HORSE ANCESTORS.--To find the origin of the horse, one must trace back to the Sixth Day of the Creation, a period known to science as the Dawn of Times Present. The lands and seas were not arranged as in our maps, for there was a Continent on the site of the North Atlantic, and broad seas rolled over the areas now filled by Europe and North America. The climate, too, was different, for except along the Equator, the skies were rarely clear, but very cloudy, with enormous rains. The air was that of a hot-house, and, even at the poles, trees such as the magnolia slept through the winter night, and flowered in the warmth of the summer day. Except to leeward of big continents and mountains the lands of the whole earth were a continuous forest. [Sidenote: The forest ages] That was the closing phase of the long Age of Dragons. The principal beasts of the sea, the land and the air were reptiles who laid and hatched eggs instead of giving birth to living children. Few of them were so large as the elephants and whales of our own time, the greatest were already extinct, but still there were enough uncouth and monstrous {3} beasts to make life exciting for the creatures on which they fed. [Sidenote: Longtails] Hidden away in the forest there were little animals, of reptile descent indeed, but quite free from family pride. These converted reptiles were filled with the first divine quality which ever appeared in the world, that mother-love which suckles the young at the breast. We will call them the Longtails. We humans often feel that there is not enough food to go round. We find it hard to make both ends meet. We have to defend ourselves or run from our enemies. So it was with the Longtails, who were always hungry, hard up, and bound to fight or run. To put it roughly, some tribes of the Longtails took to hunting, and became the ancestors of all beasts of prey, some took to the trees as a refuge and feeding place, and so became the ancestors of apes and men. But our business is with those who took to a vegetarian diet and a habit of hiding or running. These stood on tip toe looking out for danger, or ran to escape being eaten. For such purposes the five-toed foot of the ancestral reptile, most useful on soft ground, became somewhat clumsy and awkward. For running they were better off {4} without a widely splayed foot, so with the passing of many generations their needless inner and outer toes shrank up the leg, became useless, and finally withered away, until no trace remained. Here came the parting of the vegetarian running animals into two big families. One family ran on the middle pair of toes, thus becoming the ancestors of the cloven-hoofed pig, deer, antelope, sheep, and ox. The other family ran upon the middle or third toe, and became the ancestors of the rhinoceros, the tapir, and the horse. [Sidenote: Horse ancestors]