STUD BOOK. 37 



than five hundred years, with the succession distinctly traced. 

 In the case of these horses, it is necessary for the chiefs to 

 attest the coition of the animals, and also to certify the birth 

 of the foal If either of these prescribed formalities havo 

 not been attended to, the colt, however, good his points, has 

 lost caste, and will never bring a good price, or be consid- 

 ered of "value, however fine may be his action. 



THE ABYSSINIAN HOUSE. 



Upper Egypt produces horses of much larger stature than 

 the Arab or rather we should have said Abyssinia, for the 

 original stock is from the deserts of the latter country. They 

 possess great speed, and can endure almost any amount of 

 fatigue, the universal characteristic of the Oriental horse. 

 Some of these have been imported into England, but do not 

 seem to have answered the expectations of their importers, 

 and for the usual reason stallions were imported instead of 

 mares. 



"What figure," says Bruce, "these horses would make in 

 point of fleetness, is very doubtful, their make being so 

 entirely different from that of the Arabian; but if beautiful 

 and symmetrical parts, 'large size, strength, and most agile, 

 nervous, and elastic movements, great endurance of fatigue,, 

 docility of temper, and seeming attachment to man beyond 

 any other domestic animal, can promise anything, these 

 horses are, above all comparison, the most eligible in the 

 world." 



THH! BAKB. 



Is not properly an Arab horse, but a race nearly allied. 

 They are supposed to have been produced by a cross with 

 Algerine horses, these being a cross with a south European 

 breed and the Arab. They are often larger than the Arab, 

 with fine heads and crests, well formed about the shoulder, 

 with straight backs, drooping considerably towards the 

 haunches. They are remarkably swift. 



These horses are seldom kept in stables, but are pick- 

 eted to the ground. They are watered and fed only once a 

 day, the former at one o'clock, and the latter at sunset. The 

 mode of cleaning the horse is to plunge him in a river two 

 or three times a week, and allow him to dry without being 

 rubbed down. 



The superiority of some of these horses has been proved 

 in England; the Godolphin Arabian, as already stated, was 



