'I'l ENGLAND S HORSES, 



tlie Emir is obliged to qualify it by admitting " that if all tbe 

 horses of Algeria are of Arabian blood many have fallen from 

 their nobleness" — thus, in fact, subverting his own theor3', 

 "that the Barb is an exotic imported into North Africa from 

 Arabia," and reducing it to some such proposition as this — ^viz,, 

 that the native race has been through many ages crossed, re- 

 freshed, and improved by horses coming from the East under 

 the general name of Arabs, the said horses being, to speak 

 strictly, not pure Arabs, but rather a multitude made up of a 

 dozen different species, coming from as many different districts. 



Not only General Daumas, but almost every one who has had 

 an opportunity of seeing both Barbs and Arabs, will be of opinion 

 that the races differ. A Barb has a striking resemblance to the 

 English thoroughbred horse, whereas nothing, as far as ap- 

 pearance goes, can be more dissimilar than the Arab. Their 

 action, too, is different. The Barb lays himself out, and gallops 

 like a thoroughbred. The gallop of an Arab is good for a short 

 spurt only, his natural pace being a long lunging trot, which he 

 is said to be able to keep up for hours — nay, days together, 

 under a hot sun, and with little or no food or water. In a race 

 of a moderate length he cannot hope to beat a good Barb, still 

 less an English racehorse, as has often been proved. I myself 

 have seen a Barb which won all the races of his day, and may 

 be said to have fairly " cleaned out the Mediterranean," that 

 stood at least 16.} hands, and was to look at very much such a 

 horse as Wolf Dog, who won the Chester Cup. Youatt also 

 confirms me in my opinion. "The Barb," says he, "is de- 

 cidedly superior to the Arabian in form, but has not his spirit, 

 or speed, or countenance. When the improvement of horses 

 began to be systematically pursued in Great Britain, the Barb 

 was very early introduced." After mentioning that the so- 

 called Godolphin Arabian was really a Barb, he says, " the 

 Barb alone excels the Arab in noble and spirited action." 



There now remains the Stud Booh, in the first volume of which 

 we find that the proportion of Barb mares therein mentioned as 

 founders of famihes is to Arabs as two and a half to one. This 



