Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 163 



of the Arabian horse and in various unimportant details, we 

 may assume that all facts of vital importance relating to the 

 various breeds and strains, form and colour, as well as the 

 native traditions respecting their history, are now accurately 

 ascertained. 



With reference to the three classes just enumerated Upton 

 writes 1 : " That there are three such distinct breeds or classes 

 of Arabian horses is an erroneous opinion, but there is some 

 ground for the supposition, which is this : in Syria and some 

 other districts, and in towns near the coast, are to be found 

 three kinds of horses the Arabian, not as a native, but as 

 a horse of luxury ; the Kidish, which class has no pretension 

 to being an improved breed, and is not of Arab blood at all. 

 Kidish means first a gelding, and the term is applied to any 

 common sort of horse used for travelling or baggage, from the 

 fact that many of this kind are geldings, and some of this 

 sort are runners or pacers, and are used by merchants and 

 other classes of townsmen as hacks. And there is another 

 class well described as 'sons of horses' in Syria. They are 

 not genuine horses, i.e., Arabian horses; they may be, and 

 often are, the produce of Arabian horses from common mares, 

 be they Kurdish or Turcoman ; they are the sons of horses, 

 but not the sons of mares, i.e., of Arabian mares. Many of 

 these ' sons of horses ' show much blood, and I have seen less 

 bloodlike horses passing as Arabs in India. Considerable 

 numbers of this class are bought up in Syria by agents from 

 Egypt and elsewhere, who give rather a better price than 

 the Turkish government allows for remounts for the cavalry 

 service ; and on horses of this class the cavalry of the army 

 corps of Syria, which is the best horsed, is generally mounted." 



Upton thus recognised (I) true Arabian horses, (2) common 

 Turkish and Kurdish horses, which are frequently geldings, 

 and (3) half-breds, the offspring of the two first classes, and 

 his statements are confirmed by the other writers. Mr Blunt 2 

 amply confirms Upton's statement respecting the Kadish 

 or common Turcoman and Kurdish ponies, for he points out 



1 Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia (London, Kegan Paul, 1881), p. 270. 



2 The Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, Vol. n. p. 246. 



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