in Barbary. We may connect with these ideas, that in our early periods of racing, 

 and even until of late, almost all the varieties of the southern horse have been in- 

 troduced into this country — Egyptian, Syrian, Persian, Turkish, Grecian, and from 

 such a medley of races has our famous English thoroughbred arisen. It is probable 

 that amongst our first coursers even the Tartar, Hungarian and Spanish breeds were 

 made use of, but our oldest pedigrees acknowledge no such crosses, although ex- 

 periments of that kind may have been since tried by individuals. In favor of the es- 

 tablished opinion, however, it may be urged that a few of the Arabians and Barbs 

 have evinced by their produce an immense superiority over the common herd im- 

 ported, and that the latter (Tartar, Hungarian and Spanish), in consequence are 

 at this time in very low estimation." 



We quote the following from the book, "The Arab, the Horse of the Future," 

 written by the Hon. Sir James Boucaut, K. C, M. G., Senior Puisne Judge of the 

 Supreme Court of South Australia, and heretofore three times Prime Minister 

 of that state. 



It is noteworthy that Mr. Boucaut is an English gentleman and is thoroughly 

 conversant in English horse affairs, and is a strong advocate of the proposition 

 of a new infusion or introduction of Arabian blood into the present English thor- 

 oughbred, which he believes is rapidly degenerating on account of the English 

 breeders having neglected to have made frequent fresh infusions of the parent 

 or Arabian blood during the last hundred years. Mr. Boucaut is strong of the 

 belief that a return to the Arabian horse in English thoroughbred breeding is 

 the only thing that will save that great breed from further degeneracy. 



We submit extracts from Judge Boucaut's book as follows: 



"The general consensus of opinion of an age is, of course, valuable, but wheth- 

 er so or not it is no good to breed the best for sale if most people think that the worst 

 are better. People generally breed what they can sell. But certainly before the 

 opinion of an era can be of value it ought to be founded on proper data and on con- 

 sideration of both sides of a question. 



"Supposing, however, that I am unduly interested in favor of the Arab, that 

 would not detract from the weight of the opinion of the many eminently neutral 

 men whom I shall cite. The small amount of interest which I have on the one side 

 is as nothing compared to the large amount of interest of the hundreds of breeders 

 of thoroughbreds on the other side, who not only will not hear a single word in dis- 

 paragement of the favorite, but will not hear a kind word said in favor of any 

 other man's favorite, and ridicule any attempt in that direction. 'The Thorough- 

 bred' is English. Is that not enough? The placid contemptuousness of the English- 

 man for everything foreign comes in at once to satisfy him without inquiry that, 

 as an Englishman is worth two Frenchmen any day, therefore no horse in the 

 world can possibly equal an English horse. 



"Even if I do not get rid of my stock — I do not complain — I may lose a few 

 hundreds which I can set off against the pleasure I have had in breeding them; but 

 if the breeders of thoroughbreds do not get rid of their surplus and useless stock, 

 great numbers of persons lose heavily. Who are interested in supporting their 

 side of the case? Not only the breeders themselves, but racing owners, trainers, 

 grooms, jockeys, stable-boys, bookmakers and sporting newspapers, not to mention 

 vets, the makers of racing gear, and the runners of the 'tote.' All these from habit 

 — they can't help it — are more or less constantly preaching sermons on the impec- 

 cability of the English thoroughbred. Indeed, there are at present but few men 

 in Australia, largely interested in horses, whose interests are not more or less bound 



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