324 THE ARAB HOESE OF AFRICA. 



exclaim " A horse that, in a country often rough and 

 difficult, marches, gallops, ascends, descends, endures 

 unparalleled privations, and goes through a campaign 

 with spirit, with such a weight on his back, is he, or is 

 he not, a war-horse?" 



If the Barb should be welcomed by our cavalry regi- 

 ments, he is also possessed of such speed as to make 

 him an acquisition to our racing studs. A Barbary 

 horse, rode by the owner, M. F. de Lesseps, was the 

 winner at the races at Alexandria in 1836, to the sur- 

 prise of the Viceroy of Egypt, who had been bantering 

 M. Lesseps on the arrival of a horse sent to him from 

 Tunis. 



The fame of the Barb was established in England 

 long ago, for Markham, in 1593, writes thus : 



" Next the Turke I place the Barbaric : they are 

 beyond all -horses whatsoever for delicacy of shape and 

 proportion ; they are swift beyond other forraign horses, 

 and to that use in England we only imploy them ; yet 

 are their races only on hard ground, for in soft or deep 

 ground they have neither strength nor delight. Their 

 colours are for the most part .gray or flea-bitten." 

 This remark of Markham as to the general colour of the 

 Barb is a proof that the best specimens of the animal 

 were unknown in England. 



" Allah created the horse Jcoummite red mixed with 

 black that is, dark bay or dark chestnut." This, 

 then, is the colour preferred by the Arabs, and General 

 Daumas agrees with them in this preference. Moham- 

 med and Moussa, the celebrated conquerors of Africa 

 and Spain, must, he argues, have had thorough know- 

 ledge of the superior value of the chestnut-coloured 

 horse ; and their opinion being that of all the Arabs 

 likewise, it is entitled to respect. 



" If," he observes, " it be true that those whose coat 

 is red shaded with black are endowed with superior 

 speed, are we not justified in inferring that such was 

 the uniform colour, such the natural qualities, of the 



