206 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [cH. 



Rabiah, the ancestor of their race, was surnamed Al-Faras, 

 "of the horses 1 ," from which it would appear that the acquisition 

 of the horse was an event which marked an epoch in the life of 

 the tribe. Again, we are told that when Muhammad attacked the 

 Koreish tribe he had only two horses in his army, and although 

 he captured many thousands of camels, yet there is no mention 

 of horses in the booty. The legend respecting the seven mares 

 of the Prophet, so far as it has any value, confirms the other 

 evidence, for none of them is said to have been bred by 

 Muhammad, since three had been purchased, and four were 

 gifts. We hear much less about his horses than his she-camels, 

 especially Al-Kas-wa (from whose back he addressed four 

 thousand people on a great occasion), or about his mule Dul-dul 

 and his ass U-fair 2 . 



It is now clear that the Arabs had no horses at the be- 

 ginning of the Christian era, but that for several centuries 

 before Muhammad, horses were possessed by some of the great 

 men amongst them, and reasons have been given for believing 

 that one of the strains of Al Khamseh may have originated 

 from the Hamdan tribe, who were owners of horses before the 

 days of the Prophet. It is therefore highly important to bear 

 in mind that the Hamdani horses are not bay, but generally 

 grey or white, colours which, in the case of Arabian horses, we 

 have learned to regard as sure signs of much Upper Asiatic 

 blood, a conclusion supported by the fact that Mr Blunt's 

 beautiful white Hamdani mare was, head excepted, more like an 

 English hunter than a thoroughbred. 



What then is the origin of the Kohl breed ? According to 

 a common Arab tradition Ismail-ibn-Ibrahim, or Ishmael, was 

 the first tamer of the steed. After having being turned out of 

 his father's tents he -is said to have captured a mare from a herd 

 which he found running wild " like the wild ass " (mittl wahash s ). 



The Emir Abd-eUKader told Blunt that the children of 

 Ishmael had a mare from this principal stock, which grew up 

 crooked, for she had been foaled on a journey, and being unable 

 to travel had been sewn into a khourj, or goats'-hair sack, and 



1 Upton, Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia, p. 294. 



2 Tweedie, op. cit., p. 230. 



3 Blunt, The Bedouin Tribes, etc., Vol. n. pp. 265-6. 



