[Sidenote: The human influence]
We have now reached a stage of the argument which shows for Europe no
continental type like the Bay or the Dun, but a horse stock of varied
colouring, of diverse heights and {46} builds, and most curious
dispersions as native to the green pastures of Cloudland.
[Sidenote: Shuffling of the horse pack]
The problem in nature was intricate as a jigsaw puzzle, before man's
interference broke that puzzle into little pieces. Our ancestors
were not such fools as to import Duns from Asia for purpose of
breeding, but in their wars and migrations drifted Asiatic Duns and
South Russian white horses across the face of Europe. No wars of
invasion brought Bay horses out of Africa; but as each tribe needed a
better strain of horseflesh, the Bays were carried in the courses of
trade to Europe.
THE HUMAN INFLUENCE IN CROSSING HORSE STRAINS.
[Sidenote: Scale of colour values]
THE CHESTNUT. This colour is possibly bright Bay from African blood
crossed with a slight proportion of golden Dun. Both in the humans
and the horses, chestnut hair goes with a certain temper described as
sanguine, generous or fiery if we happen to be in a good temper, or
untrustworthy and vicious if we dislike the person. Setting aside
the cold sorrel, or light chestnut, which in my own mind is
associated with commonplace horses and with one or two very bad
women, the real chestnut, with its red-gold glory, makes most of us
catch our breath with its beauty. In human {47} hair it so appeals
to artists as to be generally reserved for the most sacred
portraiture. In horses, it so appeals to horsemen as to rank next
bright Bay in the scale of values.
THE BROWN HORSE. This is a colder, washed-out tone of Bay.
THE BLACK HORSE. Among feral and range horses, those of the very
darkest bay and brown become brown-black under the summer sunlight.
True black is unknown among outdoor horses, and can only be due to
special selective breeding.
THE GREY HORSE. All greys are obviously crossed between white and
the various whole colours.
The primary horse colours are Dun and Bay.
The secondary colours are white, black, grey, chestnut, and brown,
whole colours shared by human and horse folk.
The tertiary colours are crosses of white with Bay, Dun, black,
chestnut, brown, which produce the various roans. Beyond that the
human hair withdraws from competition.
The quarternary colours are crosses of white with whole roans,
producing strawberry and cream roans, and roan-balds; while a
peculiar mixture of white with black, bay or chestnut, gives us the
piebalds and skewbalds.
{48}
The white horse has been saved from the wolves by man, but the
secondary, tertiary and quarternary colours are also very largely the
result of man's work in crossing the primitive strains of Europe with
the imported African Bay within the last couple of thousand years.
MIGRATION. The Romans imported millions of negro slaves who have not
left a trace of their blood in Europe. Wave after wave of Blonde
Migration from the Baltic has conquered the Mediterranean states, but
left no fair descendants. The negroes become extinct in Europe. The
blondes become extinct on the Mediterranean.
[Sidenote: Correcting by sunlight]
And so with horses. Imported horses fail to breed healthfully in the
damp provinces of India and Brazil, while horse sickness makes a
clean sweep of them in many parts of Africa. It is probable, with
horses as with men, that no sudden importation to regions outside
their native zone of sunlight results in permanent healthy breeding.
The imported strain dies out unless it is constantly renewed. Hordes
of Asiatics with Dun horses have swept from time to time into Europe,
and into India, but Dun horses are scarce in both regions, and do not
exist in large numbers except in Scandinavia and in Katywar.
{49}
So the strong action of man in sudden floodings of Europe with Bays
from the desert, Duns from the steppe, is outweighed by a stronger
law of nature. With strains of horses as with tribes of man, the
penalty for sudden migration from their native zone of light is
gradual extinction.
Yet is there one difference between Bays and Duns. The Dun is not
worth renewing, and so dies out unnoticed. The Bay is worth breeding
and so persists.