THE DOXGOLA OR NUBIAN IlORSE. 17 



CHAPTEK II. 



THE FOREIGN BREEDS OF HORSES. 



We commence again with that country connected with which we have tho 

 earhest history of the horse. 



THE EGYPTIAN HORSES. 



Notwithstanding the flattering reports of travellers, and the assertion of 

 Dr. Shaw that the Egyptian horses are preferable to the Barbary ones in 

 size, beauty, and goodness, the modern horse of this country had little to 

 recommend him. The despotism under which the inhabitants groaned 

 altogether discouraged the rearing of a valuable breed, for their possession 

 was completely at the mercy of their Turkish oppressors, and the choicest 

 of their animals were often taken from them withoiit the slightest remu- 

 neration for the wrong. It was therefore a common practice with the 

 owners of superior or g'ood horses to blemish or to lame them, in order 

 that they might not be robbed of them by order of the Bey. 



Of the state to which the native horses were reduced, and even many 

 in the corps of the Mamelukes — the body-guard of the Bey — the follow- 

 ing evidence from a competent observer will determine. Wilson, in his 

 'Expedition to Egypt,' tells us — 'Although the horses there seldom pass 

 out of a foot pace except for a gallop of 100 yards, most of them are foun- 

 dered, and none, if quickly trotted ten miles, would be able, from want of 

 wind and stamina, to go farther.' 



The testimony of Burckhardt is to the same effect : — ' The Egyptian 

 horse is ugly, of coarse shape, and looking more like a cart-horse than a 

 racer. Thin legs and knees and short and thick necks are frequent 

 defects among them. The head is sometimes fine, but I never saw good 

 legs in an Egyptian horse. They are not able to bear any great fatigue, 

 but when well fed, their action occasionally is more brilliant than that of 

 the Arabian. Their impetuosity, however, renders them peculiarly de- 

 sirable for heavy cavalry, and it is upon this quality alone that their 

 celebrity has ever been founded.' 



Since the accession of Mehemet Ali to the government of Egypt, a 

 beneficial change has been effected in the internal management and pros- 

 perity of the country, and the improvement of the breed of horses has 

 especially engaged his attention. He has even gone so far as to establish 

 a veterinary school at Abou-Zabel, and, as should be the case with every 

 institution of this kind, he has not only identified it with the cavalry 

 service, but with the agricultural interests of the country. The happy 

 consequences of this are neither doubtful nor distant. 



There is a long but narrow tract of desert between the Nile and the 

 Red Sea, on which some Arabian horses of the choicest breed are reared. 



THE DONGOLA OR NUBIAN HORSE. 



The kingdom of Dongola, the modem Nubia, lying between Egy|:)t and 

 Abyssinia, contains a breed of horses different from any other that either 

 Arabia or Africa produces. Mr. Bruce speaks of it in the following 

 strong terms of approbation : — ' What figure the Ntibian breed of horses 

 would make in point of swiftness is very doubtful, their form being so 

 entirely diiferent from that of the Arabian ; but if beautiful and sym- 

 metrical parts, great size and strength, the most agile, nervous, and elnstic 



c 



