20 THE HORSE IN AMERICA 



was not of any importance for they had not been 

 taken into Arabia from Armenia until the third 

 century. A century or so made little difference to a 

 man like Wallace, who unwittingly gave to these 

 horses two centuries more of record than history 

 really accounts for. But whether the Nejdee Arabs 

 were indigenous or brought into the land by Ish- 

 mael, or sent by Solomon, or taken there by the 

 Armenians, it is certain that they were there a 

 hundred years before Mohammed became a 

 prophet, and in characteristics of size, temper 

 and performance they were the same that we find 

 to-day. So that gives us a long record of fifteen 

 centuries during which we know that the greatest 

 care has been taken to keep them pure in blood 

 and to train them to the work for which they were 

 required. 



The tradition as to the Berber horse of Bar- 

 bary is much simpler, as these robber tribes have 

 not developed poets or historians, and content 

 themselves with saying that the horses have al- 

 ways been there. And so far as we are concerned 

 that statement is as satisfactory as any other. But 

 we do know that supplies of these horses were ob- 



