I30 THE ARAB THE HORSE OF THE FUTURE 



Boer ponies, who says that, ' as most of them are 

 descendants of Arab stock, they are unrivalled for 

 hard usage'; and ' Bruni ' writes (September 6, 

 1903) that ' Boer ponies are said to be half-bred 

 Arabs.' 



These newspapers might have been more positive 

 as to the Arab blood in these celebrated ponies, for 

 Professor Wallace of Edinburgh, in his book on * The 

 Farming Industries of South Africa,' published 1896, 

 after his official visit on the invitation of the Cape 

 Government to report upon and advise as to those 

 industries, shows that these wonderful South African 

 horses are for the most part of Arab blood. He 

 states that the first horses at the Cape were im- 

 ported, soon after 1650, by the Dutch East India 

 Company, and consisted of Arabs and Gulf Arabs. 

 Note that he distinguishes between Arabs of the 

 pure breed, like Mr. Wilfrid Blunt's, and the inferior 

 breeds of the Gulf, such as are occasionally palmed 

 off on India. Then he continues that, when in- 

 breeding led to deterioration, the same company 

 introduced Persian Arabs about 1688, that these 

 became crossed with other stock, including Spanish 

 horses (which, as I have shown, have a good sprink- 

 ling of Barb blood), and that recently the breed has 

 been improved by crossing with Arab stallions. 



On October 11, 1902, ' Bruni ' writes : 'Since I 

 wrote on the Arab as a sire, I have received several 

 letters from horsemen in widely different parts of 

 Australia, bearing testimony to the value of the 



