DETERIORATION IS FROM THE ARAB 95 



mounted d la gineta — that is, on the Hght jennet of 

 Andalusia, a cross of the Arabian.' These Eastern 

 horses are mostly spoken of as Arabian. The same 

 dictionary also gives the statement that the word 

 ' genet ' comes from the Berber tribe of Jeneta, who 

 supplied the Moorish Sultans of Grenada with a 

 body of horse on which they placed great reliance. 

 The Moorish Sultans did not value horses for the 

 mere power of half-mile sprinting, nor place great 

 reliance on them for that reason. They wanted 

 war-horses for long and severe wars. 



The 'New English Dictionary' has the same mean- 

 ing and derivation, with several examples, amongst 

 which : ' 1463, item for a genett that my mastyr lent 

 hym in the northe country.' 1674, Milton: 'The 

 Emperor rides in the field with all his nobility on 

 Jennets and Turkey horses.' Prescott : ' Ferdinand 

 Isabella royally attired rode on a Jennet.' Gold- 

 smith's ' Natural History ': ' Next to the Barb 

 travellers generally rank the Spanish Jenet,' which 

 was not unnatural if the travellers were men of 

 experience, because the jennet was almost a Barb 

 or Arab. We must therefore recognise that all 

 the best of the horse-flesh of England throughout 

 the entire history of England is admittedly Arab. 



