TUE MODERN ARAB. 19 
ARABIA is, in great measure, made up of rocky mountains and sandy 
deserts ; but in Arabia Felix there are numerous valleys of remarkable 
fertility ; though it is chiefly on the limited oasis surrounding each well or 
spring oi water that the Arab horses are dependent for their food. It is 
found even in this country that a very luxuriant herbage does not suit the 
horse, whose frame becomes coarse and heavy if he is reared upon the 
succulent grasses of rich meadows, and therefore it is probable that much 
of the wiryness of leg and lightness of frame in the Arab is due to the 
sandy soil in which the grasses of these oases take their roots. Besides 
this, the dry air may have something to do with the development of 
muscle and tendon, while the soft sands of the desert render it unneces- 
sary to protect the feet with iron sroes, and thus they are enabled to grow 
into the form which nature has desigued for them as the most suital ile to 
bear the superincumbent weight. 
Sat = er 
OPV TLL Paar 
“ CHABAN, AN ARAB STALLION. 
Pure ARABS are oy smaller than our modern thoroughbreds,. 
seldom exceeding 14 hands 2 inches in height. The head is remarkable 
for the width across the forehead, which is also full and square, while the 
muzzle is finer, the face more hollowed out, and the jaws more fully 
developed in their proportions than in any other breed with which we 
are acquainted. ‘The eye is full and soft, yet sparkling with animation 
on the slightest excitement; the ear is small; the neck arched; the 
shoulders oblique, but muscular ; the withers moderately high and thin ; 
the chest rather light in girth, but the back ribs deep in proportion, and 
the hips, though narrow, well united to the back by a rounded mass of 
powerful muscles. The croup is high, and the tail set on with a con- 
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