Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 133 



about fifteen to sixteen hands high, and are generally bays or 

 greys, but some of them are black, always with white feet and 

 a white star in the forehead 1 . They are derived from Arab 

 blood, introduced by Tamerlane, who distributed five thousand 

 Arab mares among the Turcomans, whilst Nasir-ed-Din sent 

 them five hundred mares of the same breed 2 . The Turcomans 

 and Katschenstzis of Ear.tern Tartary had a breed called 

 Karabulo, highly valued for its speed and bottom, which was 

 remarkable for a white or grey mane, tail, and feet, while the 

 rest of the body was shining black. There is in Eastern Asia a 

 prevalent opinion that black horses come from the West 3 . 



It is most important to observe that we have here an 

 undoubted case of black horses with white feet and a white 

 star in the forehead as a result of crossing the indigenous 

 horses of Upper Asia with so-called Arab blood, for we shall 

 have frequent occasion to notice similar phenomena as our 

 investigation proceeds. A century ago the Kalmucks of Khoten 

 in Eastern Turkestan bred great numbers of small but hardy 

 horses, and great droves of them were exported to the south, as 

 far as the plains of India 4 . The good qualities of Turcoman 

 horses were remarked by Marco Polo 5 (A.D. 1274), who, speaking 

 of Turcomania and the Turcomans, says that " excellent horses 

 known as Turquans are reared in their country and also very 

 valuable mules." 



The evidence here adduced, so far from indicating that any 

 element in the thoroughbred was derived from the indigenous 

 horses of Russia or Southern Tartary, demonstrates that the 

 peoples of Russia, and the various Turko-Tartaric tribes have 

 been constantly endeavouring to improve their native strain 

 by the admixture of so-called Arab blood. 



When we advance further east the Turcoman is replaced 

 by his kinsman the Mongolian pony, which belongs primarily 

 to the highlands lying between the Himalayas and Siberia, for 

 as Captain Hayes 6 points out, " there is no distinctive difference 



1 Hamilton Smith, op. cit. p. 239. 



2 Hayes, loc. cit. ; Hamilton Smith, loc. cit. 



3 Hamilton Smith, op. cit. p. 273. 4 Hamilton Smith, op. cit. p. 273. 



5 Vol. i. p. 45 (Yule's trans.). 6 Points of the Horse, p. 599 (ed. 3). 



