FOREIGN HORSES 17 



successful in getting them very much in its grip, and 

 now no Nejdean beheves in the purity of blood amongst 

 them, except in such families as Ibn Sbeyni, Ibn ed 

 Derri, the Debbe, Ibn Bodan, and some others, who keep 

 aloof both from wars and from the Turks. As to getting 

 anything direct from Nejd, it is very difficult, even if one can 

 hold direct communication. It is the getting across which 

 is so risky, first from the central plateau to somewhere near 

 the Persian Gulf, and then coming up by the Euphrates 

 and westward. Hundreds of camels come, but they are 

 afraid to bring valuable horses for the dangers of the way. 



" I cannot discover any ground for the statement, also 

 Skene's theory, of strains having certain particular 

 characteristics ; there is no distinction drawn between 

 them, as he imagined, and no Beduin would dream of 

 keeping them separately. As an example, the Abeyans 

 being supposed to be small. Queen of Sheba was just the 

 reverse. Nor is it true the Seglawi Jedran are not generally 

 handsome — they vary like every other strain." 



This testimony of Lady Anne Blunt is invaluable, for her 

 knowledge of the desert and its inhabitants, and especially 

 of the families of Arabian horses, is everywhere recognised 

 as the highest out of Arabia. Her acquaintance with them 

 is, moreover, at first hand, for not only has she sought them 

 in their own home, and has brought them from thence to 

 Crabbet Park and there raised a breeding stud renowned 

 hroughout the world, but at the death of Ali Pasha 

 Sherif she also practically purchased the whole remnant 

 of the magnificent stud, formed at vast expense by 

 Abbas Pacha I., Viceroy of Egypt, 1848-1854, and has 

 established them near Cairo, where she has a further 

 breeding establishment at the Sheykh Obeyd stud. 



Subject to the above criticism, to which the greatest 

 weight must be attached, the five families held to constitute 

 the Khamsa are usually arranged as follows : — 



El Khamsa 



1. Kehilan. 2. Seglawi. 3. Abeyan. 4. Hamdani. 5. Hadban. 



these being divided into many substrains. 



3 



