186 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. 



seen (and that too in spite of the fact that Arab horse-breeders 

 from religious motives have a predilection for white or grey 

 animals) \ and the colours being very decided and pure ; that 

 in Syria there are more grey, and far fewer bay horses, and 

 occasionally black, that in Turkish Arabia grey practically 

 becomes the universal colour, and sooty black is common in 

 the Kurdish horses, whilst the Shammar horses seen by Upton 

 were white, grey, and reddish-grey. It has also been shown 

 that the Syrian Arab is of a coarser build than the Anazah 

 breed, whilst the horses of Turkish Arabia are still more coarsely 

 and clumsily built. Thus the further we advance from Ai-abia 

 Proper, into which we shall find evidence of the importation of 

 horses from North Africa in the centuries after Christ, the more 

 do the horses differ in form and colour from the pure-bred 

 Arab. 



On the other hand we have absolute proof of the existence 

 of Turcoman horses in great numbers in Syria, in Turkish 

 Arabia, and Armenia. The Turcoman is sprung from the 

 horse of Upper Asia, of which the pure Mongolian pony is the 

 type ; but the Turcoman (which represents the Nisaean horses 

 of Armenia and Media, and the Parthian horses of a later date) 

 has been modified by the admixture of so-called Arab blood. 



Marco Polo has shown us that in his time the Tartars had 

 vast numbers of white horses, and we know from Herodotus 

 that white horses, either aboriginal or feral, existed in Russia 

 in his own time ; furthermore, we have seen that in Homeric 

 and classical days white horses were known in Thrace, Illyria, 

 and Upper Europe. From this it follows that the tendency to 

 grey and white evinced by the so-called Arabs of Syria and 

 Turkish Arabia, in contrast to the dark colours of the pure-bred 

 horses of Central Arabia, is due to the fact that the Upper 

 Asiatic horse forms the substratum of all the horses of Syria, 

 Turkish Arabia, Armenia, and Persia. 



It would appear that the black horses occasionally seen 

 in Syria and other parts of Asia Minor are the result of an 

 admixture of Turcoman and Arab blood, since Upton did not 



1 Hayes, op. cit. , p. 326 (citing a private communication from Mr W. S. Blunt). 



