BRITISH TURF. 47 



Such is the country justly renowned for ages 

 for the swiftness, patience of fatigue, spirit, and 

 dociUty of temper, of its breed of horses. We 

 have before observed that Arabia cannot lay 

 claim to the honour of having been the original 

 nursery of the horse, nor is it known at what 

 period, or from whence, it obtained this useful 

 animal. Even so late as the seventh century of 

 the christian era, so far was Arabia from 

 abounding in horses, that the historian who re- 

 lates the attack of the prophet Mahomet upon 

 the Koreish, near Mecca, mentions only two as 

 following in his train; and although in the 

 plunder of this cruel and exterminating expedi- 

 tion, he carried with him on his return 24,000 

 camels, 40,000 sheep, and much silver, horses 

 do not appear to have formed a portion of the 

 spoil. Among the numerous memorable acts of 

 Mahomet, certainly not the least worthy of at- 

 tention may be said to be the formation of those 

 breeding studs, which we firmly beheve laid the 

 real foundation of the perfection of the Arabian 

 horse. 



The following interesting tradition of the ori- 

 gin of the Kochlani, or Kailhan, or noble race 

 of horses, whose genealogy, with true Eastern 

 exaggeration, has sometimes even been traced 

 to the stud of Solomon, is from a German work 

 on Arabia. The author relates that the Arabian 



