Buffon's Natural History. Volume 05 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &cBuffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
History
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 05 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
Natural history
employing spurs. Numbers of them are transported into Turkey, but more
to the Indies. Those travellers who are so lavish in their praises of
the Persian horses agree in allowing that the Arabians are superior for
their agility, courage, strength, and beauty; and that they are more
valued, even in Persia, than the horses of that country.
The horses bred in the country are not good. Those used by the grandees
of the country are imported from Persia and Arabia. They give them a
little hay in the day, and in the evening pease boiled with butter and
sugar, instead of oats or barley; this nourishment strengthens and
gives them spirits; without it they would soon decay, the climate being
contrary to their nature. The native horses of India are very small;
some of them are so little that, Tavernier says, the young Prince of
the Moguls, who was about eight years of age, rode on a handsome little
horse, whose height did not exceed that of a large greyhound. It should
seem that extreme hot climates are contrary to the nature of horses.
Those of the Gold Coast, Juida, Guinea, &c. are also very bad. They
carry their heads and necks very low; their walk is so tottering, that
one would imagine they were always ready to fall; they would never stir
if they were not to be continually beat, and the greatest part of
them are so low that the feet of the riders almost touch the ground;
they are most untractable creatures, and only fit to be eaten by the
Negroes, who are as fond of their flesh as they are of that of dogs.
This taste for horse-flesh is common to the Negroes, Arabians, Tartars,
and Chinese. The Chinese horses are no better than those of India, they
are weak, spiritless, ill-made, and very small; those of Corea are not
more than three feet in height. In China almost all the horses are made
geldings; and they are so timid that they cannot be made use of in
war; so that it may with propriety be said that the Tartarian horses
conquered China. Those horses are very fit for war, though commonly but
of a moderate size, they are strong, vigorous, spirited, agile, and
very swift. Their hoofs are hard, but the bottom is too narrow; their
heads are small, their necks long and confined, and their legs are too
long; with all these defects they may be considered as good horses, for
they are not easily tired, and gallop extremely fast. The Tartars live
with their horses in the same manner as the Arabians. When about seven
or eight months old they are mounted by children, who make them walk
or gallop a little way by turns. They thus break them by degrees, and
oblige them to undergo long fastings; but they never mount them for
travelling or hunting till they are six or seven years old, and then
they make them support incredible fatigue, such as travelling two or
three days together without stopping; passing four or five days without
any other food than a handful of grass every eight hours, and also to
go twenty-four without drinking, &c.
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