As a natural result of all this, the demand for oats has recently fallen by more than twenty per cent. The Board of Agriculture believes that the retention of colts is all that matters, while the Royal Commission, to judge from their annual report, apparently labour under the mistaken impression that the supply of thoroughbred sires must solve the difficulty of keeping up the supply of horses. Without in the least wishing to be pessimistic, therefore, one must look facts in the face, and, looking them in the face, one cannot do otherwise than admit regretfully enough that the long and glorious career of the horse in its direct and indirect bearing upon the development of the world and the progress of civilisation has at last come somewhat abruptly to a close. INDEX Aahmes I., 2 Acheans, the, 15-17, 20, 72 Achilles, 12, 15, 49, 99 Acropolis of Mycenæ, the, 6 Admiral Guarinos and “Trebizond,” 93 Æthe, 9 Agamemnon's mare, 9 Ailments of horses, 146, 213, 214, 221 Alcibiades, 25 Alexander the Great, 54-61 Aligero Clavileno, 133 America, cruelty unknown in, 105; introduction of thoroughbreds in, 287 Arab horses, a royal gift, 76; arrival of Markham Arabian, 203, 204; commencement of fame, 77; dams, 100; in the sixth century, 82; size of, 244; stallions, 76, 203, 264; unimportant before time of Mahomet, 87 Arabs, the, 48, 281 Archangel Gabriel, the horse of the, 87 Armenia, 31 Armour, 44, 112, 134, 140, 225, 234 Ascot, 270 Asia Minor, 14, 17 Assyrians, 9, 19-20 Athenians, the, 24, 46, 51 Automobiles, 183, 238, 285 Babylon, horses of, 4 “Balassiren,” the, 289 Barb horses, 178, 183, 184, 230, 243, 244 Barbary horse, the, 181, 216 Barrows in Scotland, 91 Bayard, the Chevalier, 134; his horsemanship, 135; mistaken for mythological horse “Bayard,” 136; his horse Carmen, 135 Bayeux tapestry, the, 108, 110 Bedouins, the, 286, 287 Belgian government, the, 293 Belisarius, the white-faced horse of, 84 Bells as race prizes, 177, 205, 208, 245 Bells of St Paul's melted down, 163 Bevis of Southampton and “Arundel,” 194 Bit, the, 18, 19, 201; discovered at Athens, 40; flexible, 18, 40; found in tombs, 91; not used by Bedouins, 286; of the Greeks, 51; Xenophon's advice on, 45 Black or “great” horse, 233 Black Prince, the, 125 “Black Saladin,” 136 “Blair Atholl,” 288 Bleeding horses, 221 “Blue Gown,” 288 Boadicea, 76, 77 Board of Agriculture, 293 Bogdo of Mongolia, the, 291 Books on horses and hunting, 124, 139, 204, 206, 271 Brazen steed of Cambuscan, the, 132