The identification of the Nesaean horse with the great war-horse of Parthia (see p. 78, n. 1) can perhaps also be found from the Chinese side, in Ssu-ma Ch'ien's story, already mentioned, of how in 101 B.C. the Emperor Wu-ti got horses from Ferghana (Hirth, pp. 109 sqq.). There were two breeds in Gerghana, corresponding to the two types in Parthia; the horses which Wu-ti coveted, and which were “much stronger” than the Wusun horses, were the superior breed, and Hirth suggests (p. 141) that this must mean that the better breed had been imported from elsewhere; this can only mean Parthia. Now long ago T. de Lacouperie (Western Origin of Chinese Civilisation, pp. 220 sq.) transliterated the name of the capital city of Ferghana, which the Chinese attacked, as Nise, and suggested that the horses were Nisaean. This found little acceptance, and several other transliterations have been proposed (I noticed some, J.H.S. 1902, p. 281); but Hirth, who has always read the name Ir-shi, after a long discussion (pp. 141—2) now considers Nish a possible ancient equivalent of Ir-shi and inclines to agree with de Lacouperie in connecting Nish with the home of the Nisaean horses; he suggests that the word had come to be a technical term which was applied wherever good horses were bred.