THE HORSES OF ASIA AND AFRICA 533 



in the train of the Arabs who subsequently penetrated to the limits of 

 the known world. 



After the introduction of Islumism, new Mussulman invasions extended 

 the fame of Arab horses to Italy, to Spain, and even to France, where, 

 without doubt, they have left traces of their blood. But the event which 

 more than any other filled Africa with Arab horses was the invasion of 

 Sidi-Okl)a, and still later the successive invasions of the fifth and sixth 

 centuries after the Hegira. It was not until the days of Mohammed that 

 the important qualifications of the Arab were fully recognized. By the 

 Arabs tiie horse is considered to be a divine gift, and his protection and 

 kind usage to be a divine duty; blessings also are to attend those who 

 keep horses. " Whosoever keeps and trains a horse for the cause of 

 Allah is counted among those who give alms day and night; publicly or 

 in secret he shall have his reward. All his sins shall be forgiven and 

 never shall dishonour his heart." 



The iMohammedan conquests extended from the centre of Asia to the 

 western A'erge of Africa, and a great part of Spain was long held by the 

 Moors or the Arabs. In all the territories they acquired by the sword, 

 there the Arab horse always left his impression on native stock, or re- 

 mained in such regions to perpetuate, unsullied by admixture, the purity 

 of his race. In no country is this so observable as in Spain; for in this 

 country, when European nations possessed only very indifierent ec[uine 

 stock, Spain was celebrated for her splendid breed of horses. No doubt 

 these animals had been obtained from the Moors during their 800 years' 

 possession of Andalusia, during which j^ei'iod the Arab horse had con- 

 veyed his good Cjualities to the mares of the surrounding country. The 

 jennet, doubtless, is a descendant of these horses, but previously to the 

 occupation of Andalusia by the Saracens, two breeds of horses existed 

 in Spain; one, the ancient war-horse, which Gervase Markham and the 

 Duke of Newcastle considered in their days the best charger and most 

 accomplished menage horse, " an animal unrivalled in war and not to 

 be excelled in equestrian exercises" ; the other, the horse indigenous to 

 the country, used in ancient times as a beast of burden, to carry jDacks 

 like the mule, the descendants of this breed being still used in the same 

 capacity as their ancestors. Both these breeds had been improved by 

 intercour.se with the Arab horse during the domination of the Moors. 

 But previously to this date an improvement had been effected by the 

 introduction of Eastern blood, and when the Duke of Newcastle eulogized 

 the Spanish horse he praised not the native - bred horse, but a breed 

 which derived much of its excellence from relationship with the Arab. 

 Honian, a Nestorian physician at Bagdad, 850 a.u., brought out editions 



