Ill] 



AND HISTORIC TIMES 



181 



of a bay colour. But those colours were all distinct, marked, 

 and good. The Arabs like a decided or clear colour. In other 

 tribes of Bedouin the colour among the grey horses we saw 

 was much less decided. Grey horses were more numerous ; 

 bays are not so general a colour 1 ." Upton did not " remember 

 to have seen any horses or mares among the Bedouin of a black 

 colour, but in Syria and the Turkish districts we occasionally 

 did see blacks, and generally these were said to be JelfonV 



FIG. 58. A Bay Arabian. 



It is important to remind the reader that the Jelfon strain 

 is not properly included in Al Khamseh, and that accordingly 

 horses of a black colour are not pure-bred, but are the result 

 of blending Al Khamseh with other blood. This is in complete 

 harmony with the facts already stated (p. 133) that the best 

 Turcoman horses of modern times, which are the result of 

 crossing Turcoman mares with Arab stallions, are frequently 

 black, with a star in the forehead, and white feet, and that 

 sooty black horses are commonly found amongst the Kurds, 



1 The Arabian Horse, p. 341. 



2 Op. tit. p. 339. 



