Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-17
THE FRIEND OF MAN
How the Horse Has Served the Human
Family for Ages.
Some of the Uses to which He Wa,
Put by the Ancients-Sacred
to the Gods.
From the st. James Gazette.

From the ST. James Gazette
While the cult of the cow originated in
the valleys of the five rivers of north
west India, the cult of the horse took its
rise in Scythia and on the plains of Tar
tary, probably the true home of the horse
for the wild steeds of the steppes of central
ASfa-especially the equus PrejevalskiI OF
Thibet-bear striking resemblance TO the
two Palaeolithic horses rudeIy though Wig
orously drawn upon a piece of reindeer
horn by some artist of the stone age. This
famous primitive etching was found at La
Madeleine, I'm the department of Dordogne
and no doubt gives a correct idea of the
wild horse. from whom early man in Eu-
rope drew his chief food supply. The herds
of horses must have been great, indeed. for
at one village alone, at SoIutre, near
Macon, was found deposit of horse bones
ten feet in depth. and more than three
hundred feet in length, comprising, il has
been estimated, the remains of from twenty
to forty thousand animals. There is no
doubt that for very long period man saw
In the horse nothing more than plentiful
supply Of wild food-stuff. His next step
was to half tame him, so that large herds.
valued first for their flesh, and afterward
for their milk, might be driven like sheep
before the herdsmen.
Later on he was used for draught pur-
pCSSSs Especially LOT me drawing OF war
chariots. and to this was long confined.
There is no mention of the art of riding in
the Veda. In ancient Egypt the ass alone
was ridden, and even among the Homeric
Greeks the horse seems to have been used
almost entirely as a car drawer. Prior to
his domestica zion, the horse would seem to
have gone out of fashion a food, for IN
the neolithic age his remains are absent
or very 1aIe, while he reappears in the late
bronze age as a tanned animal This is
proved by the discovery of primitive bits
made of stays horn or of bronze These
bits are cnly three and half inches wide.
and, as MIR. Isaac Taylor tells us in his
Origin of the Aryans," could only be used
nowadays for childs pony. AS a matter
or fact, bits of the size wide enough for the
primitive horse are only suitable now for
donkeys The most ancient horseshoes
which have been discovered, and which be-
long to the late iron age. perhaps about the
eleventh century before Christ, are also
very small. From these facts (says the
Read. from examination of the bones, and
from the pictures left for us by prehistoric
artists. the primitive horse has been re-
constructed. He stood about thirteen hands
high-not much taller than donkey. The
head was larger than that of the horse of
todey, and the teeth large and powerful
1t is, perhaps, small matter for wonder
that the nations who first tanned the horse
for riding attached high honor to the
creature seated on whose back they scour-
ed with such swiftneSs. The horsemen of
ThesSaly appeared to the other Greeks
lHlouSu d IlllSl u 1dDlC dS AtAlduIS Als1tl
man, half brute. but wholly divine And
in the frank fashion of all primitive people
the horseman gave back to the horse the
glory that he reflected from it, and made
of his comrade in war and chase a kind
of deity. The ancient Germans took ora
Giles from white horses, just as the Egyp-
tians did from their sacred oxen. The
animals were kept in groves and gave au-
curry by neighing- Among the Slavs the
sword combined with the horse to foreteu
future events. The weapons were planted
in the ground and the horses led among
them. BY the movements of the beasts the
attending priests judged the will of the
gods. Among the Norsemen the sacrifice
of horse and the eating of its flesh was
token of sacramento allegiance to Odin.
Among the ancient Irish, when a king was
crowned in Ulster, it was customary to
STAY white mare and boil it in vat. Into
this vat the newly made king descended,
and there sat. drinking the broth and tast-
ing small portions Of the meat The eat
ing of horsefiesh was well recognized as
heather rite that the early Christian
saints forbade it to their converts.
Among the Scythians the horse was deem
ed sacred to the sun. and its worship cross
ed the Himalayas. and was early establish
ed among the Raiput kings. Next TO a hui
man being, who probably was. as a matter
of fact, never sacrificed in ancient India,
the horse was the most acceptable Offering
TO the gods. 1t is laid down in the Puranas
that the sacrificer of a hundred horses
Gusts Indra, the king of the gods. from
his throne and reigns in paradise (Swarga)
in his stead. There is no record however,
of any one having earned this surprising
felicity. Kings on attaining the throne
usually sacrificed 4 horse, their tributary
princes performing the more mental duties
connected with the Aswamedha Chorse sac
rificeb. Indeed, even the office of porter in
this solemn rite could only be assumed by
one of royal blood. One of the books of the
great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, con-
tainS an account of the Aswamedha held
by Yudhisthira, King of the Pandus. when
he had, by the defeat of the Kauravas
firmly established his rule over northern
India. The sacred horse was turned loose
TO wander wherever ii listed for a year
while the royal army followed il every
where at a respectful distance. Other
tribes, whose pastures IL crossed, were
given the option of either turning out in
force to join the triumph of the horse or of
accepting wager of battle. At the end OF
the year the horse was led back to ths pail
ace and there sacrificed