My Quest of the Arab Horse 



CHAPTER I 



AN OREGON ARAB AND WHAT IT LED TO 



The real story of my trip to the Syrian des- 

 ert begins in Oregon in 1871. 



At Christmas time of that year I received a 

 box of paints, and a few days after, at the age 

 of three years and nine months, I drew an il- 

 lustration which was known all through my 

 boyhood as "Arabian Horses." I believed 

 then that Arabian horses were spotted, like 

 leopards, an idea that I had evidently obtained 

 from circuses. However, it shows the tail car- 

 ried high, and this was a correct impression 

 that must have been conveyed to me by my 

 parents. Indeed the following letter from my 

 father shows that he used to tell me of Arab 

 horses : 



"Silverton, Nov. 11, 1906. 



"I cannot fix the exact time when I began to 

 tell you stories of the Arab and his horse, but it 



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