THE ARABIAN. 



11 



The WelUsly Jlrabian. 



A few wild horses are yet seen on some of the deserts of Arabia. They 

 are hunted by the Bedouins for their flesh, whicli is considered a delicacy, 

 if the animal be young ; and also to increase their stock of inferior horses, 

 which they often palm on the merchant as descended from the sacred 

 Dreed. They are said to be even swifter than the domesticated horse, and 

 are usually taken by traps hidden in the sand. Mr Bruce, however, doubts 

 whether any wild horses are now found in Arabia Deserta.* 



Although in the seventh century the Arabs had no horses of value, 

 yet the Cappadocian and other horses which they had derived from 

 tlieir neighbours, were preserved with so much care, and propagated 

 so uniformly and strictly from the finest of the breed, that in the thir- 

 teenth century the Arabian horse began to assume a just ana unrivalled 

 celebrity. 



There are said to be three breeds or varieties of the Arabian horses : the 

 Attexki, or inferior breed, on which they set little value, and which are 

 found wild on some parts of the deserts ; the Kadischi, literally horses of 

 an unknown race, answering to our half-bred horses — a mixed breed ; and 

 the Koch/ani, horses whose genealogy, according to the Arab account, is 

 known for two thousand years. Many of them have written and attested 

 pedigrees extending more than four hundred years, and, with true Eastern 

 exaggeration, traced by oral tradition from the stud of Solomon. A 

 more careful account is kept of these genealogies than belongs to the 

 most ancient family of the proudest Arab chief, and very singular pre- 

 cautions are taken to prevent the possibility of fraud, so far as the written 

 pedigree extends. 



The KochJani are principally reared by the Bedouin Arabs, in the 

 remoter deserts. A stallion may be procured without much difficulty, 

 although at a great price. A mare is rarely to be obtained, except by 

 fraud and excessive bribery. The Arabs have found out that which the 

 English breeder should never forget, that the female is more concerned 

 than the male in the excellence and value of the produce ; and the geneal- 

 ogies of their horses are always reckoned from the mothers. 



The Arabian horse would not be acknowledged by every judge to pos- 



* Brijce's Travels, vol. vi. p. 430 



