CHAPTER II 



PROCURING THE IRADE AND THE START FOR 



THE DESERT 



There had been but one thought uppermost 

 in my mind ever since the hniment can days and 

 that was, to go to the desert personally and in 

 some way bring out Arab mares of unquestion- 

 able blood. I knew that to do that I should 

 need a permit from the Sultan of Turkey. I 

 also knew that while the Sultan had presented 

 General Grant with two stallions, he had re- 

 fused to let the General have any mares. It 

 was commonly understood that foreign na- 

 tions, which were continually seeking Arab 

 blood for the Government studs, with difficulty 

 obtained it.* 



*In a letter his Excellency Chikeb Bey, the Turkish Embas- 

 sador, at Washington, under date of December 27th, 1906, in 

 reply to a question from me, says: "I cannot tell exactly 

 the date when the exportation of Arabian horses from the 

 Ottoman Empire was forbidden, but if my memory serves me 

 well, the first prohibition dates back thirty or thirty-five 

 years." 



[9] 



