214 



THE ARABIAN RACE. 



Asia khd the northern half of Africa, as within its 

 limits, and refer to the local reports of the com- 

 parative qualities of the principal breeds, as they 

 are estimated to depend upon native countries. In 

 this view, the Nejed claims the noblest; Hedjas, 

 the handsomest ; Yemen, the most durable ; Syria, 

 the richest in colour; Mesopotamia, the gentlest; 

 Egypt, the swiftest; Barbary, the most prolific; 

 and Persia and Koordistan, the most warlike. We 

 have here at least the general claim of this ex- 

 tended geographical range for Arabian horses main- 

 tained as it was more anciently, when they were 

 called Persian or Egyptian. 



There is apparently some confusion in the accounts 

 of travellers in the collective denomination of Ko- 

 hayl and Kochlani given to horses by the Arabs, 

 the last mentioned being only a slight mutation of 

 one of the many names of the Kulan, w41d ass, or 

 rather the Ghurkhar, shows probably the origin of 

 the mistake about wild horses being found in Ara- 

 bia, and also the probability that the two animals 

 just mentioned are not considered to be identical by 

 the Arabs. 



The term Kohayl, or Kohelga, embraces col- 

 lectively the races denominated Attechi, not much 

 valued, and said to be occasionally feral ; next the 

 Kadeschi, or horses of improved blood ; and last, 

 the Kochlani, whose genealogy, is kept with rigor- 

 ous care ; their descent from high-bred studs being 

 capable of proof for many generations, and claiming, 

 in oriental grandiloquence, a lineal ancestry to the 



