could not stand hard work under a tropical 

 sun with scarcity of water and desert fare. 

 It was therefore decided before leaving 

 Cairo to mount the regiment entirely on 

 the small Syrian Arab horses used by the 

 Egyptian cavalry. Three hundred and fifty 

 of these little horses had been sent up in 

 advance and were taken over by the regi- 

 ment on arrival at Wady Haifa. Colonel 

 Barrow thus describes these horses : 



" Arab stallion. Average height, 14 

 hands ; average age, 8 years to 9 years ; 

 some 1 5 per cent, over 1 2 years ; bought 

 by Egyptian Government in Syria and 

 Lower Egypt; average price, ^18." 



About half of the ponies had been through 

 the campaign in the Eastern Soudan with 

 the regiment in February and March, 1884, 

 and had returned in a very exhausted state. 

 In September of that year they were 

 marched up from Assouan to Wady Haifa, 

 210 miles; and when handed over to the 

 1 9th again in November, all except some 

 10 per cent, of the number were "in very 

 fair marching condition." From Wady 

 Haifa the regiment proceeded to Korti, a 

 distance of 360 miles, at a rate of about 16 

 miles per day, halts, one of one day and one 

 of two days not included ; their feed con- 



