226 DISTANCE RIDING 



than our own horse-dealers. The manufacture of pedi- 

 grees, when they cannot be traced in the stud-book, is an 

 art much in vogue. In most American horse -markets 

 there is a steady manufacture of pedigrees going on ; and 

 the practice thrives because a man who is cheated is 

 wont to hide the fact, of which he is heartily ashamed, 

 rather than seek legal redress and get laughed at for his 

 pains. This unwillingness to perform one's duty to the 

 public is a distinct American failing. 



A very well- vouched -for performance of which I have 

 heard in the Orient is the one already given, viz.: fifteen 

 hundred kilometres, say nine hundred and fifty miles, on 

 one horse in forty-five days, of which twenty-eight days' 

 actual travelling or thirty-three miles a day. This is a 

 creditable ride, to be sure, but far from a noteworthy one. 

 And the feat was performed, not by an Arabian, but by 

 a Kurd horse, bred on a Persia/i dam by an Arabian sire. 

 This was a single rider with a small escort. Many of our 

 cavalry regiments have discounted this speed for long dis- 

 tances, and groups of from six to twenty fyave beaten it 

 out of sight. 



A very excellent performance by Arabians has recently 

 been given me by Colonel Colvile of the British Army, who 

 has permitted me to quote him. " A party of Towasi 

 Arabs, mounted on Egyptian cavalry horses and accom- 

 panied by two hundred and fifty baggage camels carrying 

 water and supplies, left Assiut, on the Nile, at 6 P.M. on 

 June 28, 1884, under command of Lieut.-Col. Colvile, 

 Grenadier Guards, and Lieut. Stuart Worthy, Sixtieth 

 Rifles, and arrived at Khargeh, in the Great Oasis, at 4 

 P.M. on June 30th, a distance of one hundred and twenty 

 miles, in forty-six hours. One long halt was made from 

 11 A.M. to 4 P.M. on June 29th; and the horses being 

 allowed to go their own pace, frequent short halts were 



