626 ASIATIC AND NORTH AFRICAN HORSES. 



etc.). It is noteworthy that it was in the same century 

 as the founding of Cyrene, that the four-horse chariot 

 and the race-horse were added to the Olympic events. 

 The Phoenician settlers at Carthage found the Lybians 

 using these beautiful horses, and when they struck coins 

 they placed a horse or a horse head on them as the badge 

 of Lybia, and used a similar type on their coins struck 

 in Sicily, whither doubtless they carried the Lybian breed. 

 This accounts for the extraordinary fame of the horses 

 of Etna and Syracuse, and the famous steeds of Tarentum " 

 (Ridgeway). 



The North African horse is usually two or three 

 inches taller than the Arab. He has generally a coarse 

 head, light body, long legs, drooping pelvis, thick and 

 bushy tail, good temper, and high courage. Though his 

 conformation is defective from a riding and driving 

 point of view, he stands work on hard ground very 

 well, and is hardy. 



The most typical North African horses are probably 

 found in the district of Dongola. Those of Abyssinia 

 and Egypt are of inferior class. The term. Barb, is 

 applied to the horses of Morocco, Algiers and Tripoli, 

 which, in former times, have been largely crossed 

 with imported Syrian Arabs. 



Judging by the many Barbs I saw in Gibraltar, 

 Egypt, and Malta, and by the information I received 

 about that breed from experts, I am strongly of opinion 

 that they are much inferior to Arabs, as gallopers, 

 weight-carriers, and stayers. For a mile race on the 

 flat, an average Arab would give an ordinary Barb 

 of the same height, about three stone and a beating. 

 Many of the Barbs we see in Egypt, are regarded 

 as Arabs. Captain E. D. Miller tells us in Modern 

 Polo that : " 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 



