32 DETERIORATED CONDITION OF 



haras for the maintenance of the best stal- 

 lions they could select in the country. When 

 he wrote, the number of these stallions was 

 seventy-four ; but he says, instead of being con- 

 tent with this number, it must be raised to 150. 

 It seems that to these depots the farmers send 

 their mares, and that the quality of the race is 

 improving under this system. 



General Daumas brings forward the opinion 

 of Abd-el-Kader to show that the horses called 

 barbes, which abound in Africa, descended 

 originally from Arabs. Whatever they de- 

 scended from, they possess wonderful powers 

 of endurance, and some of the best should be 

 imported into this country. 



In a letter written by the lamented Burkhart, 

 and lent to me for perusal by Mr. Sewell, of 

 the Veterinary College, the writer says that a 

 breed of horses called Koheys is the best in 

 Syria, yet that amongst them " not more than 

 about 200 of the first class of horses are usually 

 to be found, each of which may be worth in the 

 Desert itself from £150 to £200. Of these 

 horses very few, if any, ever found their way to 

 Europe, although it is through them alone that 

 successful attempts could be made to ennoble 



