164 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. 



that descendants of horses, " members perhaps of other 

 original stocks, those of the Russian steppes or of Central 

 Asia, are found still existing in the shape of stout ponies all 

 along the northern edge of the desert animals disowned by 

 the Bedouins as not being horses at all, yet serviceable for 

 pack-work, and useful in their way. This Chaldean type, from 

 whatever source it springs, stands in direct contrast to that 

 of the true Arabian. It is large-headed, heavy-necked, straight- 

 shouldered, and high on the legs a lumbering, clumsy beast, 

 fit rather for draught, if it were large enough, than for 

 riding." According to Major-General Tweedie 1 , " for the simple 

 water-wheels and antediluvian wooden ploughs of the culti- 

 vating classes when horse-power is used, and not mules or 

 horned cattle, it is in the form of nondescript ponies, coming, 

 like the loads carried by them, from the four points of 

 the compass, and called in Arabia kudush (pi. of ka-dish)." 

 Major-General Tweedie 2 likewise substantiates Upton's third 

 class the 'sons of horses'- for he says that "the only animals 

 that we have ever heard called by their sire's family name in 

 the desert have been those which the Bedouins describe as not 

 ' horses,' but ' sons of horses ' that is, got by a first-class sire 

 out of an inferior mare." 



According to Upton "among the tribes of the deserts of 

 Arabia the Arabian is the only horse. He is one by himself. 

 The tribes of the interior desert have the best horses 3 ." "Al- 

 though of Arabia alone the Arabian horse may be said to 

 belong rather to certain families or tribes in the desert of 

 Arabia than to the country or people at large." The best 

 horses are not numerous in Arabia, certainly not in proportion 

 to the size and extent of the country. In the Hijaz (the 

 narrow strip of country along the Red Sea), and in Yaman 

 there are but few horses, and in Mecca itself these animals 

 are very few in number, the merchants contenting themselves 

 with mules and Radishes (horses of the common kind). The 

 few true 'Arabs ' at Mecca are purchased from the neighbouring 

 Bedouin. Similarly at Medineh (in Burckhardt's time) there 



1 The Arabian Horse, p. 22. 2 Op. cit. p. 231. 3 Op. cit. p. 270. 



