Some Last Words 103 



Arab blood, and the supply of animals of 

 that kind is extremely limited. The 

 people possessing them, whether the 

 Bedouins or those who have bought 

 from them, have never had an over supply. 



A reason for this is perhaps to be found 

 in one statement of conditions for which 

 Mr. Wilfrid Blunt is authority namely: 

 that the pure Arab is not a prolific breed- 

 ing animal. He thinks one cause for this 

 may be his intense inbreeding. In- 

 breeding is the only way to secure fixity of 

 type in any form of animal life; but the 

 penalty carried with it is limitation of 

 the reproductive tendency. Mr. Blunt 

 informed one inquirer that if fifteen 

 mares out of twenty-five produced off- 

 spring each year at Crabbett Park, he 

 felt satisfied. 



The tendency of this condition of 

 affairs is to make the supply of pure 

 Arabs always short, and the price high. 

 A careful study of the lists presented to 

 the readers of this book, however, will 

 show that certain mares have been con- 



