146 THE ARAB THE HORSE OF THE FUTURE 



ceiving presents of Arab horses from the Bey ot 

 Tunis, and there are scores of other instances where 

 an Arab horse has been deemed worthy of being a 

 present to be received by one Sovereign from 

 another. Was I not justified in saying that it was 

 childish of my unknown friend, above referred to, to 

 say that there is neither speed, stamina, nor docility, 

 in the Arab horse ? 



Napoleon Bonaparte, in his ' Observations on 

 Egypt,' states that although discipline made i,ooo of 

 the French cavalry superior to 1,500 Mamelukes, 

 yet man for man the Mamelukes were the better 

 — ' two of them were able to make head against 

 three Frenchmen,' because they were better armed 

 and better mounted ; and Sir Edward Creasy says 

 that Napoleon is the best writer on the subject of 

 Egypt that a general or statesman can consult. 



The Mamelukes were probably Arabs, but were 

 certainly mounted on Arab horses, and Cook's 

 ' Guide to Egypt ' cites Warburton as stating that the 

 Mamelukes were the most superb cavalry in the 

 world. Major Upton says in effect the same with 

 regard to the present age : ' The real armour of the 

 Bedaween horsemen, offensive and defensive, is the 

 speed of his mare.' 



Polybius wrote that it was the superiority of 

 Hannibal's cavalry which gained him all his vic- 

 tories. That cavalry was Numidian — that is, Arab. 



' Thormanby,' in a book on ' The Horse and his 

 Rider,' whom I should by no means take to be an 



