FOREIGN BREEDS 201 



satisfied with him as he is, that very few of them have done anything to 

 improve him by selection. No attempts appear to have been made to 

 improve his speed, or action, by a series of inter-Arab crosses, the great 

 aim of his admirers having been to obtain the blood of certain families; 

 and having achieved this object, the majority of them seem to have been 

 content. It is true that the Arab has increased somewhat in stature, as 

 all breeds of horses do which receive the benefit of a residence in Eng- 

 land, the climate of which, to say nothing of the high feeding, undoubtedly 

 produces size; but in this respect the Arab has not been improved, in 

 the opinion of some authorities, though many persons possessing open 

 minds upon the subject entertain the belief that he might have been 

 made better than he is. 



Notwithstanding the above remarks, the writer does not desire it to be 

 imagined that he is to be included in the ranks of Arabphobes, but, on the 

 contrary, in the category of well-wishers of the breed. The Arab, in his 

 proper place, is beyond all doubt a most valuable and useful horse, which 

 is worthy of being appreciated far more highly than he is, and which has 

 not exactly received fair-play from his opponents, who, quite forgetting 

 what he has done for horseflesh in this country, have been disposed to 

 depreciate his merits because he has not been proved the possessor of all 

 the accomplishments claimed for him by over-zealous advocates. If only 

 on account of the antiquity of his lineage the Arab is entitled to respect, 

 for, although very few persons will be found to accept the theory that this 

 was the breed selected by Noah as " the best " to accompany him in the 

 ark, there is no doubt at all that this horse has been an inhabitant of 

 the desert for centuries, and that his Arab owners have guarded the pure 

 blood most jealously. It is true, of course, that no written records are 

 forthcoming to prove the authenticity of early Arab pedigrees, but it must 

 be remembered that in the East it is the custom to accept oral evidence, 

 and there is no reason whatever for disbelieving such pedigrees of im- 

 ported horses as have been carefully investigated and enquired into by 

 experienced persons on the spot. 



The Arab, according to all the authorities best qualified to judge, 

 is descended from five mares, namely, Keheilan, Seglawi, Abeyan, Ham- 

 dami, and Hadban. From these, other families have sprung, but the 

 blood of one or other of the above mares runs in the veins of every 

 animal which in the remotest degree can claim to be regarded as an 

 Arab. No doubt the families have occasionally been interbred, but this 

 circumstance would not affect the right of the offspring to be regarded as 

 a first-class pure Arab, and prized accordingly; and when such unions 

 have occurred, the foal has been included in the family of its dam; thus 



