DETERIORATION IS FROM THE ARAB 87 



Of course, that again opens up the question of 

 Arab versus Barb. My reading induces me to 

 think that they were the same breed, Arab, only 

 differentiated by locality ; but, whether I am right 

 or wrong in that, they both were Eastern horses, of 

 allied breeds, and seem to have been both spoken of 

 by that description, and both were famous. I am 

 satisfied to adopt the view of those who assert that 

 it is really the same breed. If there be any differ- 

 ence, all history except that of Abd-el-Kader places 

 the Arab as the better, as will presently appear ; 

 and if one read carefully all that Abd-el-Kader says, 

 it would rather seem that he was inclined to the 

 same opinion. The reader will therefore please 

 kindly remember that, when I speak of the Eastern 

 horse, I do not do so to differentiate him from the 

 Arab. 



It is therefore absurd to suppose, as many 

 do, that the thoroughbred is indebted to only 

 some two or three or half-dozen Arabs for his 

 Eastern blood, by way of lucky accident as it 

 were, when, in fact, he is almost entirely Arab, 

 and the only pure blood that he has got in him is 

 Arab. 



Mr. De Vere Hunt further corroborates the state- 

 ment that at the time of the Restoration Charles II. 

 sent his Master of the Horse with a strong 

 commission to the Levant to purchase stallions 

 and mares, that Barbs and Turkish horses became 

 frequent, that there were numerous imports to 



