, white, 181, 373-4; in Kuhailan, 173 Females, descent through, 381 Fenwick, Sir John, 381 Feral horses, 428 sqq.; capture of, 432 ; extermination of, 433 Ferry, M., 83 Fertility, of breeds, 4 ; of Libyan horses in North Africa, 475 Fetlocks, hairy, 408 Fezzan, 238 Fibulae, La Tene, 100 Fillies, kept in tribe, 176 Finnish horses, 347 Fish, horses fed on, 148 ; used to feed horses and cows, 149 Fitzwilliams, Mr, 142 Flamen, 307 Flanders, 356 ; horse, 377 ; horse of, described by Blundeville, 337; stallion, 364 Flea-bitten grey, 301 Flemings, mares of, 337-8 Flemish horse, 2 Flint implements, 83 Florida, Adelantado of, 271; horses landed in, 271 Flower, Sir W. , 5, 13, 56 ; on Prejval- sky's horse, 35 Flying Childers, bay colour of, 384 Foal, 40; Arab, 37; Prejvalsky, 36; reddish -grey from grey parents, 456 ; thoroughbred, 37 ; Arab, how reared, 176; highly bred, markings on, 456; of race-horses, striped, 445; of Sir G. Ouseley's chestnut mare, 462 Forehead of wild horse, 38 522 INDEX Forster, the traveller, on wild horses, 30 Fossa, in skull of Quagga, 76; in skull of certain Equidae, 143, 509 ; pre-orbital, in Hipparion, in E.sival- ensis, in E. stenonis, and E. quag- goides, in Quagga, in domesticated horse, in skull of Bend Or, 143; in 'blood' horses, 469-70; pre- orbital in young ass and in male Grant's zebra, 143 Four-horse, chariot, 251 ; chariot, on vases, 252 ; chariots, 238 France, horses of, 320 sqq. Franks, 327, 329, 353; begin to employ cavalry, 330 ; conquer Thu- ringians and Burgundians, 329-30 ; method of fighting, 330 ; Ripuarian, 338-9 French horses, colour of, 325 Frenchmen, ride long, 140 Freyr, a Swedish god, 118 Friesland horse, 339, 340, 364, 377; described by Blundeville, 340 ; a good trotter, 340 ; origin of Pinz- gauer breed, 346 Frisian horses, 318, 327, 421 Frisii, 335 Funeral horses, 342 Fur, trade in, 118; sables, ib. Gadow, Dr Hans, 460 Gaetuli, 238 Galicia, 258 ; horses of, ib. Gallic, brooches, 394 ; cavalry, 101 ; chieftains buried on their chariots, 100; shields, 394; spears, called saunia, 99. Games, funeral, 252 Ganymede, 290 Garamantes, 238 Garrison, at Elephantine, 238 Garstang, Dr, 510; on Hyksos, 233 Gascony, supplies horses to the English king, 359 Gauchos, 125, 428 Gaul, horses of, 312 ; ambacti of, 317 Gauls, have chariots in Italy, 100 ; horses of, 310 ; of Lower Danube, 315 ; serfs of, 316 ; used chariots, 95, 99 Gayoe ponies, 141 Gazelle, 208 Gedrosia, 201 Gela, coins of, cavalry of, 277 Geldings, 163, 473; large grey for the king's coach, 379 ; price of, ib. ; used by Romans, 311 Genealogies, of Arab horses, 167 Gentleman, the medieval, 293 Georgi, Father, 154 Gerard, the brothers, 30 German, great horse, 336 ; modern horses, 341 Germanicus, E. c., 342 Germans, horses of, 113, 332 ; utilize zebras in East Africa, 79 ; venerate white horses, 114 Germany, heavy horses of, 342 ; horse- breeding in, 342 ; horses of, 314, 334-5 Gestation, of horses, 16 ; of asses and zebras, ib.; period of, 36 Ghor-khur, 45, 46 Ghour, 46 Ghur, 46 Ghuran, 46 Gilbey, Sir W., 355, 363, 386, 392 ; on Irish horses, 386 ; on origin of Irish Hobbie, 402 Giles, Prof., 140 Gill, Mr T. P., 405 Ginni, of Liguria, 321 Giraldus Cambrensis, 354, 388, 389, 412 Gmelin, Dr, 42, 43; his notice of tarpan, 41 Gnoo, 73 ; accompanied quaggas, 74 ; brindled, accompanied Burchell's zebra, 74 Gobi desert, 28, 31 Godolphin Barb, 382, 384 Gods' horses, names of, 121 Gods, ride, 118 Goethe, on Selene's horse, 297 Gog-Magog, 384 Gold, 130 ; brooches, 248 ; ornaments, 240 ; trappings, bits, etc., 129 Gonville Hall, 412 Gothland, large war-horses of, 347 Goths, attack Rome, 327 ; cavalry of, 329 Grant's zebra, described, 70 Grave, shaft, at Mycenae, 285 Gravestone, at Mycenae, 285 Gray, Rev. T. T., 413 Great horses, 363, 364; scarcity of, 366 Greece, Bronze Age of, 251, 285; horses of, 285 sqq., 292, 300-2 Greek, chestnut horses, 300 ; horses not shod, 298 ; mercenaries in Egypt, 223; war-horse, 299-300 Greeks, 244 ; at Cirta, 239 ; descents upon Egypt, 220 ; did not use saddles, 299 Green, Mr F. W., 510 Greenwell, Canon, 92, 95, 97, 510 Grenada, horses of, 258 INDEX 523 Grevy zebra, 11, 57-8, 59, 69 ; hoofs of, 59; chestnuts of, 59, 506 Grey, 258, 379; Celtiberian horses, 257; colour, 174; flea-bitten, 301; New Forest ponies, 405 ; not original horse colour, 261 ; pommely, 359 ; ponies, 343 ; racing mare of James I, 379; usual colour in Turkish Arabia, 183; horses, 122, 346, 357-8, 397, 398, 402, 431; Hamdani, 173; in Bagdad, 183 ; in France, 325 ; out- come of mixing North African with upper Asiatic and European blood, 186 Grey Hautboy, 382 Grey Wilkes, 382 Greyhound, 363 Grijimailo, the brothers, 26, 33, 43 Grunau, 117 Guillemard, Dr F. H. H., 149 Gunnar, his brown horse, 122; his dog, 419 Gutch, Mr Clement, 97 Gylfinnung, 121 Gyndes, river, 191 Hackney, English, 386 ; stallions, 402 Hadban, strain, 169, 170 Haddon, Dr, 483 Haflinger ponies, 345 Hagenbeck, Mr Carl, 26, 28, 33, 58 Hahn, Dr, 484 Hair, mode of wearing, 239 Hakluyt, Kichard, 271 Half-breds, 163 Halicarnassus, Mausoleum at, 306 Hall, Mr W. H., 310 Hallstatt, swords from, 394 Halter, 479 Hamdan, 205 Hamdani, colour of, 169 ; shape of, 170; strain, 169, 206 Hampshire sheriff, 356 Hannibal, 101 ; his cavalry, 254 Hanover, horses of, 342 Hanoverian, 341 Hans, Muscovy drake, 460 Harness, 492; of chariot, 228 Barquebushes, 259 Harold Fairhair, 416 Harold, king, at Hastings, 354 Harris, Capt. Cornwallis, 67 ; de- scribes quagga, 73 Hart-draver, name of Friesland horse, 341 Hartwell, 60; translation of Pigafetta, 59 Harwood, Sir Edward, 366 Hasdrubal, 256 Hastings, battle of, 354 Hauberk, 331, 336, 355 Havannah, 271 Hawes, Mr C. H., 135 Hawk, mark of a gentleman, 293, 363 Hawkewood, Sir John, 361 Hayes, Capt. M. H., 5, 13, 69, 141, 159, 193, 320, 342, 350, 386 ; breaks in a zebra, 78 ; on Indian horses, 146 ; on Mongolian pony, 134 Head, length of, characteristic of cross-bred horses, 298 ; longer in cross-breds, 323 ; of horse, on Attic tombstones, 294 ; size of, 323 Headstall, 479 Hearse horses, 342 Hebridean pony, black, 20 ; flat-nosed variety, 21 Hebrides, ponies of, 18, 418; Spanish blood in, 512 Height, of Arabian horses, 173 Heimdal, his horse, 121, 346 Hejira, 165 Helios, horse of, 297 Helmets, conical, 315 Helvetian horses, 322 Helvetians, 93 Helveto-Gallic horse, 322, 399 Hemionus indicus (or Onager indicus), 43 Hemionus, in Syria, 49 Hemippus, 12 ; in Syria, 49 Henga country, Crawshay's zebra of, 68 Hengist, 353 Henry II, horses of, 355 Henry VII, forbids export of horses, 359 Henry VIII, his enactments to raise the standard of horses, 360 ; forbids export of horses, ib. Hermit, skull of, 470 Herodotus, 94, 198 ; on wild asses, 56 Hervey, Lord Francis, 364 Hessian horses, 341 Hessleskewe, chariot-burial, 97 Hibernicus, E. c., 324, 401 High Almaine, stallion, 364 High-caste Arabs, 183 Highland ponies, 402, 450 Hijaz, the, 164, 165, 213; horses of, 164 Hilprecht, Dr, 198, 214 Hindus, 151 Hindustan, Southern, had no indi- genous horses, 150 ; ill adapted for the Equidae, ib. Hipparion, 85,470; antelopinum, 6; fossa in skull of, 142, 143, 469 524 INDEX Hippemolgi, 127 Hippobosca, 9 Hippolytus, quadriga of, 294 Hippotigris, 55 Hittite inscriptions, 215 Hittites, 234; kings of, 214; no horses in Abraham's time, 235 ; regarded as Mongolian, 234 ; sup- posed to have introduced the horse to Western Asia, 234 ; who were they? 214 Hobbie, black, beat Barbary horses, 377, 512; cause of its disappear- ance, 410; 'English,' 361; Irish, 361, 388; origin of, 392 Hobbies, Irish, 388-90; black, Irish, 402 Hobbini, i.e. Hobbies, 388; English, Irish Hobbies so termed in France, ib. Hobbles, on horses, 130, 190 Hobbye, Irish, 377 Hobelarii, i.e. Hobbies, 390 Hobley, Mr C. W., 79 Hock callosities, absence of, 23 Hocks, bent, 38 Hogged mane, 130 Hogs, in America, 273 ; price of, ib. ; wild, in Cuba, 271 Holinshed, Kalph, 360; on English horses, 352 Holman, Messrs, 216 Holofernes, 196 Holstein, horses of, 341 Homer. 107 ; has not myth of Pega- sus, 289 Homeric Age, 252, 289 Hommel, Prof., 216 Hoof, of Prejvalsky horse, 38 ; of Libyan horse, 470 Hoofed animals, 5 Horiad, tribe, 134 Horns, of reindeer, 84 ; on horses, 152 Horsa, 353 Horse, black, 210; bones, 92, 354; bones, in tumulus, 398 ; cloth, 497 ; domestic, late in Ireland, 98 ; driven in China, 140 ; figured on bone, 83; fossil, in Belgium and France, 83 ; fossil, of Essex, 11 ; head of, on Attic tombstones, 294 ; horned, 152 ; in Babylonia, 198 ; late in Egypt, 215 ; La Tene, size of, 93 ; Libyan, 5 ; Malay name for, 146; North African, 5 ; not indigenous in Southern Persia, 150 ; not native in Lydia, 194 ; of cave paintings of Dordogne, 19, 85 ; on coins, 253 ; of Julius Caesar, 8 ; of Seius, 302 ; of Selene, 297; of Helios, ib.; price of, 214; red, 209 ; remains of, 399 ; ribs of, 151 ; ridden, 251, 252 ; sacrifice of, 129; small, of Pleistocene, 19; used as food, 84; with 34 ribs, 151-2 ; yellow, 210 ; horses, ac- quisition of, by Egyptians, 218 ; as a bridal gift, 115; Assyrian, 198; buried in Gaulish graves, 100 ; cap- tured by corsairs, 149 ; carriage- horses, 4; cart-horses, 4; dark, 244; destruction of American, 9 ; do not breed in South India, 148; domestic, 4 ; drawings of, in caves, 87 ; ex- port of, forbidden, 359-60 ; fed on fish, 149 ; feral, 4, 18, 32 ; five-toed, 7 ; one-toed, 7 ; fossil, in America, 8; fossil, in N.America, 264 ; fossil, two kinds in Essex Pleistocene, 82, in marl in Ireland, 82 ; hearse, 342 ; Helvetian, 322 ; hunters, 4 ; im- ported into England, 356 ; Indian, bad tempered, 473 ; Indian, ridden with muzzles, 153 ; in Indian Archipelago, 144 ; in Palaeolithic period, 89; in Zechariah, 211 ; killed at Falkirk, 357 ; ' kings of horses are dark,' 178; left behind in Texas, 273 ; lumbar vertebrae of, 42 ; Libyan, 240 ; Lydian horses eat snakes, 194 ; mentioned by Chaucer, 359 ; mentioned in Koran, 213 ; not indigenous in Malay Pen- insula, 146 ; none in Nabataea, 202 ; number of, used by Queen Elizabeth on her progresses, 362 ; Numidian, 241 ; objection of, to tread on dead, 109 ; of Acarnania, 302 ; of Acheans, 110 ; of Aeneas, 291 ; of Aetolia, 302 ; of Anchises, 291 ; of Antilles, 269; of the Apocalypse, 209; of Arcadia, 301 ; of Argolis, 112, 302 ; of Bigourdan, 322 ; of Cabul, Balu- chistan, and Trans-Indus, 159 ; of Cortes, 269; of Cuchulainn, 397; of Dalmatia, 318 ; of De Soto, 274 ; of Dongola, 249 ; of Elis, 112 ; of Epidaurus, 302 ; of Epirus, 318 ; of Germans, 113 ; of Greece, 292, 300- 3 ; of India, 146 sqq. ; of large size, 246; of La Tene, 322; of Mace- donia, 302; of Mexico, 266-7; of Navarre, 322 ; of Peloponnesus, 301 ; of Pyrenees, 322 ; of Sigynni, 94 ; of Solutre, described, 84 ; of Syria, differ from those of Bagdad, and both inferior to Anazah, 184 ; of Tarbes, 322; of Texas, 266-7; of the Mausoleum, 306 ; of Thrace, 302 ; of Tros, 290 ; of Veneti, 104 ; INDEX 525 price of, 147-8 ; ridden without bridle, 241 ; roadsters, 4 ; Roman, sent to Masinissa, 248 ; Russian, 30 ; sacrificed, 117, 151, 190 ; sacrificed, among Veneti, 105, by Illyrians to Cronus, 105 ; sacrificed at Rome, 307 ; scarce in Carmania, 49 ; slain at funeral, 128 ; slain by Tartars at funeral of a Khan, 136; sons of, 164 ; Spaniards, De Soto's followers kill their horses, except four or five, 273 ; trappers, 4 ; tribute of white, 190 ; two kinds in Palaeolithic time, 89 ; unknown in many islands of Indian Archipelago, 144; white, amongst the Veneti, 104 ; white, in Sicily, 105 ; wild, 16, 18, 30 ; wild, extermination of, 433 ; wild, in Quaternary period, 83 ; wild, of North America, 265 ; with horns, 152; with stripes, 450; orna- ments, 504 Horse-archers, 196 Horse-armour, 132 Horse-bits, 129 ; in Swiss Lake-dwell- ings, 93 ; of iron, 95 ; iron, at Sesto Calende, 103 Horse-breeding, 239, 355, 363; Arab ignorance of, 209 ; in Arabia, 205 ; in Armenia, 193 ; in England, 358 ; in Germany, 342 ; in Greece, 112 ; in Numidia, 310 ; in Sicily, 276 ; in Thrace, 306; Irish, 386 sqq. ; of Gyrene, 239 ; of Libyan tribes, 238 ; peoples, 192 Horse-fair, 140 ; outside London, 355 Horse-feeding Mead, 192 Horse-fighting, in Iceland, 122-3 Horse-flesh, 430; eating of, 122 Horse-hoofs, used for making corse- lets, 117 Horseman, on Gaulish coins, 102 Horse, Master of the, 381 Horsemen, Assyrian, 194 ; Bactrian, 152; in Book of Kelts, 391; Spanish, 271 Horse-shoes. 352, 502 sqq. Horse-sickness, 10, 77 Horse-trade, Indian, 183 Hound, mark of a gentleman, 293; on tomb, 293 Howitt, Dr A. W., 431 Hrolf, the Ganger, 335 Hughes, Prof. McKenny, 505 Hungarian horse, 319, 377 ; stallion, 364 Hungerford, Sir Walter, 363 Huns, horses of, 318 Hunters, Irish, 408, 413 Hunting scene, 390 Hutchinson, Miss, translation of Piga- fetta, 60 Button's, Bay Barb, 382 ; Grey Barb, ib. Huxley, Prof., 143 Hyaena, in caves of Britain, 83 Hybrid, coat of, 37 ; zebra-horse, 476 ; hybrids, Brazilian, 459; duck, 460; Ewart's, 463, 468; zebra, 452; zebra-ass, 453 ; zebra, bred in British East Africa, 79; zebra, of Sir H. Meux, 463-4 Hyksos, 3, 215, 218, 229, 236; de- rivation of name, 234 ; identified with Hittites, 233 ; kings of, 230 ; expulsion of, 238 Hypanis, river, 125 Hypohippus, 7 Hyracotherium, 6 lapodes, 101 lazyges, 116 Iberian horse, 256 Iberians, warfare of, 256 Ibn Batuta, 145 Ice Age, 10 Iceland, colonisation of, 416, 418 ; conversion of, 122 ; horse-fighting in, 122 ; yellow-dun pony of, 18 Iceland ponies, 14, 21, 23, 352, 416; colour of, 24 ; origin of, 418, 420 ; without hock callosities, 23 Idumea, 202 Iliad, bay horse in, 289 In-breeding, 466 Inca, capture of, 271 India, gets horses from Kalmucks of Khoten, 133; horses of, 146s^. ; ill adapted for horse-breeding, 153; North-western, 151 ; obtains horses from Turkish Arabia, 182 ; pied horses of, 349 ; Western, asses of, 47 Indian Archipelago, 144, 145 Indian horses, bad-tempered, 473 ; muzzles used for, ib. domesticated, skull of, 159 ; vicious, 153 Indians, 157, 199 ; chariots drawn by horses or wild asses, 152, 192 ; drive wild asses, 47 ; employ chariots, 152 ; have horsemen, 152 ; North American, 430 ; Pampas, 262 ; Querenda, 125 Indies, West, horses of, 511 ; see Cuba Indo-Scythia, 158 Indus, 157 Infection theory, 462 Ingolf, goes to Iceland, 416; settles in Iceland, 418 526 INDEX Inscription, Latin, 312 Inscriptions, Hittite, 215 Inverarity, Dr, 54 lona, 418 Ionian mercenaries, 243 Irak, horses of, 161 Ireland, La Tene period in, 394 ; Normans in, 354 ; North, ponies of, 18 ; trade with Spain, 389 Irish, native, wore no armour, 388 ; armature of, 389 ; fight from chariots, 393 ; method of fighting and riding, 388 ; representations of, 388-90 ; anchorites, in Iceland, 418; bronze axes, 390; brooch, 396; cart-mares, 414 ; chariots, 98 ; crosses, 389- 90 ; dogs, 419 ; Epic, armature in, 393; Hobbies, 361, 377, 388- 90; Hobbies, exported to France and Italy, 388 ; horse, origin of, 391 ; horses, 352, 386 sqq. ; horses, bought for France, 387 ; horses, legs of, 151 ; horses, modern, 402 sqq. ; horses of a larger size, 412; horses, representations of, 389, 390 ; horse- skulls, 391; hunter, 417; hunter, origin of, 410 ; hunters, 413 ; mare, 463 ; slaves, in Iceland, 419 ; thoroughbreds, 414 ; trade with Gaul and Spain, 400, 401 Iron, 129 ; bits, 95 ; chariots of, 226 ; tires of wheels, 95 ; horse-bits, at Sesto Calende, 103 ; late in Ire- land, 98 ; not used by Sarmatians, 117 Iron Age, 103 ; in Greece, 112 ; in Italy, 103 Ironsides, 366 Isabella-coloured, 32, 34 ; meaning of, 44 Ishmael, 206 Isidore, on dun horse, 260 Islam, in Indian Archipelago, 145 Istri, 101 Italy, horses of, 278-9, 314 Jabin, 226 Jackal, 4, 426 James I, 364 Jarls, Norwegian, 416 Java, horses of, 144, 349 ; ponies, 141, 448 ; ponies with large functional pre-molars, 142 ; striped ponies of, 142 ; Sultan of, 145 Javanese, very bad riders, 144 Javelin, 240 Jelfon, strain, 167, 181 ; black horses, 187 ; colour of, 171 ; often black, 171 ; in Syria, 181 Jennet, of Spain, 259, 377 ; its docility praised by Blundeville, 340 ; of Li- guria, 321 Jensen, Dr, 215, 234; origin of Hittites, 214, 234 Jilfan ( = Jelfon) strain, sometimes included in Al-Khamseh, 170 Job, 203 John, Don, of Austria, his horses, 188 ; the Stable of, 189 John, King, imports horses, 356 Johnston, Sir H. H., 262 Jornandez, 118 Joseph, 218 Josephus, 230 Jugurtha, 310 Juliacus, 338 Juliers, horse of, 338 Julius Caesar, 310 Jutes, 353 Jutland, horses of, 341, 342 Kaan, Kublai, 134 ; his white horses, ib. Kadischi, a mixed breed, 161 Kadish, 471 ; horses called, 164 ; its primary meaning, 473; voice of, 180, 434 Kalmucks, horses of, 133, 351 ; their waggons, 127 Karabulo, breed, 133 Karadagh, breed, 193 ; horses of Ar- menia, 446 Karakoum, 31 Kar-kuk, 161 Katerfelto, famous stallion, 39 Kathiawar, horses of, see Kattywar, 156 Kattywar, 158, 260; dun-coloured horses of, 465 ; horses of, 349, 446 ; horses, described, 156 ; horses with stripes, 156 Keheilan ( = Kuhailan), strain, usually bay, 165, 169; look more like thoroughbred, ib. Keheilet, 165 Keheilet Ajuz, 166 Keller, C., on Assyrian bas-relief, 49 Kells, Book of, 390, 391 Kells, cross of, 390 Kenny, Mr Matthew, 387, 392 Kent's Cave, 11 ; bones in, 83 Kerr, Prof. Graham, 9 Kertch, 130 Kesslerloch cave, 86 Kettle Haeng, goes to Iceland, 416 Kherdecht, 47 Khorassan, best Turcoman horses, 132 Khoten, horses of, 133 Kiang, 20, 35, 45, 476; hybrid (so- called), 36; voice of, 46, 52 INDEX 527 Kidish, means a gelding, 163 ; not of Arab blood, 163 King, horses of, 355 King, of Gauls, 316; Scythian, his burial, 128 King's Co., 390, 412 Kings of horses, are dark, 178 Kings, Seleucid, 306 Kirghis, capture wild horses, 27 ; horses of, 351 ; hunt wild camels, 26 Kirkdale cave, bones in, 83 Kitchener, Lord, 476 Kladrub breed, 345 Knight, Chaucer's, 359 Knights, at Athens, 293 Kobdo, 27, 28 Kochlani, mentioned by Niebuhr, 167 ; of Arabia, 161 ; where bred, 167 Kohl, 165 Kohl breed, 165, 168 ; earliest refer- ence to, 205 ; origin of, 166, 206-9 ; origin in North Africa, 246 ; strains of, 169 ; tail of, 229 ; theories of its origin, 207 ; myth of origin, 213 Koklani, in Persia, 167 ; cf. Kochlani Kootannie lands, 429 Koppatias, colour of horses? 296 Koran, 145 ; passages about horses, 213 Koulan, 41, 46 Koumiss, of Kalmucks, Nogais, and Scythians, 127 Kouyunjik, bas-reliefs of, 195 Kremer, Dr A. V., 216 Kublai, 134 Kuhailan, horse, 472; voice of, 180 Kuhl ( = Kohl) breed, 165; origin of name, ib. Ku-mait, dark bay, 177 Kumrah, 18, 428 Kurdish mares, 163, 449 Kurdistan, ponies of, 160 ; ponies, colours of, 160 Kurds, 132 ; anxious to obtain Arab stallions, 132 ; horses of, 161 ; sooty black horses of, 181 Kusneh, 31 Laban, 204 Laconian horses, 312 Ladak, kiang of, 44 Laderg, plateau of, 323 Lake Baringo, zebra from, 11 Lake-dwellings, Swiss, 92 Lampagie, 333 Land-bridges, 10 Landnamaboc, the, 418 Langobardi, 335 Lankester, Dr Bay, 470 La Plata, wild horses of, 262 Lartet, M., 85 Lasso, 428, 429, 479 ; used by Sagar- tians, 192; used by Sarmatians, 117; used by Scythians, 130 ; used to cap- ture wild ass, 49; used to catch zebras, 78 La Tene, culture in Ireland, 394; horses of, 322, 398; period, 93, 100 ; period, in Ireland, 394 ; swords, 396 Laumont, breed of, 344 Lavenham, 364 Layard, Sir A. H., 49, 197 ; descrip- tion of Arab mare, 50 ; describes chestnut mare t 184 Layard, Mr, describes Chapman's zebra, 65 Leather, boiled, 140 ; morocco, 228 Leeds Arabian, 382 Leg, i.e. share, of mare, 168; legs, white, 374 Legion, Roman, 308 Leidy, Mr, 7 Leif, goes to Iceland, 416 Leopards, 208 Leucippus, 292 Leuctra, 300 Library of Alexandria, 220 Libu, Libyans, 222 Libya, 5 ; asses in, 56 Libyan Egyptians, 238; horse, hoofs of, 470 ; voice of, ib. ; its docility, 472-3 ; most fertile in North Africa, 474 ; origin of, 428 ; horses, 219, 245 ; horses, described, 240 ; horse- breeding, 238; horsemen, described, 241; tribes, 219, 238 sqq.; Libyans, at Marea, 222; chariots of, 192, 247; dress and arms of, 240 ; had no metal, 226; invent four-horse chariot, 247 Libyphoenicians, 239 Life Guards, mounted on black horses, 369 Liguria, horses of, 321 Ligurians, 256 Limestone formation of central Ire- land, 392 Limousin horse, 323 Lincolnshire trotting-horse, 374 Linnaeus, on wild horses, 30 Lion, does not breed, 148 ; hunt, 215 Lions, 77, 208, 240 Lippizaner horses, 346 Lister Turk, 382 Lofoden Isles, extinct ponies of, 26 ; pony of, 121 528 INDEX Loire, mouth of, 401 Lombards, 334, 335 Lombardy, horses of, 314 London, horse-fair outside, 354 ; its hearse horses, 342 Long, Major, 429 Lopez, Odoardo, his description of zebra, 61 ; his tame zebra, ib. Lophiodontidae, 5 Lorraine, horses of, 325 Lortet, M., 83 Loughrea, tumulus near, 398 Low Countries, horses of, 337 Low, Mr G. E., 51, 406 Lucretius, 1 Ludolphus, 506 ; his account of Abys- sinian zebras, 58 , Lusitania, mares in, conceive from West Wind, 257 Lusk, Co. Dublin, 393 Lydekker, Mr K., 5, 13, 44, 67, 142, 159, 469, 470, 476, 506; describes the wild ass, 44 ; divides quagga from Burchell zebra, 76; on depression in quagga skulls, ib.; on wild asses, 52 ; on E. tivalensis, 142 Lydians, horses of, 194 Macedonia, horses of, 301, 303; Upper, 305 Macedonian, cavalry, 303 ; horses, 305 Maclean, Mr John, 437 Maeatae, horses of, 95, 352 Mahaffy, Dr J. P., 412 Mail, 331 Major, Dr Forsyth, 143, 470 Major, John, on Irish Hobbies, 388 Malay Peninsula, had no indigenous horses, 146 Mammoth period, 83 Man-at-arms, horse for, 363 Maneged horses, i.e. war-horses, 355 Maneghi sub- strain, 170 Mane, of mares, hogged, 130; yellow, 300 Manetho, 236 ; his account of the Hyksos, 229-30 Manipur pony, 141 Manni, 321 Mannus, 311 Maoli, tribe, 162 Marca, Celtic name for a horse, 317 Marea, 243; people of, Libyans, 222 Marek, Dr, 93, 322, 399 Mare, leg of, i.e. a share, 168 ; old Irish, 387; Sir Gore Ouseley's, 462; suckling foal, 306; mares, 364 ; allotted to each stallion, 198 ; Arab, given to Turcomans, 133 ; Arab, hard to purchase, 188; herds of, 192 ; in Lusitania, conceive from West Wind, 257; Kurdish and Turcoman, 163 ; not sold by Arabs, 168; of Anchises, 291; of Erichthonius, 290 ; of Muhammad, 206; Eoyal, 382-3 ; the King's, 381 Mare-milkers, 127 Mareotis, Lake, 222 Markham Arabian, 378 ; bay in colour, ib. ; price of, 379 Markham, Gervase, 377 Markham, Mr John, 378 Marl, horse jaw in, 83 Marmidae, Libyan tribe, 238, 247 Marriage law, of Sarmatians, 126 Marseilles, captured by Franks, 330 Marsh, Mr, 7 Marshall, Mr F. H., 19 Marske, 383 Masaesylii, 239 Masai-land, 65 Maschmeyer, Mr, 142 Mashonaland, 436 Masinissa, 239, 309 ; sent Koman horses, 248 Massagetae, 129 Master of the Horse, 381 Masuren, 117 Masylii, 239 Matopo, 70, 458 Matschie, Dr, 61 Mauri, 239, 242 ; description of their habits, their mode of fighting, their horses, 239 Mauritania, horses of, 312 Mausoleum, chariot-group of, 306 Mazurka, origin of name, 117 Meath, hunters, 414 Mecca, horses in, 164 Mecklenburg, horses of, 342, 343, 350 Medes, 192 Medhbh, queen, 98 Media, horses of, 18 ; Nisaean plain in, 191 Medineh, horses at, 164, 165 Megalopolis, 301 Megasthenes, horned horses, 152 Melanippus, 292 Memphis, 230, 244, 336 Menapians, 115 Mendoza, founds Buenos Ayres, 262 Menes, 229 Men, slain by Tartars at funeral of a Khan, 135 Mercenaries, Carian and Ionian, 243 ; Greek, 223 Merdin, 167 Merk, Mr Conrad, 86 INDEX 529 Merv, best Turcoman horses, 132 Mesohippus, 6 Mesopotamia, 132 ; horses from, 216 ; Shammar tribes of, 161 Messenger, 385 Metacarpal bones, 84 Metal, Libyans use no, 226 Metatarsal bones, 84 Metopes, from Selinus, 278 Metung, 431 Meurthe, horses of, 325 Meux, Sir Henry, his zebra hybrids, 463 Mexico, 8; horses of, 267, 511 ; dun and striped horses of, 269 ; dun-coloured horses of, 465 Meyer, Prof. Kuno, 400 Micipsa, Numidian king, 239, 309 Milk, of mares, 127, 478 ; mares, poured on the ground, 134 Minoya, 273 Miocene, 6 Miohippus, 6 Mississippi, 266, 272 Missouri, 430 Mithras, feast of, 193 Moerder, M., 350 Mograbins, horses of, 249 Mongolia, 45, 426 ; camels in, 200 ; ponies of, 134 ; wild ass of, 476 Mongolian, jockies, 139 ; mares, 27, 35; pony, 4, 136, 186; pony race, 138 ; pony, striped, 455 ; wild ass, 45 Mongols, 3 ; always ride, 136 Montefik, tribe, horses of, 175; have spoiled their breed by using Persian horses, 176 Montelius, Dr Oscar, 347 Moorcroft, 30, 154 Moore, Major J., 350 Moorish, horse, 242; horses, 248 Morocco leather, Libyans famous for, 227 Mortimer, Mr, 95 Morton, Lord, his quagga, 77, 457 Morvan, horses of, 324 Moscoso, Luys de, 273, 274 Moselle, horses of, 325 Mosul, 161, 176 Motor-cars, 414 Mountain, affects type, 323 Mountain zebra, 68 ; called wild pard, 62 ; description of, 63 Mouse-colour, 43 Muhammad, 332; his camels, 206; homilies of, 166 ; mares of, 165 ; successors of, ib. Muhammad ben Ahmed, 56 Mukden, tombs of Chinese emperors at, 236 \ R. H. Mulberry-black, horse, 258 Mule, in Cuba, 271 Mule-breeding, in Greece, 302 Mule-car, 486; race with, 276, 487 Mules, 164; in Greece, 113; in Turcomania, 133 ; preferred for ploughing, 113; wild, in Homer, 50; wild, in Syria, 49 Multiple nature of horse evolution, 7 Munro, Dr Eobert, 8, 83, 84, 89, 396 Murcia, horses of, 266, 270 Mustangs, 8, 18 Muzin, feral horses, 18, 31, 32 Muzzles, used on Indian horses, 153, 473 Mycenae, 252 ; tombstones of, 107 Mycenean Age, horses in, 285 Myrrh, 202 Nabataea, 51, 208 ; no horses in, 202 Nabuchodonosor, 196 Name, for horse, Malay, 146 ; of horse, 317; names, for horse, 128; of horses, 121, 122, 295 ; of horses, raven, sooty, golden-haired, silver- topped, gold-topped, 122 Narvaez, Pamphilo de, 272 ; brings horses to Florida, 272 Nasamones, 238 Nasir-ed-Din, gives Arab -mares to Turcomans, 133 Navarre, horses of, 322 Neapolitan, 377; horses, 344 Nebuchadnezzar, 19 Neckband, of Libyan horse, 240; of Arab horses, ib. Negro, skin of, 467 Neigh, of horse, see Voice ; of Prej- valsky horse, 39 Nejd, 162; Arabs migrate from, 161; dark bay in, 177 Nelson, Mr, on Indian horses, 146 Neohipparion, 7 Nepal, ponies of, 134, 153 Nestor, 109, 251 Neuchatel, 394; Lake, 93 Newberry, Mr Percy E., finds a chariot, 227 ; on Hyksos, 233 Newcastle, Duke of, 366, 378 New Forest, pony, 456 ; ponies, 19 Nicopol vase, 130 Niebuhr, Carsten, 167, 246; on Arab horse, 162 Nigretes, 240 Nike, 276 Nile, 52, 219 ; western mouth of, 220 Nineveh, monuments of, 195 Nisaeau horses, 186, 192; like Parthian, 190 ; sacred, 191 Noack, Dr, 53, 71 ; on quagga, 71 34 530 INDEX Nogai Tartars, 127 Nomads, 202; of Morocco, 242 Nome, Sethroite, 230 Norfolk horse, 2 Noricum, Celts of, 101 Normandy, 334 Norman horses, in Ireland, 412 ; sad- dles, 354; war-horses, 355; shields, 481; Normans, in Ireland, 354, 389 ; introduce heavy horses into England, 354 Norsemen, 335, 354 Norse settlers in Iceland, 418 Northmen, 334 Norway, 416 ; dun-coloured horses of, 465 ; horses of, 119, 347 Norwegian, ponies, 451-2; stallions, in Faroes, 22 ; stallions, in Iceland, 21 Nose-band, 196, 284 Nostrils, 185 Nubia, 2, 56, 219 ; ass of, 52 Numidia, 309 Numidian, horse-breeding, 239 ; horse- men, 254, 309 ; horsemen, described, 241; kings, 239 Numidians, Hannibal's, 101 Nyassaland, 68 Oaks, the, 441 Oasis, great, Ammon, Siwa, 511 Odin rides on Sleipnir, 118, 348 O'Donovan, the, his shield, 396 Odysseus, in Egypt, 220 Oeland, ponies of, 348 Oestrus, 9 Olaf, the Peacock, his dog, 419 Olaus Magnus, 347, 358, 373 Olbia, coins of, 131 Oldenburg, horses of, 342, 343 Oligocene, 7 Olisipo, 257 Olive oil, 202 Olmutz, archbishop of, 345 Olympia, races at, 276 Olympic games, 251 Onager, 12, 36, 45, 46; in Scythia, 125 ; in Syria, 49 Onager, indicus, 43, 46 ; hemippus, 46 Oncean grove, 286 O'Neill, Henry, 390 Oppian, 259, 313 Orlando, skull of, 470 Orlov Trotters, 350 Ornaments, 504 Orohippus, 6 Osages, 429 Osborn, Prof. H. F., 7, 262, 264, 511 Osnabruck, 342 ; breed of hearse horses, ib. Ossetes, 126 Othello, 376 Otkell, his Irish thrall, 419; his two dun ponies with stripes, 420 Ouseley, Sir Gore, 462 ; his mare, 457 Owen, Prof., 82; on horse in Egypt, 215 Ox, 4, 478 Ox-cart, 481, 486 ; in Big-Veda, 151 ; Thracian, 105 Oxen, Scythian, have no horns, 127 ; wild, in Cuba, 271 Pachynolophus, 6 Pack-saddle, 199 Pad of cotton, used as saddle, 177 Paeonia, bison in, 300 Paget, Col. A., 58 Painting of a horse, 293 Palaeolithic period, horses in, 88 Palaeotheriidae, 5 Palestine, horses of, 211 Palgrave, Mr, on Arab horses, 162 ; sanctions illusion that best Arabs are grey, 177 Pallas, 30, 43, 127 ; description of wild horses, 30; on dzeggetai, 44 Palm-trees, 161 Palmyra, desert of, birthplace of Darley Arabian, 384 Palmyrene desert, 161 Pampas, 8, 428 Pampas horses, 262 sqq., 446 ; com- pared with horses of western prairies, 265 Pampas Indians, 428 Panama, 270 Panjab, people of, 153 Panormus, coins of, 253 Panthers, 240 Panticapaeum, 130 Paphlagonia, home of wild mules, 50 Paraguay, 10; cattle in, 9; no feral horses in, ib. Parana, Baron de, 459 ; his zebra hybrids, 463 Paricanians, 192 Parliament, efforts of, to promote horse-breeding, 355 Paroas, a serpent, reddish-brown, 300 Parthenon, 297 ; horses of, ib. ; of Pheidias, ib. Parthian horses, 18, 189, 194, 260; described by Strabo, 189 ; like Celti- berian horses, ib. Pasterns, 374 Patagonia, 8 Patricians, Sabine in origin, 306 Pedigree, Arabs trace through dams, 187; pedigrees of Arab horses, 162 INDEX 531 Pedrarias, 269, 271 Pegasus, 252 ; earliest representation of, his birthplace, 245 ; myth of, 289 Pegu, pony, 141 ; ponies, 448 Pelasgians, 107 Pelopidas, his dream, 300 Peloponnesus, horses of, 301 Pelops, 251 Percheron horse, 2, 325 sq. ; grey, 402 Pericles, 295 Periplus, 158 Perissodactyles, 5 Perseus, 252 Persia, asses of, 149 ; good Turcoman horses, 132 ; horses of, 160 ; included Carmania, 47 Persian, 381 ; horse, 175, 431 ; horses, of Middle Ages, 188; kings, their horses, 190; stallions, 350 Persian Gulf, 149 Persians, 192 ; ancient, rode habitually, 190 ; used scythed chariots, 247 ; venerate white horses, 115 Peru, horses of, 270 Peter the Great, 351 Petra, 202 Petrie, Prof., 215, 233 Phalanx, Macedonian, 303 Phalios, 'bald, '328 Pharaoh, 204 Pharusians, 240 Pheidias, horses of, 297 Phenacodus, 6 Philip II of Macedon, 302 ; horses of, 803 Philippopolis, 106 Phillips, Mr Lort, shot Somali ass, 54 Phoenix, bay, 295 Phrygia, 49 Piebald chestnut, 435 Piebalds, 142, 154, 175 Pied horses, 348-50 PiStrement, M., 3, 30, 35, 89; his E. c. mongolicus, 229 ; on Aryan horse, 151 Pigafetta, description of zebra, 59 Pinzgauer breed, 346 Pirogues, 273 Pit, pre-orbital ; see Fossa and De- pression Pizarro, 270, 271; his horses, 269 Platnauer, Mr, 97 Pleistocene, 7 Pliny, why mares' manes are hogged, 130 Pliocene, 6 Plotius, Aulus, 203 Plough-bullocks, 414 Ploughing, with mules, 113; with oxen, 113, 354 Plumes on horses, 195 Plutarch, 300 Pocock, Mr E. I., 66, 72, 75, 76, 436, 470, 508-10 ; on chestnuts of Grevy zebra, 59; on Grevy zebra, ib.; on pre-orbital fossa in male Grant's zebra, 143 ; on quaggas, 74 ; on reversal of hair on spine of mountain zebra, 63 Poictiers, battle of, 333 Pole, 224; covered with red leather, 228 Poliakoff, 26 Polidore Virgil, 359 Polo, Marco, 134, 447; notes Tartar horses, 134; on Indian horses, 146; praises Turcoman horses, 133 Polyphyletic law, 7 Pompey, 203 Ponies, 351; black Hebridean, black Highland, 403 ; Connemara, 402sgg., 408; Exmoor, 399; Faroe, 352, 416; Iceland, 352, 416 ; Irish, of Solutre type, 409 ; Javanese, 11 ; Norwegian, 347; of Austria, 345; of Bosnia, 345; of Denmark, grey, 344 ; of Kurdistan, 160 ; of Oeland, 348 ; of Russia, 345 ; of Sulu, 11; pony, Connemara, 388; Mongolian, described, 138; race, Mongolian, ib. Portuguese in Congo and Angola, 55 Porus, has both chariots and horse- men, 153 Poseidon, 301 Posidonius, 257, 401 Potidaea, coin of, 301 Pottery from Daphnae, 244 Powerscourt, Viscount, the late, 367 Praetors, 307 Prairie, horses, colours of, 265; western, horses of, 264 sqq. Prejvalsky, his horse, 26; foal, woolly coat, 37; foals, described, 27; foals, their colours, 33; horse, 13, 38, 152, 425; description of, 26, 41; picture of, ib. ; indomitable temper of, 473 ; considered a mule, 35 ; its relation to tarpan and to Equus caballus, 41 ; horses, young, re- semble dwarf cart-horses, 36; not all genuine, 40 Pre-molars, functional, in some Java- nese and Sulu ponies, 142 Pre-orbital depression, in horse skulls, 159, 469, 470, 476 Prescott, W. H., 267, 270 Price, of chariot, 214 ; of hogs, 273 ; of horses, 150, 214, 218, 273, 296, 532 INDEX 357 ; of horses bought for James I, 379; of Markham Arabian, ib.; of pony, 140 ; of slaves, 273 Pringle, Thomas, on cry of quagga, 73 Priory of Athy, 412 Prizes for races, 138 Procopius, 306; on Britain, 353 Progress, royal, 362 Protohippus, 6, 7 Provence, captured by Franks, 330; grey horses of, 325 Prussian, horses, 343; East, horses, 344 Prussians, East, 117 ; learn arrow- shooting and acquire horses, ib. Psammetichus I, 223, 238, 242 Psaumis, 276 Psylli, 238 Ptolemy, his accurate knowledge of Ireland, 401 Ptolemy Philadelphus, 200 Pungwe river, 66 Punic War, 309 Pyrenees, horses of, 322 Pyrrhus, 307 Pytheas, 401 Quagga (or Quacha), 12, 71 sqq., 428, 445 ; disappearance of stripes in, 79; habitat and colour of, 436; had white in the forehead, 466; its distribution and coloration, 71 ; its voice, 73 ; relationship to Burchell zebra, 76 ; Amsterdam, arch in fore- head of, 452 ; Bonte, 67, 476 ; Elgin, 436-8; hybrid, 457, 462; Lord Morton's tame, 76, 77 Quaggoides, JE., 470 Queen Elizabeth, 362 Querandese Indians, 262 Eace, pony, 137; with ridden horse, 291 Kace-horse, at Olympia, 276 ; colours of, 440; origin of, 475 ; English, 212 ; English, origin of, 209; English, never dun-coloured, 433 ; race-horses, English, 377; English, now race of bays and chestnuts, 385 ; foals of, 444; monuments to, 276; of Bo- mans, 312; origin of, 188 Baces, prizes for, 139; length of, ib.; winners of, ib. Bacing, 254 Bacing, among Mongols, 138; injured the breeding of great horses, 366; passion for, ib. Bacing mare, 379 Barneses II, 222 Bas-El-Fedowi, the name of the Darley Arabian, 384 Baven, as a horse's name, 122 Bawlinson, Sir H. C., 177; his bay Arabian, ib. Bedfern, Mr W. B., 501 Bed-horse, 209 ; horses, in Veda, 152 Bed-roan, 346 Bed Sea, 164 Beeves, Bishop, 412, 418 Beinach, M. S., on cave drawings, 91 Beindeer horns, 84 Beindeer period, 83 Bein-rings, 492 Beins, 397 Bemus, the hybrid, 459 Beyce, Bobert, 364, 370 Beykjavik, 23 Bhacotis, 220 Bhesus, 107 Bhine, 327; crossed by Tencteri, 115; provinces, 341 Bhinoceros, at Borne, 55 Bhone, 254 Bibs of horse, normal number, 151 Bichard II promotes horse-breeding, 358 Bichardson, Charles, 381, 383 Bichardson, Dr, 265, 429 Bidgeway, Prof., 7, 99, 223, 315, 399, 401 Bider, circus, 252 Biding, 252, 497; Arab method of, 177 ; in Big- Veda, 151 ; Irish method of, 388 ; learned by Greeks from Libya, 292 ; not practised by Egyptians, 216; later than driving, 481 Big- Veda, 151 Bivers, horses sacrificed to, 192 Biviere, M., 87 Boads, 366 Boadster, old English, 386 Boala tribe, 170 Boan horse, in Cuba, 271 Bodo, island of, its ponies, 26, 120 Bolleston, Prof., 92 Boman, noses, 345 ; cavalry, 481 ; race-horses, 312 Bomans, 353 ; inferior in cavalry, 306 ; race-horses of, 254; use chariots, 307 Borne, zebra at, 55 ; elephant at, ib. ; rhinoceros at, ib. ; tiger at, ib. Bomero, John, 262 Bomulus, 458 Boscoe, Bev. J., 67 Boscommon, horses of, 408 ; hunters, 414 Boses, Wars of, 359 Bouncy, a, 359 INDEX 533 Royal mares, 381 Russia, horses of, 350 ; ponies of, 345 Russian, horses, 132, 193; steppes, 164 Russians excavate at Dukhova Moghila, 106 Rutimeyer, 4; on the horse, 92 Rye, Mr, his edition of Hakluyt, 273 Sabeans, 201 Sabinos, 435 Sables, 118 ; called Saphirinae pelles, ib. Sacae, 129 Sacrifice, of bulls, 190 ; of horses, 151 ; of horses at Rome, 307 ; of horses, by Persians, 190 ; of horses, to Cyrus, ib. ; of white horses, 117 ; white horses preferred, 190; of ass, 150 Sacrificial animals, 222 Saddle, 498; not used by Assyrians, 197; pack-saddle, 199; pad used for, by Arabs, 176; saddles, not allowed by Mongols in racing, 139 ; not in Book of Kelts, 391 ; not used by Greeks, 299 ; of Normans, 354 Sagartians use lasso, 192 Sagas, horses in, 122 Sahara, 207, 247 Salatis, king of Hyksos, 230 Salensky, Dr, 42; on Prejvalsky's horse, 40 Salsette, isle of, 149 Saluvii, 321 ; Ligurian tribe of, 310 Samnites, 100 Samphoras, term applied to horses, 296 Sampson, 384 Sanctity of white horses, 187, 190, 210 San Domingo, 266 ; horses introduced, 267 San Lucar, 271 Sanson, M., 2, 13, 30, 35, 219, 229, 250, 325, 401, 420 ; his eight species, 1 ; his two groups, 4 Santiago, 271 Saracens, 148, 322, 323; in Spain, 258; invade Spain and Gaul, 332 Sardinia, horses of, 274 Sardinian, 377 Sardis, 194 Sarissa, 304 Sarissophori, Macedonian, 304 Sarlik, Mongolian name of yak, 426 Sarmatae, 116 Sarmatian women, law of marriage, 126; rode on horseback, ib. Sarmatians, 50 ; castrate horses, 125 ; horsemen only, 116; corselet, ib. ; arms, ib. ; use lasso, 117; their weapons, ib. ; do not use metal, ib. ; sacrifice horses, eat them, ib. ; their horses, 125, 482 Saskatchewan, 430 Saturn, typical Suffolk Punch, 375 Saunia, Gallic spears, 99 Saxons, 334 Scandinavia, 118; horses of, 346, 416 Scaurus, Aemilius, 202 Scedaus, daughters of, 300 Scharff, Dr, 51, 83, 392, 399 Scherren, Mr H., on Abyssinian zebra, 58 Schleswig-Holstein, horses of, 342 Schliemann, Dr, 285 Scipio, 308 Scipio Aemilianus, 309 Sclater, Mr P. W., 476; on Prejvalsky's horse, 35; description of Somali ass, 53 Sculptured group of horses, 295 Scutum, 481 Scythed chariots, 247, 393 Scythia, Indian, 158 Scythian, funeral customs, 136 ; horses, in India, 158, 159 ; women, differ from Sarmatian, 126 Scythians, 50, 158, 192; castrate horses, 125; their horses, 125; Nomad, 126 Seal, Great, Charles I on, 366 Sebaa tribe, 162 Sedbury, Royal mare, 382 Seglawi strain, 169 Seine, 326 Seius, horse of, 302 Selene, horse of, 297 Seleucid kings, 306; use scythed chariots, 247 Selinus, archaic metope from, 277 Selous, Mr, zebra named after him, 66; zebra of, 436 Semites, 232 ; had no horses in time of Abraham, 235 ; obtain horse late, 203 Sentinum, 100 Sequanius, E. c., 326 Serfs of Gauls, 316 Serjeants of the king, 356 Serpent, 300 ; serpents eaten by horses, 194 Servius Tullius, constitution of, 308 Sesto Calende, 103; chariot of, t&. ; bucket at, ib. Sethroite, nome, 230 Seti I, horses of, 229 Seure, M., 107 Shadingfield stock, 375 Shafi'y, form of Islam, 145 Shakespeare, 294 343 534 INDEX Shammar, sheikh, 50; tribes, 161; horses of, ib. Shan ponies, 141, 448 Shark, 385 Sheep, 129 Shekels of silver, 214 Shepherd kings, 229-30 Sheriff, of Hampshire, 355, 356; of Wiltshire, 356; sheriffs, 358 Shetland- Welsh mare, 45 Shields, bronze, 394 ; Gallic, ib.; Irish, 396 ; round, 315, 481 Ships, built without metal nails, 148 Shire Horse Society, 369 Shire horse, typical, 368 ; colour of, 368; in Ireland, 413 Shirt of mail, 331 Shkorpil, the brothers, 106 Shoa, zebra of, 57 Shoes, horse, 298 Shoulder- stripe, in African ass, 53 Sicamber, 338 Sicambri, 338 Sicilian horses, 313 Sierras of Spain, horses of, 260 Signet of Darius, 192 Sigynnae, 94, 345 Silchester, 352 Silver, 130; talents of, 191 Simonoff, M. de, 360 Singapore, 141 Sinjar, ass of, 50 Sivalensis, E., 469 Siwa, oasis of, 239 Size of horses, 246 Skarphedinn, 123 Skeat, Mr W. W., 146 Skeleton of woman, 398; skeletons, human, 107 Skewbalds, 142, 154 Skin, colour of, 466, 476 ; of African horse, 467 ; of horses, 165 ; of negro, 467 ; skins, 240 Skull of horse, 326; skulls, horse, from Irish crannog, 390, 391; of horses, 143 ; of zebras and quaggas, 76 Slaves, Irish, in Iceland, 419; price of, 273 Sledge, 482-3 Sleipnir, Odin's eight-legged steed, 119, 346 ; his origin, 121 ; grey colour of, 122 Slide-car, 483 Smetanka, 350 Smith, Col. Hamilton, 30, 42, 74, 177, 433, 446, 472, 474; his five stirpes, 1 Smith, Mr A. J., 376 Smith, Mr R. A., 510 Smyrna, horses from, 188 Solomon, imports horses from Egypt, 214 ; mares of, 165, 166, 207 ; stud of, 162, 167 Solon, his class of knights, 293 Solutre, 83 ; horses of, 89, 151, 370 ; horses of low stature, 84 Somaliland, 56 ; zebra of, 57 Somali wild ass, 54, 476; zebra, 58, 459; habitat, 58; striping of, 458 Somers, 362 Sons of horses, 163, 164 Sooty, as a horse's name, 122 Sooty black horses of Kurds, 177 Sorrel, a bad colour, 372 ; coloured horse, Suffolk Punch, 368 ; horses, 357-8, 371 Soto, Ferdinando de, 271 ; dies by the Mississippi, 273 Spadix, derivation of, 291 Spain, cave remains in, 87 ; dun horses of, 265, 465; horses of, 254, 312; horses of sierras of, 260 ; Irish trade with, 387, 389 Spaniards, 8, 266 Spanish, breed, 345, 512 ; cavalry, 101 ; horsemen, 254; horses, 343, 387; horses, colours of, 258; jennet, 259, 377 Spanker, 382 Spears, 99, 429 Spiletta, 383 Spiti, ponies of, 134, 153 Spokans, 430 Spurs, 500; Norman, 354 Stade, horse-breeding of, 342 Stakes for a race, 138 Stallion, Irak, 472; Neapolitan, 364; stallions, 356, 360, 364; Anazah, prized, 183; Babylonian, each al- lotted twenty mares, 193 ; King Stephen sends round, 356 ; one hundred imported into England, 356; Persian, 350 Star, 187, 250, 261 ; in forehead, 173, 181, 258, 374, 447-8, 476; stars, 465 ; correspond to certain marks in zebras, 465 ; in forehead, 376 Starkad, 122 Starling-coloured horse, 296 Statius, 301 St Columba, 418 Stenonis, ., 462, 470 Stephanides, William, 345 Stephen sends round stallions, 356 Steppes, studs of, 351 Stevenson, Mr J., 390 Stillingfleet, Eev. E. W., 97 Stirrup, 498 ; not used by Arajbs, 177 ; stirrups, Norman, 354; not in Book INDEX 535 of Kelts, 391; not on Kells cross, 391; not used by Irish, 390 St Leger, 441 Stocking, in mountain zebra, 466 ; white, on horse's leg, origin of, 465 ; stockings on horses, 373 Stockwell, skull of, 470 Stokes, Dr W., 400 Stot, 359 St Patrick, 400, 401 St Quentin, Col., 386, 392 Strabo, 190, 220, 471 Stradanus, 337, 338, 340 ; his drawings of horses, 188, 242, 260 Striped, dun horses, 261 ; horses, of Tibet, 154 ; horses, of Waziris, 160 ; horses, Tibetan, 156 ; ponies, of Java, 142 ; Tibetan ponies, 156 ; stripe, dorsal, 372, 386; dorsal, in Cleveland bay, 386 ; dorsal, in Battak ponies, 142; dorsal, of Karadagh horses, 193 ; stripes, cervical, 453-4, 450 ; concomitant of dark colour, 465; dorsal, on Arab colts, 182; facial, rarity of, 453 ; in dun horses, 465; in horses, 444 sqq., 511; in hybrids, 459 ; on dun horses, in Spanish sierras, 257 ; on dun horses of Mexico, 269 ; on horses, 373 ; on Kattywar horses, 157 ; on onager, 37 Striping of the Equidae, 79 Stroxton Tom, 368 Strymon, white horses sacrificed to, 192 Stud of Tsetsen Khan, 138 Stud-book, 381 ; Suffolk, 370 Stuttgard, stud of, 344 Styria, 346; horses of, 315 Suevi, 115, 116 Suffolk, Breviary of, 364; Stud-book, 370 Suffolk Punch, 2, 346, 366 ; its history and origin, 370 sqq. ; later history of, 374; in Ireland, 413 Suiones, 118 Sultan, of Ducaila, 248 ; of Java, 145 ; of Sumatra, 145 ; Sultans of Achen, their horses, 142 Sumatra, ponies of, 141 Sumpter horses, 362 Sun, worshipped by Massagetae, 129; horses sacrificed, ib. Surcingle, 177 Sutherland, Mr, 16 Swayne, Capt., 58 Sweden, horses of, 119, 349 Swedes, horses of, 118 Swimmers, horses as, 435 Switzerland, cave remains in, 86 ; horse remains, lake-dwellings, 92 ; horses of, 344 Sword, La Tene, 99; swords, 100; of La Tene period, 394; La Tene, found in Ireland, 396 ; of Mauri, 240 Syene, 238 Syphax, 309 Syrdaria, 31 Syria, 161 ; export of horses from, 163 ; horses of, 167, 184 Syrian, desert, 161 ; horse, compared with Bagdad, 185 Syrians, 243 Tablets of Tel-el-Amarna, 214 Tacitus, 334 Tael, 140 Tahpanhes, 242 Tail, as test of breeding, 304 ; docked, 140; of Arab, 174; of ass hybrid, 37 ; of horse, 8 ; of Kohl breed, 2-29 ; set high in Prejvalsky horse, and in desert Arabs, 38; setting of, 245, 254, 477; structure, covering, and carriage of, 469 Tail-lock of Iceland pony, 18 Takja, 31 Tamerlane gives Arab mares to Turco- mans, 133 Tanais, river, 125 Tangums, have very small hock callo- sities, 154 ; of Tibet, 350 Tangustan, 154 Tapestry, Bayeux, 354 Tapirs, 5, 6, 9 Tarbes, horses of, 322 Tarentum, horses of, 278 Tarpan, 1, 31, 34, 40, 41, 425; coat of, 33 ; description of, 32 ; its pecu- liar voice, 31 ; mouse-coloured, 41 ; skeletons of, 42; true, not larger than ordinary mules, 34 ; their colour, ib. ; voice of, 32 ; like mule, ib. ; tarpans, 35, 125 Tartars, 30; their horses, 134; slay men and horses at funeral of a Khan, 135; use of camels, not early, 200 Tartary, 18 Tassels on horses, 195, 504 Tasso, 257 Taylor, Mr Gordon, 437 Teeth, Arab does not tell age by, 177 ; for age, 140 ; of Gre>y and Baringo zebras, 146; of Javanese and Sulu ponies, 142; of zebras, ib.; pre- molars, 142, 461 Tegetmeier, Mr, 16, 26, 28 ; on Somali zebra, 58 536 INDEX Teheran, cab-horses of, 193 Telegony, 457 Tel-el-Amarna, tablets of, 214 Temper, 375 ; bad, of chestnuts, 474 Temple, Sir W., 387 Tencteri, 335, 338; cavalry of, 115; horses of, 115, 326, 331, 339 Tent-dwellers, Arab, 201 Terah, 204 Terms for colour, 177 Tertiary period, 4, 5 Teutonic chivalry, 331 Texas, horses of, 267, 271 ; Spaniards leave horses behind in, 273 Thana, town of, 149 Thangbrand, converts Iceland, 122; stops the eating of horse-flesh, ib. Thebaid, kings of, 236 Thebans, white horses of, 295 Thebes, seat of New Empire, 236 Thera, 253 Thessalians, white horses of, 296 Thessaly, horses of, 285, 301 Thor, does not ride, 118 Thoroughbred, American, 385 ; Austra- lian, ib. ; English, 380 sqq.', the Irish, 414; Melbourne strain, 38 Thorshaven, 23 Thorstein, the Bed, 416 Thothmes IV, his tomb, 227 ; his chariot, 227-8 Thrace, horses of, 302 ; white horses of, 289 Thracian, horses, 306; war-chariots, 107 Thracians, 105 ; horses of, small, 107 ; tattoo, 105 Thrall, Irish, in Iceland, 419 Thuringian horses, 318 Thuringians, 327; conquered by Franks, 329-30; laws of, 332 Tibet, horses of, 349; its piebald horses, 1 ; ponies of, 154 ; wild horses of, 18 Tibetan ponies, colours of, 156 Ticinus, 101, 255 Tiger at Eome, 55 Tigris, 161; horses of, 183 Timaeus, king of Egypt, 230 Tin trade of Britain, 401 Tiree, ponies of, 18 Togarmah, horses of, 193 Tom, river, 32 Tomaris, queen, 129 Tombs, in Achaia, 293 ; of Egyptian kings, 236; of Chinese emperors, ib.; Valley of, ib. Toulouse, battle of, 332 Toussaint, M., 84, 89 Trade, with Gaul, 401 Trajan, 202 Trakehnen, horse, 472 ; stud of, 344 Trans-Indus horses, 153-4, 159 Trimarcisia of Celts, 317 Tripod, 251 Troglodytes, 238 Trojans, horses of, 290 Tros, 290 Trot, very hard, of German horse, 337 Trotter, Norfolk, 386 ; its origin, ib. Trotting, desired in horses of service, 364 Trotting horse, American, 463 ; Lin- colnshire, 374 ; mares, 364 Tsetse-fly, 10, 77 Tumulus, 398 Turcae, 129 Turcoman, black horses of, 187 ; horses, 156, 176, 181; horses, colours of, bay, grey, black, white feet and a star in forehead, 133 ; mares, 163, 449; ponies, 163 Turcomania, 133; horses, ib. Turcomans, get Arab mares, 133 ; horses of, 132 ; obtain Arab stallions, 132 Turk, Byerley, 382 ; Lister, ib. ; White, ib. ; Yellow, ib. Turk, horse, 160, 377; horses, in England, 189; the, 189, 378 Turkestan, horses of, 132 ; wild ass of, 47 Turkish Arabia, horses of, 182 Turkish, cavalry, how mounted, 163; horses, 344, 381, 472 Turko-Tartaric names for horse, 128 Turquans, 133 Tuscany, horses of, 314 Tusgul Sea, 26 Tweedie, Major-Gen., 157, 160, 162, 165, 441, 471 ; doctrine of origin of Kohl breed, 207; on kudush, 164; on colours of Arab horses, 177 ; on origin of Kohl breed, 209 Tyre, horses and mules at fairs of, 193 Ubii, 327 Ukraine, 1, 30; blood, 325 Ulster chariots, 398 Umbrians use chariots, 103 Upton, Major, 162, 163, 164, 166, 180, 240, 445; notes stripes in Arab horses, 182; on colours of Arab horses, 180 ; views on horses of Syria and Bagdad, 184 Urga, the ' Derby ' of Mongolia, 139 Urn, covering burnt bones, 398-9 Usipii, 115 INDEX 537 Val d'Arno, fossil horses of, 143 Vandals, 334, 335 Vandyck, his portrait of Cromwell, 366 Vanir, 118 Varni (Werini), not horsemen, 353 Vases, Greek, 293 ; show chariots, 252 Vedic, horses, 151 ; Indians, 157 Vegetius, 319, 327, 344 Veneti, 104; of Armorica, 401; their horses, 104 Venn, Dr J., 120, 412, 452 Venn, Mr J. A., 121, 452 Vertebrae, lumbar, in tarpan, 42 ; in Prejvalsky horse, ib. Vertragus, the Celtic dog, 398, 400 Vesuvius, battle of, 100 Vezere, cave of, 85 Victoria, feral horses of, 430 Viking period, 354 Vikings of Western Isles, 416 Virgil, Polidore, 359 Virginia, wild horses in, 430 Voice, of dzeggetai, 52 ; of kiang, 46, 52 ; of other asses, 52 ; of horse, 477; of Irak stallion, 472; of Kadish, 471; of Kuhailan different from Kadish, 180; of Libyan horse, 471 ; of onager, 46 ; of tarpan, 31 Waddell, Mr L. A., 156 Waggon, four-wheeled, Styria, 315; waggons, Scythian, drawn by oxen, 127, 482 Wahlberg zebra, 436 Walers, 47 Wall, Great, of China, 140 Wallace, Mr J. H., 385, 430 Wall-eyed horses, 349 Walwich Bay, 65 War-chariots, 351 ; used against Pyr- rhus, 307 Ward zebra, 64, 508 War-horse, 203 ; typical, of Byzantine period, 328; Cyrenian, 253; of Lower empire, 329 Warriors slain at funerals, 128 Waziris, horses of, 159, 447 Wells, 161; dug, Arabia, 207 Werini (same as Varni), 329, 335, 354 Western Asia, horses of, 188 Westmeath, 413; hunters, 414 West Wind impregnates Lusitanian mares, 257 Wheel, 483 sqq.; four-spoked, six- spoked, eight -spoked, 225, 228; spoked, 484 ; origin of, 485 ; wheels, 223, 224; block, 483-4, 488; chariot, 95; eight-spoked, 315; eight-spoked, on Irish chariots, 390; eight-spoked, on Irish crosses, ib.; tires of, 95; evolution of, 482 Whip, 479 White, Arab, 169 ; Arab love of white horses, 178; elephant, sanctity of, 105; feet, 181, 250, 373; feet, in Kuhailan, 173; horse, drowned in Gyndes, 191; horse, in Apocalypse, 210; horse, of Berkshire, 353; horse, of St Columba, 419; legs, 374; star or blaze, 374 ; stars, 376 ; worn by Tartars on New Year's Day, 134; white horses, 120, 135, 174, 289, 294, 295, 296, 346, 466; among Germans, 105, 114, 353; among Scandinavians, 105 ; at Agrigentum, 276 ; at Kome, 307 ; belong to upper Asia and Europe, 186; draw Zeus' chariot, 294 ; in Greece, 292 ; in Sicily, 105, 278; in Thessaly, 301; in Thrace, 107 ; Julius Caesar drawn by, 307-8 ; of Kublai Kaan, 134; sacrificed, 294; sacrificed by Persians on march, 190 ; sanctity of, 105, 186, 187, 294, 419; tribute of, 190; wild, 125; used for divination by the Germans, 114 Why Not Eoyal mare, 382 Wife of Bath, 359 Wild ass, 50; in Scythia, 125 Wild horses, 16 ; extermination of, 433; of North America, 265; in Spain, 257, 260 ; not found in Arabia, 165, 207 ; variation of colour, 27 ; why destroyed, 428 Wilde, Sir W., 391 William III, charger of, 367 William, de Sancto Mauro, 355 Wiltshire sheriff, 356 Winchester, 356 Wind, ' Drinkers ' of the, 249 ; West, impregnates Lusitanian mares, 257 Winter, Dr, his horses, 412 Wolf, 4, 208, 426; as a brand, 104 Wolf-dogs (see Dog), 401 Wollaston, Dr, 457 Woman, skeleton of, 398; nude, on horseback, 244 Women, ride on horseback, Libyan, 242 Woodbridge, 368 Wurtemburg, horses of, 344 Xanthippus, 395 Xenophon, 480 ; description of a good horse, 298 Xerxes, army of, 152; his car, 191; Indians in host of Xerxes, 47; roll of his army, 192 ; sacrifices white horses to rivers, ib. 538 INDEX Xyston, 304 Yak, 4, 426 Yaman, horses of, 164 Yarkund, 134 Yellow, 175 Yellow horse, 210 Yemen, 164 Yoke, 224 Yorkshire, barrows, chariots in, 95 ; cart - mares, 385-6 ; coach - horse, 386 Youatt, Mr, 151, 161, 177 Young, Arthur, 368 ; description of Suffolk Punch, 370 Yucatan, 269 Yule, Col., 147, 150 Yunnan, horses of, 140 Zagan-norr, lake, 28, 40 Zain, 434 Zaizan, 26 Zama, 309 Zambesi, 66 Zebra, 7, 55 sqq. ; Burchell, 59, 436, 445, 472, 476; Burchell, domestica- tion of, 78; Chapman's, 12; Craw- shay's, ib. ; Grant's, ib. ; Grevy's, 12, 59 ; GreVy, Imperial or Somali, 58 ; hybrids, 36, 452; hybrids, bred in East Africa, 79 ; hybrids, hock cal- losities, 39 ; large hybrids are out of well bred mares, ib. ; in Angola, 55 ; in Congo, ib. ; known to Romans, ib. ; Mountain, 12, 56, 62, 472; pre-orbital depression in skull of, 143 ; Somali, striping of, 458 ; teeth of, 142 ; Wahlberg's, 436 ; Ward's, 64, 508 ; zebras, coloration of, 436 ; now utilized in British East Africa, 79 ; west of Nile, 56 ; see also Equus Zebra-ass hybrid, 453 ; -horse hybrid, 476 Zebu, 4, 426 Zechariah, 211 Zegredoff steppe, tarpan of, 41 Zeus, car of, 191 ; drawn by white horses, 294 CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. 7, or ONF MHMTH AfT^E RECES LD 2lA-60m-7,'- (G4427slO)476B General Library University of Calif ornis Berkeley 0748 5460.96 or n l\ UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY