THE ENGLISH RACE HORSE. 71 



more than a hundred years ago by Mr. Weatherby, the highest of 

 all English authorities, as the foundation stock from which the 

 English race horse was propagated. The uniform omission of 

 dates of importations, etc., discloses the fact that the compiler 

 had no accurate knowledge of the animals or their history, and 

 that he was dependent largely upon very uncertain traditions for 

 his information. It must not be understood that the animals in 

 this list were contemporaneous, or that the list embraces all the 

 foreign animals that were brought in, but only those that were 

 recognized as of value in founding the breed. 



To understand just what we have to consider, I will place here, 

 in juxtaposition to the above list, the remark of Admiral Kous, at 

 one time the great race-horse authority of England, which ex- 

 presses the popular opinion as to the origin of the race horse, 

 that is practically universally held in all lands. The admiral 

 says: "The British race horse is a pure Eastern exotic whose 

 pedigree may be traced two thousand years, the true son of 

 Arabia Deserta, without a drop of English blood." To reach 

 the approximate truth on the issue here made, and to puncture 

 this extravaganza is the work now before us. 



Numbers 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, were Turks, and to these we 

 may add Mr. Darley's horse, known as the Darley Arabian, num- 

 ber 13, for he was brought from Aleppo in Turkey, far removed 

 from Arabia, and famous for the great numbers and excellence of 

 its horses many centuries before Arabia had any horses. To carry 

 horses, for sale, from the deserts of Arabia, where they are 

 scarce, to the region of Aleppo, where they are very plenty, and 

 of the highest quality, would be simply "carrying coals to New- 

 castle." We may therefore safely conclude that the ten horses 

 here enumerated were Turks. 



Numbers 4, 7, 11, 12, 16, 20 were Barbs, as they are named in 

 the list. It is a surprise to me that these six horses should be 

 designated as "Barbs," for it has been the usage of many gener- 

 ations to call these horses "Arabians." As late as 1819 the Dey 

 of Algiers sent several Algerine horses as a present to the Prince 

 Regent of England, and they were always spoken of as "Arabians." 



Numbers 17, 18, 19, 21,22, 23, 24, 25 are all unsatisfactory as to 

 their origin. Number 17 Lord Godolphin's horse is wholly 

 unknown as to his blood elements, and further on his history will 

 be considered. Number 18 "was brought over," but from 

 whence nobody knows. Number 19 is in the same condition, and 



