200 BREEDS OF POLO PONIES. [Chap. VIII. 



and to resist the bumps of big, strong English ponies ; 

 they are able, as remounts, to travel under enormous 

 burdens in their own country. I used Peter in Egypt 

 as second charger, all the squadron being mounted on 

 similar animals. Our men in full marching order 

 weighed, on an average, i8 st. 7 lbs. 



BARBS. 



Under the term " Barbs " is included all the ponies 

 which are bred along the northern coast of Africa 

 (especially Algiers and Morocco), excepting Egypt. 

 Large numbers are imported from Tunis to Malta, and 

 from Algiers and Tangiers to Gibraltar. Almost all 

 the ponies at these two English stations are Barbs. 

 My experience of ponies of this breed, both personally 

 and with those belonging to other people, is that they 

 are a good deal inferior to either Arabs or Syrians. 

 Out of all the Barbs I have played and seen played in 

 1894-95, amounting probably to about seventy, Mr. 

 John Walker's Sherry, M. Boussod's Trappist, Lord 

 Charles Bentinck's Algiers and Tangiers, and Captain 

 Barclay's (loth Hussars) Abdullah are the only five 

 which could be called first-class. Among others which 

 I saw were the ponies of the Spanish Polo Team of 

 the Brothers Larios, who were mounted entirely on 

 Barbs in the International Tournament at Paris in 

 1894. As they were allowed to be the best team on 

 the Rock, we may presume that they were mounted 

 on the pick of that place. We had four Barbs in our 

 stable in 1893, and six in 1894; but out of all of 

 them Trappist was the only first-class player. He 

 was imported from Gibraltar by Captain C. Gordon 

 Mackenzie, and now belongs to Mr. Ashton of the 



