HORSES OF ANCIENT ARABIA 189 



could they have done with Flanders mares or ' big 

 hungry ' and ' weedy ' thoroughbreds ? 



The Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings, who invaded 

 and conquered Egypt about 2,000 years before 

 Christ, had horses. They were Arabs, or partly 

 Arabs, and their portraits on the tombs and 

 temples, apart from history, prove that they were 

 so, and show the distinguishing dress and the 

 distinguishing features of Arabs of the present day. 

 The ' Encyclopaedia Britannica' says that it was these 

 Hyksos who introduced horses into Egypt. They 

 could not have introduced horses into Egypt unless 

 they had them. 



Mr. Winwood Reade, in his before-mentioned 

 book, written after two years' travel in Africa, 

 expressly studied the question, and after consulting 

 a mass of authorities, says that the Hyksos were 

 Bedouins of the Arabian Peninsula, and that their 

 conquest of Egypt was owing to the fright of the 

 Egyptians at their horses, for the Egyptians had 

 never seen a horse before. And he calls them 

 Arabs. The Egyptians uprose, and ' the Arabs 

 were driven back.' 



The Rev. W. J. Dean, in ' Abraham and his 

 Times,' says that the word ' Hyksos' means Bedouins, 

 and that they were of Semitic origin from Canaan 

 and Arabia ; and one of, I believe, the most recent 

 authorities. Professor Reinisch, says that the original 

 stock of the Abyssinians came from the Sabeans from 

 South Africa, and Lady Anne Blunt maintains that, 



