6i8 ASIATIC AND NORTH AFRICAN HORSES. 



lover of horses, Ali Pasha Shereef, convinced me that very 

 few good Arabs go to Egypt, where, at that time, the average 

 price was about £22. " We do not know of an easier method 

 by which a European might see and buy Najdi horses prior 

 to export than by stationing himself from June to Sep- 

 tember in the well-oasis of Barjasia, a three days' journey 

 out of Kuwait. He would then be on the caravan route 

 which leads. from Najd to the sea coast " (Tweedie). The 

 port of Kuwait is about 150 miles south of Bussorah. 



Palgrave (Narrative of a Year's Journey Through Central 

 and Eastern Arabia), Skene {Sporting Review, March, 1864) 

 and others have insisted that there is '' blood and stride 

 in the desert which has never been seen out of it " {Skene). 

 " Not only do all the facts refute the argument that Arabia 

 contains better colts than those which she distributes, 

 but they go further. They show that every desert of 

 which we have any knowledge is so extensively stripped 

 of its best blood-horses, that not many likely colts of from 

 three to five years old remain in the hands of their breeders. 

 If England possesses too many stud-horses, Arabia retains 

 too few. One may visit a considerable encampment of 

 the Aeniza and see no unweaned colts, except a few re- 

 served ones, and those which the dealers will not buy. 

 The stock which these people always have with them 

 chiefly consists of well-tried mares, aged stallions, and the 

 rising fillies " (Tweedie). 



My friend, the late Esa bin Curtas, who was a large 

 importer of Arab horses into Bombay, always maintained 

 that the best Arabs did not, as a rule, exceed 14. i| to 14.2 

 in height. From an all-round point of view, this opinion 

 is undoubtedly correct, especially with regard to the true 

 Sons of the Desert, the Najdi Arabians. Another x^rab 

 friend of mine, Ali bin Abdullah, who owned, trained and 

 rode in India many Arabs to victory, likes them bigger, 

 but in this, he is probably influenced by his keen love 

 for racing. Although many Arabs which have been im- 

 ported into India have been 15 hands, I would put the 



