New-York tribune., 1901-07-07
THE HORSE IN EUROPE
UP To HoMER's TINE NO ONE RODE ON
HIS BACK


HIS BACK.
From The London Standard
Persons now elderly used to learn at school
that the horse was introduced 10 Europe frar-
the East-whether from Arabia or Central Asia
the authorities could not decide; but upon the
broad fact they were unanimous. GeCl,-is.s
had already proved that d species not To te DIS
tineuished from that now existing inhabited the
Western Continent in early times But the1-
proved also that one of the same family belonged
to America and, since that had vanished, K y-I;
not unreasonable to suppose that the European
had also disappeared before man came upon The
scene. Ii would be reintroduced- of course, by
the Aryans during thsir migration from the
upper waters Of the OXuS- The Theory once
admitted evidence found to support II The
horse is not represented III Egyptian paintings
until the Eighteenth Dynasty. say 1900 e g. Il
is first mentioned in the Bible five hundred years
later still. in DavidS reign; but the n0Veit} Nts
So much appreciated that his successor, Ss'i'-t
imported great numbers. Stili men did not reaJ-
ure 70 mount the animal or the thought dl- p
occur To them. They used il only in Chav is.
as did the Greeks Of Homers time Some CONS
rurias had StiU IL pass before the art OF ri....-
was discovered. So far as the records 80, III,
credit Of this invention is due 10 the AsSyTla1s.
but at first they had So lItte confidence in n II
horSenanShp that each trooper was accc-l-
panied by a swift-foo;ed slave to hoid him on i
necessary.
tame the horse until date comparatively EaCd-
ern in Asia and ne bTOUgh, il TO Europe iater
still of course. All the facts mentioned are 5r7e
enough, but they have TO bearing on the c7rT-
CIusiun For the horse never ceased to exist n
Europe. ON the contrary. il abCunded "a soon
as the climate became suitable In fact. il VIII
not be surprising IL discover IN good time
that the existing species passed from Europe Z
Asia The notion that TeUt0ns: Celts and Slass
migrated from. the East is already denolishefi:
that discovery would reduce il ad absUrdU7n.
1t is not impossible SuppoSItiOn- All agree,
nowadays. that the SanscTiJ speaking Indians.
the PerSia1IS and AriDeilanS, migrated from Ia
West; and il is evident that they could have
taken horse - with them. II so disposed We DO
not mean to suggest that they did But thc5-
uncOmfortable people the philOioEistS. could nCt
. dispute IL IL does not appear. however. that
Europeans used the horse for any purpose.
havo3,t .a-3rc rnri1 ~ "yernr,1e E,r,. v--as
dra wing L. a close We may find Il difficult 20
believe that the idea Of getting On its back -
harnesSinE II did not occur u any tribe during
those uHnumbered centuries. BIt. as has 5=eI
said, with due caution. So II appears 70 he N
remains Of dcmestica,ed horses have been found
until bits made e st2gs horn and brcrzr
begin turn up. "a date which is assumed.
from other evidence. 10 he lWrt T. c or there
auOutS- There Is reason 10 think, however ts--5
mares already had been kept. i not tanned. f5-
some generations; probably they We're milk 4
and il So may h. sure thar the primeval saw
. age COntrivvd to get drunk kCumiS
From the distant euCch when the reiHlt e.
withdrew northW3rd, hoTsctiesh was the com
WcneSt food Cf man all over EUr1pe-yXCept.
perhaps. in these islands Bones are found in
vast quantity every mere. especially in France
and Sicily The most famous deposit of them Is
at Soutre. near Macon The people there lived
in or in rude huts about mouth and
they heaped up the bones of the horses they had
eaten until designedy q not, they made a wall
l3n feet long l0 feet high and L. feet thick. and
another inside which perhaps encircIed the
chiefs hut Ii has been roughly computed that
4n.NN carcasses are represented there. They
ali young, from one to six years of age, prOos
that the animals were not tanned for IL, that
case old ones would he found among then MANY
of the bones are smashed, suggesting that a
herd was surrounded and driven over prec;pice
"a method of hunting Usel by HOttentOts and
BuShmen IN former days. IL is easy OF course
10 build up skeletons complete from such a vast
collection of fragments. and they prove that the
horse OF that prehistoric be dis
tinsulShed from cur own in essentials. Certain
minute differences there bUt only a skilled
aaatomlSt can detect them after close scrutiny
We have, indeed. contemporary evidence Several
drawings have been found. executed by those
rem arkable barbdrianS who asserted the supreun-
acy Of France in ar; before the dawn of Cjyilt-
Zatlon Most spirited perhaps. of all these aston
lShins attempts Is representation Of two
horses scratched upon deer horn which wa
dug up in the cave 0f La Madeleine where prob
ahly. the naked artist dwelt. There - a natural
tendency To- eNaSSerate the merits Of "A work of
arr produced under SuCh circumstances But for
passed.