THE ARAB STOCK 151 



themselves ? Are they, in fact, the product and 

 result of special selection and breeding, like the 

 modern thoroughbred, or have they existed in 

 practically their present form since the natural 

 evolution of the horse tribe was completed ? 



To this question, which is by far the most impor- 

 tant and far-reaching one connected with the history 

 of the horse tribe, there is, unfortunately, no possi- 

 bility of giving a decisive and indisputable answer. 

 Consequently, extreme divergence of opinion, both 

 on this point and in regard to the original place 

 of origin of the Arab-Barb type, prevails among 

 those who have studied and written on the subject. 



Colonel Hamilton Smith ^ seems to have 

 adopted the view that the Arab is the product of 

 breeding and selection, since he refers to it as the 

 most artificial and the first of high-bred horses ; 

 and he is followed in this view by General W. 

 Tweedie,^ who remarks that " if special and exclusive 

 breeding directed to a certain object explains our 

 English race-horse, there is no need to go further 

 for the secret of the Arab's foray-mare." No explana- 

 tion is, however, given as to the stock from which the 

 Arab horse was developed by selection, although 

 it is pointed out that there is no evidence that 

 Persia was the original home. Moreover, there is 

 the difficulty that, in the first place Arabs are 



^ Naturalist^ s Library, Horses, 2nd ed. p. 210. 

 * The Arabian Horse, London, 1894, pp. 74, 241. 



