230 THE DONGOLA RACE. 



not grey, and never dappled. Stallions only are 

 ridden, and they are fed with dourra (Holcus durra, 

 Lin.), which is very nutritious, and with roots well 

 washed and dried before they are offered as fodder. 

 They feed and drink saddled and bridled, with a 

 kind of snaffle, and they are secured by means of a 

 cotton rope attached to the fore-foot. 



Mr. Hoskins the most recent traveller who de- 

 scribes this race, says that the black are the finest : 

 they have all white legs, sometimes the white ex- 

 tends over the thighs, and occasionally over the 

 belly ; they are not light, slender horses, but more 

 remarkable for their strength ; but they have all 

 rather upright pasterns. They are now rare even in 

 Ethiopia, where they fetch from ,50 to 150 ster- 

 ling. From these details it might be surmised that 

 they descend from the Tahtar Katschentzi race we 

 shall notice in the sequel. From their speed, size, 

 and durability, they constitute excellent war horses : 

 one of them was sold at Cairo, in 1816, for a sum 

 equivalent to 1000 sterling; several have since 

 been imported into Europe, where they do not ap- 

 pear to have obtained great consideration, because 

 they are not so fleet as Arabs, and consequently 

 unable to compete with English racers, but they 

 might be used to great advantage in forming a 

 superior breed of cavalry horses by crossing with 

 three-part bred mares. * 



In Abyssinia the horses are of the Arabian stock, 



* The specimen figured, Plate X.*, represents one that car- 

 ried Osman, a Mameluke, from the Nile across the desert to 

 Tunis ; a feat perhaps never before accomplished. 



