Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 167 



time of the first Arabian conquest, in the seventh and eighth 

 centuries of our era, they had not yet become distinguished 

 from the general stock. The Emir (Abdul Kadir), however, 

 does not doubt of their extreme antiquity, and I think it is 

 certain that the Keheilans must have been contemporary with 

 Mahomet ; for a breed called Koklani exists in Persia, and 

 we may fairly suppose it to have been brought there by the 

 early Arabian invaders. It has not, however, been kept pure 

 in Persia." I hope presently to make it probable that at least 

 one of the strains goes back to the da^'S before the Prophet. 



In modern times Carsten Niebuhr^ (not to be confounded 

 with his son B. G. Niebuhr the illustrious historian) seems to be 

 the first who refers to the various strains of the Keheilan race, 

 denominated by him as Kochlcmi, and which are contrasted by 

 him with the Radishes, or town horses of the peninsula. " The 

 Kochlani," he says, " are reserved for riding solely. They are 

 said to derive their origin from King Solomon's stud. How- 

 ever this may be they are fit to bear the greatest fatigues 



The Kochlani are neither large nor handsome, but amazingly 

 swift ; it is not for their figure, but for their velocity and other 

 good qualities that Arabians esteem them. 



" The Kochlani are chiefly bred by the Bedouins settled 

 between Basra, Merdin, and Syria, in which countries the 

 nobility never choose to ride horses of any other race. The 

 whole race is divided into several families, each of which 

 has its proper name ; that of Dsjulfa seems to be the most 

 numerous. Some of these families have a higher reputation 

 than others, on account of their more ancient and uncontami- 

 nated nobility. Although it is known by experience that 

 the Kochlani are often inferior to the Kadischi, yet the mares 

 at least of the former are always preferred in the hopes of 

 a fine progeny. The Arabians have indeed no tables of 

 genealogy to prove the descent of their Kochlani ; yet they 

 are sure of the legitimacy of the progeny ; for a mare of this 



1 "Description de I'Arabie d'apres les observations et recherches faites dans 

 le pays meme par M. Niebuhr," Copenhagen (1773), Vol. i. pp. 142-4, English 

 transl. Cited by Blunt, The Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, Vol. n. pp. 25, 

 267-9. 



