A history of the horse, in all its varieties and uses

Contents

PACK

Introduction -.-----------i

CHAPTER I. General History of the Horse 1

Earlist records of him : appears to have been first domesticated in Egypt, and thence propagated to otlier countries : the horse not cultivated in Arabia until the seventh century.

CHAPTER II. The Different Foreign Breeds of Horses ...... 3

The wild horses of South America, method of catching and breaking them by the Gauchos : the wild horses of Tartary: the Barb : the Dongola : the Arabian, his vai'ieties, beautiful form, fleetness, docility, afl'ection of the Arab towards him, anecdotes of: the East Indian, his varieties : the Chinese : Persian, beauty and value of : the Toorkoman : Tartar and Calmuc : Turkish: German: Swedish: Finland, and Norwegian : Iceland : Flemish and Dutch : French : Spanish : Italian : American.

CHAPTER III. History of the English Horse 17

Horse of the early Britons : crossed by the Romans : improved by Athelstan and Howell the Good : not used for the plough until the tenth century : improved by William I. and Henryll.: neglected by the Crusaders : materially improved by John, who imported many Flanders horses : by Edward H., who purchased thirty Lombardy horses : by Edward III., who introduced tlie Spanish horse, and had several nmning horses : more rapidly improved, however, when cumbrous armour was laid aside : the improvement arrested by the tyrannical and illiberal policy of Henry VIII., and under Elizabeth horses were diminished in number and value : under James I. the progi-ess of improvement was ha.stened : Turkish and Barbary horses were introduced, and the first Arabian horse : races were now established : Charles I. was fond of horses : even Cromwell encouraged the improvement of the breed : at the restoration a new impulse was given under Anne, Arabians were again introduced : and about the middle of tlie eighteenth century the English horse had arrived at its state of highest perfection.

CHAPTER IV. The Different Breeds of English Horses ...... 22

The roadster or hackney : description of him : the horse of all work, the farmer's horse : the coach-horse, derived from the Cleveland bays : principle of draught : power of the horse : the pace killing : the heavy draught-horse : the old Surtolk : the Clydesdale : the heavy black horse-, too heavy : the dray-horse ; the cavalryhorse : the race-horse, question of his real origin, actually superior to the Arabian, the Darley, Flying Childers, Eclipse, the Godolphin Arabian, the emulation of the race-horse, consequence of short races : the hunter, description of his proper breed and form, anecdotes of his love of the sport, usage of him, management of, when distressed, summering of: the Galloway: the Welsh pony: the New-Forester: the Exmoor pony: the Dartmoor: theHigldand: the Shetland : the Irish horse.

iv CONTENTS.

Chapter V. Pa6b

Zoological Classification of the Horse --..-. 48

Chapter VI

The External Structure of the Horse ....---49 The head : frontal bones : frontal sinuses, used for the discovery of glanders : the parietal : tenaporal : arched form of the skull : designed strength of the base of the arch : occipital, attachment of the strong hgament of the neck to it : the sphenoid and aetnmoid : the brain : medullary and cineritious portions : the nerves : spinal cord : spinal nerves, consisting of fibres of sensation and motion, and others devoted to respiration : the sympathetic or organic nerve, at tli« base of the skull, devoted to nutrition and circulation. The ear, beauty of, indicative of temper, folly of cropping or singeing: the internal ear; beautiful mechanism of, the drum, the little bones, the expansion of the nerve. The eye: the lids, substitution for eye- brows, eye-lashes, tears, situation of lachiymal gland : the haw, beautiful mechanism of it, barbarous practice of destroying it : the conjunctiva : cornea, importance of its perfect transparency, directions for examining it : the sclerotica : choroid coat, its black color, the beautiful color and use ot the lucid carpet within the eye : the aqueous humour : iris : wall-eyed horse : the pupil, importance likewise of carefully examining it : the lens : vitreous humour : retina : theoiy of vision : shying : muscles of the eye : the one peculiar to quadrupeds to retract it from danger.

CHAPTER VII. Diseases of the Brain and Eye 79

Fracture of the skull : pressure on the brain : megrims : apoplexy : stomach-staggers, arising usually from mismanagement : mad staggers : locked jaw, or tetanus : epilepsy or fits : palsy : rabies or madness : neurotomy, method of performing the operation, diseases of the foot for which beneficial. Diseases of the eye : wounds : warts : enlargement of the haw : inflammation of the eye : opacities of the cornea : cataract : gutta serena, or glass eye.

CHAPTER VIII. The Nose AND Mouth, AND THEIR Diseases 92

Anatomy of the nose : Roman noses : cartilage of the nose : turbinated bones : wideness of nostril, advantage of: importance of observing the color of the membrane of the nose : discharge from the nose. Glanders, symptoms of, how distinguished from strangles or cold : primarily a disease of the membrane of the nose : connected with farcy ; they are diflerent forms of the same disease ; causes of contagion : hot and foul stables : debihtating disease : highly contagious : prevention : treatment. Farcy, a disease of the absorbents : farcy buds : symptoms : treatment. The lips, the organs of touch : lips, how formed : bearing rein, necessity for : bones of the mouth : the palate, method of bleeding irom : lampas : the lower jaw, curious mechanism of the joint of, contrived to grind the food. Teeth, their growth and changes from the birth, as indicative of the age : wolves teeth : diseases of the teeth. Description of the tongue : vesicles under the tongue : the salivary glands : the parotid : the submaxillary and sublingual : strangles : canker in the mouth : wounds in the mouth : description of the pharynx.

CHAPTER IX. The Neck ■ -120

Description of the neck : poll-evil : proper form of the neck : the splenius muscle : neck should be muscular at the bottom : the complexus major : ewe-necked : the muscles of the neck generally : arteries and veins of the neck : inflammation of the vein after bleeding : the wind-pipe : the larynx : roaring : the oesophagus or gullet.

CONTENTS. V

Chapter X. Page

The Chest — Its Contents and their Diseases 129

The proper form of the chest : form of as much importance as capacit}'^ : depth of chest, importance of : ribbed home. Anatomy of the spine : the bones of the spine connected by highly elcistie substance : consequent ease in riding: contiivances ibr strength : broken -backed : comparison between the long and short backed horse ; saddle-backed : weak-backed. The loins : should be broad and muscular. The withers : advantage of higli withers. The muscles of the back. Fistulous withers: warbles: sitfasts: saddle-galls. The ribs. The breast: muscles of the breast: being all abroad. Chest-founder: dropsical swellings between the fore-legs. Inside of the chest, diaphragm : the pleura : the mediastinum. The heart and its action : inflammation of the heart. The arteries. The pulse : its standard number : when quick, hard, small, weak, or oppressed : necessity of attending to the pulse. The capilleiries. Inflammation, an increased flow of blood to and through the part : local and general : treatment of: cold or warm applications. Fever, or genr.ral increased arterial action : pure fever: symptomatic fever: treatment. The veins: bog and blood spavin. Bleeding; directions for: the fleam and lancet; bleeding places. The lungs : description of: change of blood in passing through them : capacious chest, advange of. Inflammation of the lungs : symptoms : causes : b-eatment : consequences. Pleurisy. Catan-h, or common cold. Bronchilis. Catarrhal fever. The mdignant epidemic. Chronic cough. Thick-wind: broken-wind: the piper : wheezer : whistler : highblower : grunter.

CHAPTER XI. The Stomach and Intestines — Their Diseases ...... ips

The diaphragm. The stomach : stomach staggers : inflammation : poisons : bots, The intestmes : the mesenterv, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, ccecum, colon, rectum : spasmodic colic : calculi : intussusception : entanglement : inflammation of the bowels : over-purging : washy horses : worms : physicing : the best purgatives : rupture. The liver : inflammation of the liver : jaundice. The spleen. The pancreas. The omentum. The kidneys : diuretic medicines, use and abuse of: inflammation of the kidney : profuse staling. The bladder : inflammation of the bladder : stone in the bladder.

Chapter XII

PRINCIPLES OF Breeding .-.--..... J72

Form, constitution, diseases inherited : causesof deterioration of half-bred horses : the mare of as much importance in breeding a.s the horse : shape of mare and horse : breeding in and in : age at which mare is capable of breeding: time of neat: time of going with foal : management of mare with foal : when she has foaled : weaning foal : treatment of foal : importance of good feeding : process of breaking in begun from the period of weaning : actual breaking in : ditlerent steps of: necessity of implicit obedience, yet not enforced by cruelty: breaking in for the road or chase : bitting the colt : saddling: castration.

CHAPTER XIII. The Fore-legs, and their Diseases ........ 175

The shoulder : sprain of the shoulder : slanting direction of the shoulder, importance of: how applicable to horses of heavy draught : muscle of the outside of the shoulder : trapesius : levator humeri : serratus : sterno-maxillaris : spinati :

[)ectorals : the lower bone of the shoulder : the arm : the elbow : principle of the ever applied to it : the extensor muscles: the flexors : disadvantage at which they act : the perforated muscle : the perforating : the arm should be long : the knee : broken knees : the leg, splent : speedy-cut : tied in below the knee : sprain of the back sinews : necessity of attention to any thickening on them : wingalls: the pasterns: the suspensory ligaments: obliquity of the pastern: rupture of the suspensory ligament : the fetlock : grogginess : cutting : bones of the pasterns : sprain of the coffin-joint : ring-bone : position of the legs.

vi CONTENTS.

Chapter XIV. Page

The Hinder Limbs and their Diseases ---.-.. 199

The haunch: bein^ ragged-hipped : width of haunch : the thigh : muscles of the

inside of the tliigh : the sartorius : gracilis : muscles of the outside of the

thigh : the glutaei : great trochanter of the thigh, importance of: sprain of the

round bone : the stifle : the extensor pedis muscle : the peronaeus : the flexor

Eedis : thorough-pin : the hock : enlargement of the hock : curb : bog-spavin : one spavin : other lameness of tl^ie hock : the point of the hock : capped hock : malenders and salenders : cow-hocks : slringhalt : swelled legs : grease, cause and treatment of: washing the heels : danger of cutting the hair from the heels .

CHAPTER XV. The Anatomy of the Foot-- 216

The crust or wall of the foot : the inner heel should not be too much cut away : the coronary ligament : the coronary ring : the frog-band : the crust : color of: the bars : folly of destroying them : the frog : the sole : the coflin-bone : the sensible sole : the sensible frog : the navicular bone : the cartilages of the foot.

CHAPTER XVI. Diseases of the Foot 223

Inflammation of the foot, or acute founder: pumiced feet : chronic founder: contraction : the navicular-joint disease : sand-crack : tread or over-reach : falsequarter : quittor : prick, or wound in the foot : corns : thrush : canker : ossification of the cai-tilages : weakness of the foot.

CHAPTER XVII. On Shoeing 238

The concave seated shoe : preparation of the foot: putting on of the shoe: calkins : clips : the hind-shoe : the hunting-shoe : the bar-shoe : tips : the expanding snoe : felt or leather soles.

CHAPTER XVIII. Operations 244

The trevis : the side-line: the hobbles: the twitch: the barnacles: bleeding: blistering : firing : setons : docking : nicldng.

CHAPTER XIX. Vices and Bad Habits 251

Restiveness : Jumper the horse-breaker : King Pippin, anecdote of: Sullivan the Irish whisperer : backing or gibbing : biting : getting the cheek of the bit into the mouth : kicking : unsteadiness while being mounted : rearing : running away : vicious to clean : vicious to shoe : swallowing without grinding : crib-biting : wind-sucking : cutting : not lying down : overreach : pawing : quidding : rolling : shying : slipping the collar : tripping : weaving.

CHAPTER XX. The General Management of the Horse --..-- 262

Air : litter : light : grooming : exercise : food : manger-feeding : oats : barley : grains : wheat : beans : peas : grass : hay : tares : rye-grass : clover : lucern : saint-foin : Swedish turnip : carrots ; potatoes : furze : nutritive matter in the different articles of food : the times of feeding should be equally divided : water : management of the feet.

CHAPTER XXI. Soundness 273

The grand principle of : supposed causes of unsoundness : broken knees : capped

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hocks : contraction : corns ; couffh : roaring : wheezing : whistling : high-blowing : grunting : broken wind : crib-biting : curb : cutting : enlarged glands : enlarged hock : tlie eyes : lameness : neurotomy : ossification of the lateral cartilages : pumiced foot : quidding : quittor : ringbone : sandcrack : spavin : blood spavin : splent : stringhalt : thickening of the back sinews : thoroughpin : thrush ; windgalls. Form of warranty : the horse must be unsound or vicious at the time of sale : no price will imply a warranty : a warranty after tlie sale invalid : to complete tlie purchase there must be a transfer, a memorandum, or partial payment : notice of unsoundness not legally required, yet advisable : prudent to refrain from all medical treatment : where no warranty, an action may be brought on the ground of fraud : exchanges considered on the same ground as simple sales : the allowance of trial : laws of tlie principal Repositories.

CHAPTER XXII. The Skin - - - 279

Hide bound : the hair : pores of the sldn : moulting : clipping : color of the horse : surfeit ; mange : wairts.

Chapter XXIII

Medicines used in Veterinary Practice .--... 287 Aloes : alteratives : alum : hartshorn : sal-ammoniac : anodynes : black antimony : emetic tartar: antimonial powder : butyr of antimony : antispasmodics: arsenic : astringents : bafls : blisters : bole-Armenian : burgimdy pitch : calamine : calomel : camphor : cantharides : carraways : castor oil : catechu : caustics : chalk : camomile : charcoal : charger : clysters : verdigris : blue vitriol : cordials : corrosive sublimate : cream of tartar : croton : diaphoretics : digestives : digitalis : diuretics : drinks : elder: epsom-salts : fomentations : gentian : ginger: Goulard's extract: helle-bore : hemlock: infusions: iodine: green vitriol: oil of juniper : krd : sugar of lead : white lead : chloride of fime : liniments : linseed : lotions : mashes : mercurial ointment : jEthiop's mineral: mint: myrrh: nitre : spirit of nitrous aether: oil of olives : opium: palm oil: pitch: physic: poultices: powders: raking: resin: rowels: salt: sedatives : lunar caustic : chloride of soda : soap : starch : stoppings : sulphur : tar: tinctures: tobacco: tonics: turpentine : vhiegar: wax, white.

The power of the horse, how calculated : difference of opinion as to wheels : draught regarded as to the act of drawing, and the resistance to the power employed : the moving power. Animal power is the application of the strength of an animal ; and mechanical power i? power employed through the intervention of machinery : horse-power and that of the steam-engine compared, as to interest of first cost, decrease of value, hazard of loss or accidents, value of food, or coals and water, renewals and repairs, harness, shoeing, farriery, stabling, and expense of attendance : the power of draught, or effect produced by each : the obstacles to be overcome in the use of machinery. The manner in which the animal adapts himself to his load : errors with regard to this in some ancient sculptures : real action of the horse in walking, trotting and galloping. The resistance to draught should be rigid, and void of elasticity, but sliould not be constant and unremiting : a horse pulls better when close to his work : the disadvantage of long teams. The effect of draught depends on the speed, the power of the animal, and the time employed : calculation and comparison of these : the hours of labor should not exceed six hours : the rapid reduction of the power of the horse when his speed is increased. A flat piece of road more destructive to the horse, than one with alternate rises and falls. Best direction of the traces : should be nearly horizontal, but varying with the kind of horse, and nature of the work and road: inclining the traces downward, the same as throwing a part of the load on the shafts. Ancient mode of harnessing : the collar in the time of Homer: explanation of the power of the South American lasso. The advantage of transporting goods by water, consists in the smallness of power required ; this rapidly increasing with the speed : calculation of the draught of a canal boat. The advantages and disadvantages of sledges and rollers : manner, in which the rock forming the pedestal of tlie statue of Peter the Great was moved on rollers: the best construction of

CONTENTS.

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the roller. Description of the ancient war chariots : the mechanical advantage of the wheel increased in proportion to its height : the resistance depends on the friction at the axle : comparative advantages of different materials as used for axles : axles working in iron boxes : calculation of the force of draught required for a four-wheeled cart on different roads : comparison between narrow and broad wheels : description of dishing the wheels, and advantage of: comparison between conical and cylindrical wheels ; injury received by the roads by diflerent wheels : the cylindrical wheel a little dished, and the edges rounded off, is the best : ruts form a great resistance to draught : the hind wheels should exactly follow the track of the fore ones : description of Jones's patent wheels : the expense and weight must limit the height of the wheels ; the fore-wheels usually too small : the comparative advantages of two and four-wheeled carriages : two wheeled carts with two horses, disadvantageous. Springs should never be applied to give any longitudinal elasticity to the carriage : disadvantage of C springs on this account : advantage of springs : Mr.D. Giddy's theory of wheels and springs : springs particularly advantageous when much velocity is required : loading high, although dangerous, makes the carriage run light : the safety coaches, by having the load low, very disadvantageous. Hardness, the great desideratum in roads : great rounding of the road useless, and injurious : a rise of six or eight inches in a road twenty feet wide, quite sufficient : hardness of surface, how best secured : constant repairs and attention, on the whole, most economical. Great advantage of railways : the power of the horse increased tenfold on a railway.

HISTORY OF THE HORSE.

Chapter I. General History Of The Horse

Hackney.

Arahian,

Hunter.

The native country of the horse cannot with certainty be traced. He has beenfound, varying materially in size, in form, and in utility, in all the temperate, in' most of the sultry, and in' many of the northern regions of the old world.

In the sacred volume, which, beside its^ higher claims to stand at the head of the farmers' library, contains the oldest authentic record of past transactions, we are told that, so early as 1650 years before the birth of Christ, the horse had been domesticated by the Egyptians. When Joseph carried his father^s remains front Egypt to Canaan, " there went up with him both chariots and horsemen."* One hundred and fifty years afterwards, the horse constituted the principal strength of the Egyptian army. Pliaraoh pursued the Israelites with " six hundred chosen chariots, and with all the chariots of Egypt."-}-

If we could believe the accounts of tl>e uninspired historians, Sesostris (the monarch probably whom Joseph served,) had twenty --seven thousand chariots of war;: and Semiramis, the founder of Babylon, had one hundred thousand chariots, and a million of horsemen; but this was probably a great exaggeration.

Fifty years after the expulsion of the Israefites from Eg}'pt, and 1450 years before the birth of Chi-ist, the horse was so far naturalized in Greece, that the Olympic games were instituted, including chariot and horse races. We have, therefore, sufficient evidence that the horse was, at a very early period, subjected to the dominion of man, and, unfortunately, for the worst of purposes — the business of war.

* Gen. i. 9. f Exod. xvi. 7.

From the records of the Old Testament, we are likewise enabled to ascertsun the precise period of time when, in Egypt and Canaan, and the neig-hboring- countries, tliis animal began to be domesticated. 1920 years before the birth of Christ, when Abraham, having left Haran, in obedience to the divine command, was driven into Egypt by the famine which raged in Canaan,* Pharaoh offered him sheep and oxen, and asses, and camels. Horses would doubtless have been added, had they tlien existed, or had they been subdued in Egypt.

When, fifty years afterwards, Abraliam journeyed to Mount Moriah, to offer up his only son, he rode upon an ass, wliich, with all his wealdi and power, he would scarcely have done had the horse been known, f

Thirty years later, when Jacob retui-ned to Isaac with Rachel and Leah, an account is givent of the number of oxen, sheep, camels, goats, and asses, which he sent to appease the anger of Esau, but not one horse is mentioned.

It is not until twenty-foui- years after this, when the famine devastated Canaan, || and Jacob sent into Egypt to buy corn, that horses are first heard of. " Wagons," probably carriages, drawn by horses, were sent by Joseph into Canaan to bring his father to Egypt. It would seem, however, that horses had been but lately introduced, and were not nun>erous, or not used as beasts of burden; for the whole of the corn, which was to be conveyed some hundred miles, and was to afford subsistence for Jacob's large household, was carried on asses.

It appears then that about 1740 years before Christ, horses were first used in Egypt; but they soon afterwards became so numerous as to form a considerable proportion of the Egyptian army: and when the Israelites returned into Canaan, the horse had been inti-oduced and naturalized there; for the Canaanites ♦' went out to fight against Israel \\itli horses and chariots very rfiany."§

The sacred volume, therefore, clears up a point upon which no other record throws any light, namely, the period when the horse first became the sei-vant of man, at least in one part of the world, and that the most advanced in civilization, and before Greece was peopled. A long time must have elapsed before man was able to ascertain the value and peculiar use of the animals that surrounded him. He would begin with the more subordinate — those which were most easily caught, and most readily subdued; and the benefits which he derived from their labors would induce him to attempt the conquest of superior quadrupeds. In accordance with this, the writings of Moses show us that, after the ox, the sheep, and the goat, min subdued the ass, and then the camel, and, last of all, the horse became his. sei-vant: and no sooner was /te subdued, and his sti'ength, and docihty, and sagacity, appi-eciated, than the others were comparatively disregai-ded, except in Palestine, where the use of the horse was forbidden by divine authority, and on extensive and barren deserts where he could not hve.^

From Egypt the use of the horse was propagated to other and distant lands; and, probably, the horse himself was first transmitted from Egypt to several countries. The Greeks affirm, that Neptune struck the earth with his trident, and a horse appeared. The truth is, that the Thessalians, the first and most expert of the Grecian horsemen, and hkevvise the inhabitants of Argos and of Athens, were colonists from Egypt.

The Bible likewise decides another point, that Arabia, by whose breed of horses those of other countries have been so much improved, was not the native place of the horse. Six hundi-ed years after the time just referred to, Arabia had no horses.

• Gen. xii. 16. f Gen. xxli. 3. + Gen. xxxii. 14. P Gen. xlv. 19. § Joshua xi. 4. 1 When Sir Gore Ouseley travelled through Persia, and the different countries of the east, he examined, among other relics of antiquity, the sculptures on the ruins of Persepolis, and he draws from them a curious and interesting conclusion as to the manner in which the horse was gradually subdued. " There are no figures," says he, " mounted on horseback, although some travellers have mentioned horsemen among those sculptures. One would think that the simple act of mounting on a horse's back would naturally have preceded the vise of wheel-carriages and their comphcated harness; yet no horsemen are found at Persepolis; and we know Homer's horses are represented in chariots from which the wamors sometimes descended to combat on foot, but the poet has not described them as fighting on horseback. The absence of mounted figures might authorize an opinion that those sculptui-es had been executed before tJ^e time of Cyrus, whose precepts and example first inspired the Persians with a love of equestria)i exercises, of which, before Ills time, they were wholly ignorant." Vol. ii. p. 276.

Solomon imported spices, gold, and silver, from Arabia;* but all the liorses for his own cavalry and chariots, and those with which he supplied the Phoinician monarchs, he procui-ed from Egypt. f

In the seventh century after Christ, when Mahomet attacked the Koreish, near Mecca, he had but two horses in his whole army; and at tlie close of his murderous campaign, although he drove off twenty-four thousand camels, and forty thousand sheep, and carried away twenty-four thousand ounces of silver, not one horse appears in the list of plunder.

There is a curious record of the commerce of different countries at the close of the second century. Among the articles exported from Egypt to Arabia, and particularly as presents to reigning monarchs, were horses. +

In the fourth century two hundred Cappadocian horses were sent by the Roman emperor, as the most acceptable present he could offer a powerful prince of Arabia.

So late as the seventh century, the Arabs had few horses, and those of little value. These circumstances sufficiently prove that, however superior may be the present breed, it is comparatively lately tliat the horse was naturalized in Arabia.

The horses of Arabia itself, and of the soutlieastern parts of Europe, are clearly derived from Egypt; but whether they wei-e there bred, or imported from the southwestern regions of Asia, or, as is more probable, brought from the interior, or northern coasts of Africa, cannot with certainty be determined.

Chapter II. The Different Foreign Breeds Of Horses

THE WILD HORSE.

Tnoops of wild horses are found in the plains of Great Tartary, and also in several parts of South America. In neither, however, can we recognize an origintil race. The horses of the Ukraine, and those of South America, are equally the descendants of those who had escaped from the slavery of man. The Tartar horses are fleet and strong, but comparatively of an ordinary breed. Those of South America retain, almost unimpaired, the size and form of their European ancestors.

In no part of America, or of the more newly discovered islands of the Pacific, was the horse known until he was introduced by Europeans; and the origin of the horses of Tartary has been clearly traced to those who were employed in the siege of Azoph in 1657, but which were turned loose for want of forage.

All travellers, who have crossed the plains extending from the shores of La Plata to Patagonia, have spoken of numerous droves of wild horses. Some affirm that they have seen ten thousand in one troop. They appear to be under the command of a leader, the strongest and boldest of the herd, and whom they implicitly obey. A secret instinct teaches them that their safety consists in their union, and in a principle of subordination. The hon, the tiger, and the leopard, § i The historian gives us the price of the horse and the chariot at that time. A horse brought from Egypt, including, probably, the expense of the journey, cost one hundred and fifty shekels of silver, which, at two shillings three pence and one half farthing each, amounts to about seventeen pounds two shillings. A chariot cost six hundred shekels, or sixty-eight pounds eight shillings; a most enormous sum at that early period, but little to him who expended more than thirtyfive milUons of pounds, in gold alone, to ornament the temple which he had built.

§ These animals are of a different race from those which go under the same names in the old world, and are very inferior in strength.

are their principal enemies. At some signal, intelligible to them all, they either close into a dense mass, and trample their enemy to death; or, placing the mares and foals in the centre, they form themselves into a circle, and welcome him with their heels. In the attack, their leader is the first to face the danger, and, when prudence demands a retreat, they follow his rapid flight.