Introduction xix 



within our own times, it is confirmed 

 by the discoveries of Layard in his exca- 

 vations of Nineveh, capital of the ancient 

 Assyrian Empire, on the border land of 

 Arabia itself. He found bas-reliefs repre- 

 senting men armed with spears, mounted 

 on horses of typical Arab conformation 

 and size, hunting lions. It is a curious 

 fact that no horse but an Arab has ever 

 been found endowed with the courage to 

 face a lion, but that in our own day Arab 

 horses are frequently used in hunting the 

 king of beasts. 



The point of most vital interest to the 

 present discussion is Professor Osbom's 

 affirmative answer to his own first ques- 

 tion. He expresses no doubt when he 

 declares "the entire separateness of the 

 Arab breed, produced by nature before 

 domestication by man. " 



In this he is in entire accord with those 

 other eminent authorities, Sansan, the 

 Frenchman, and Ridgeway, the English 

 scientist. Incidentally, it is of interest 

 that the scientific data from which Pro- 



