Early History of Arab Horses 41 



Major Upton and Lady Anne Blunt have 

 taught the world that these are not fami- 

 lies of horses at all. Nejd is the name of 

 a great district in the lower end of Arabia, 

 for centuries under the absolute control 

 of the Anazah tribes — Gomussa, Sebaa, 

 Raola, Welled Ali, Fedaan, etc. — though 

 not now in their possession. As these 

 tribes have none but the purest strains of 

 horses, animals whose blood has been 

 kept untainted for a known period of 

 3,500 years, the Nedjid horses (as Ameri- 

 cans would speak of Kentucky or State 

 of Maine horses) were highly esteemed by 

 those fortunate enough to possess them. 

 The word Kochlani is derived from 

 Kuhl, antimony. Lady Anne Blunt tells 

 us that Arab women apply antimony to 

 their eyebrows and eyelashes to increase 

 the brilliancy of their eyes, antimony 

 being black. Therefore, as all Arab 

 horses are supposed to have black rings 

 about their eyes, such are called Koch- 

 lani. Among the Anazah, Major Upton 

 found the words Keheilan and Keheilet 



