THE ARAB HORSE 9 



Mesopotamia in the north and to the east of the Euphrates, 

 visited by the Blunts, and the Anezah in the south, studied by 

 Major Upton. The latter race have the best horses, a fact 

 generally recognized by Bedouins. 



The Arabs are descendants of Ishmael, who, according to tra- 

 dition, inherited a valuable horse of the Kuhl race. The Anezah 

 tribe descended in a direct line from Ishmael, through Sheik 

 Salaman, who lived about 1635 B.C. (four generations removed 

 from Ishmael), and who owned five famous mares. From this 

 ancestry has come the purest and best Arab horse blood. This 

 race was in existence many centuries before the time of 

 Mohammed. 



The Arabian words " keheilan " and " keheilet " have a special 

 application to the horse. These words are derived from the word 

 " kuhl," which means antimony, material with which Arab women 

 blacken their eyebrows and eyelashes. Upton claims to have 

 discovered that the entire race of pure-bred horses among the 

 Anezah had black skins irrespective of color of hair. This 

 accounts for the use of the words " keheilan" and " keheilet," the 

 former meaning a male and the latter a female of pure blood 

 whose lineage can be traced without a break to the five mares 

 of Salaman. The Anezah Bedouin declines to recognize any 

 animal as keheilan or keheilet, the pedigree of which does not 

 go back to the five mares in question, the five being designated 

 as Al Khamseh. 



Five great families of Arabian horses descended from founda- 

 tion stock tracing to the five mares Al Khamseh are as follows : 



1. The descendants of Keheilet Ajuz. 



2. The Maneghi, with three sub-families. 



3. The Hadban, with five sub-families. 



4. The Jelfon, with two sub-families. 



5. The Homdani, with two sub-families. 



From the first-named family comes the most distinguished 

 Arab blood. The word "ajuz" means old woman. This family 

 descends from a mare that dropped a filly colt when on a long 

 and hard journey, her owner being hard pressed by an enemy. 

 The colt was left where foaled, and the owner of the mare after 

 much difficulty reached his own people. To the surprise of the 



