262 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



him with his English contemporary, it must be borne 

 in mind that an Arabian of absolutely pure breed is 

 an animal -which few European eyes have ever looked 

 upon. Of all the Oriental horses imported to England 

 in the eighteenth century, and upon which, in great 

 part, the English thoroughbred is founded, only one, 

 the famous Darley Arabian, procured by Mr. Darley 

 in the latter part of Queen Anne's reign, is known 

 to have been of pure lineage. It is probable that 

 no thoroughbred Arabian horse has yet reached our 

 shores, except Kismet, a stallion recently brought 

 over, who died a few hours after landing ; and per- 

 haps the only Eastern mare of that degree ever in 

 the United States is Naonii, a late importation from 

 England, to which country she was taken by Major 

 Upton. 



There are no wild horses in Arabia, although there 

 is a widespread belief to the contrary. This animal, 

 as an old writer explains, "can live only of man's 

 hand in the droughty Khdla." The pure-bred Arabian 

 horses are the possession, almost exclusively, of a 

 single great Bedouin clan, known as the Anazeh, and 

 of this clan a tribe called the Gomussa have the best. 

 Even among the Bedouins, apart from the Gomussa, 

 there are not many animals of the highest stamp. 

 " I doubt," says Mr. Blunt, " if there are two hundred 

 really first-class mares in the whole of Northern Ara- 

 bia. By this I, of course, do not mean first-class in 

 point of blood, for animals of the purest strains are 

 still fairly numerous, but first-class in quality and 

 appearance as well as blood." 



Across Central Arabia extends a vast territory 

 called the Nejd, composed of sandy deserts and rich 



