400 EFFECTS OF CLIMATE AND SOIL ON CONFORMATION. 



information gained from that great lover and owner of 

 horses, the late Ali Pasha Shereef, I find that horses bred in 

 Egypt from pure Arab sires and dams, lose a great deal of 

 their i\rab type, by becoming long-legged and weedy. In 

 the still damper and hotter climates of Lower Bengal and 

 those of the low-lying coasts of Southern Arabia, India, 

 and Burma, for instance, horse-breeding is impossible from 

 a practical point of view, because the stock produced is 

 absolutely worthless. The ill success of the Indian Stud 

 Department, to which I have alluded in the preceding 

 pages, was particularly well emphasised by the fruitless 

 attempt to breed remounts in Lower Bengal. Although 

 the Punjab is much warmer during the '' hot weather " 

 than Lower Bengal, it produces many good remounts for 

 the Bengal Cavalry, because its climate is particularly 

 dry, and its soil is plentifully supplied with lime (in the 

 form of kunkur), which is a subject that will be discussed 

 on page 404 et seq. Horses for the Native Cavalry do 

 not require to be such great weight - carriers as the 

 remounts in the English Cavalry. In the Land of the 

 Five Rivers, 115° F. in the shade is not an unusual 

 temperature. Excellent horses are produced in the dry 

 parts of the southern portion of Queensland, which is 

 comparatively hot, but I am informed that even fairly 

 useful horses cannot be raised near the coast. I also 

 learn that it is impossible to breed such animals in the hot 

 and damp climate of Sierra Leone. 



In temperate climates, excess of atmospheric moisture 

 has little or no bad effect on the conformation of horses, 

 as we see in Ireland, which is an admirable horse-breeding 

 centre, although its climate is particularly damp, owing 

 to the proximity of the Gulf Stream. A damp condition 

 of the atmosphere in temperate and cold climates has a 

 well-marked influence in producing " roaring " (laryngeal 

 paralysis), which is a disease that is very seldom met with in 

 dry climates, or in hot climates, even when they are damp. 



