38 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



blows loaded with sand, and the fate of the poor 

 Engflish mare is not to be wondered at. I lost in 

 the same way a favourite greyhound in Arabia, in 

 August 1850, which died of disease of the heart, 

 after a few days' illness, the result of a distressing 

 run after a gazelle, near the "Ayoun Mousa," or 

 Well of Moses, on the Gulf of Suez. Poor Spring ! 

 Peace to his manes ; he was buried at Jeddah with 

 naval honours, to the horror of its Moslem inhabi- 

 tants. However, all these trials bear upon the point 

 of my letter of last week. Let us be particular in 

 breeding from sound and stout animals. 



'Cosmopolite.' 



^n English horse that had seen some service in 

 a hot climate like India would perhaps be the best to 

 pit against the Arab. Our troops in India get most 

 of their horses from Australia or the Cape of Good 

 Hope, but there are some Arabs and some of other 

 breeds. A great authority on horses says : 



' The best horses met with in India are, most of 

 them, it is said, derived direct from Persia, though 

 of Arabian origin. It is remarkable that these are 

 also in most cases vicious and intractable, except to 

 their known attendants, to whom, notwithstanding, 

 they yield an obedience the very reverse of the savage 

 nature they display to others. A general officer of 

 the E-oyal Artillery related an anecdote of an Arabian 

 for which he had- given a large sum during his mili- 



