we may justly doubt the accuracy of an account like this in an affair that must neces- 

 sarily be liable to accidental as well as wilful deviations; implicit credit is certainly 

 often given to less creditable reports. The Arabians are, above all nations, attached 

 to their horses, and the most scrupulous, both with regard to their pedigrees and their 

 care and precaution in breeding. The names, marks, colours, ages and qualifica- 

 tions of all the superior stallions and mares are generally known among the breeders 

 of that country, as among the breeders of race horses in this; but they carry their 

 scrupulosity and precaution far beyond us. On covering a mare, witnesses are called 

 who give a solemn certificate of the consummation, signed and sealed in the presence 

 of the Emir or of some magistrate. The names and pedigrees of the horse and 

 mare are set forth in this instrument. This ceremony is repeated when the foal is 

 dropped and a fresh certificate is signed, in which the day of birth is registered and 

 the foal particularly described. These vouchers, like the title deeds of an estate, 

 pass with the horse when sold, and in them consists a material part of his value. 

 The prejudice of these people concurring with their leading interest, we need en- 

 tertain the less suspicion of their fidelity, which is further confirmed by the testi- 

 mony of ages in their favour, by the apparent marks of purity and integrity in their 

 breed, and by the unrivaled excellence of those animals in which they deal and dis- 

 perse over so many countries. The Kehidischi, or second class of Arabian horses, 

 may be compared with the varieties of this country, which we call generally blood 

 horses, meaning such as indeed show blood, but the pedigrees of which are not perfect. 

 Thus the Kehidischi are not thoroughbred, but although perhaps, for the most part, 

 the produce of stallions of the first class, yet in their breed there may have been many 

 interventions of half bred or common bred mares. I have no doubt from various 

 examinations I have had the opportunity to make, that the far greater part of the 

 Arabian horses brought over to this country have been of this second class. The 

 Attichi, or third class, are the common run of the horses of the country, mixed, per- 

 haps, with a thousand adventitious crosses; and about the breeding or pedigrees 

 of which no extraordinary care has been taken. It would be a matter of curiosity, 

 indeed, could we ascertain why the horses of this particular district should have 

 preserved that character of superiority from the earliest ages. Was this superiority 

 proved at first from their performances and perpetuated in their descendants by 

 breeding in and in, or at least admitting no alien cross, on the principle that like 

 produces like? This is to assign to the ancient Arabian breeders a high proficiency 

 in the science which ourselves have but lately attained. It is, however, very nat- 

 ural for the proprietors of an exceUent race of animals or of excellent individuals, 

 to suppose that such excellence may be continued by propagation, and success or 

 even mere affection and habit would tend to perpetuate the practice, more especiaUy 

 in countries where established customs have a sort of religious force. To act hon- 

 estly by the inquisitive reader, it is necessary to tell the whole truth. It has been 

 the fashion for some three or four score years or more, for aught I can tell, for our 

 sporting people who have supposed themselves in the secret to talk of the horse of 

 the desert, or the mountain horse, whether Arab or Barb, as the only original source 

 of racing blood, aU other southern horses being of a secondary or spurious, at least 

 suspicious, breed. I willingly join issue with them, but whether from early imbibed 

 prejudice or from the weight of suflicient evidence I am scarcely able to determine. 

 We have, perhaps, no criterion of form by which to distinguish the mountain horse; 

 in fact, some which have been supposed such have had little to boast in that respect, 

 according to our received ideas. Nor can we very well trace the descent of these 

 favorites from those mountains or deserts in which it is taken for granted they 

 ought to originate. It has always been a question whether the celebrated staUion 

 called the Godolphin Arabian were really an Arabian or a Barb, but as far as I can 

 judge from his portrait by Stubbs, he has far more the appearance of a Barb; and 

 that he was really so there is a degree of probability from his having been procured 



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