22 The Book of the Horse. 



antiquity of their origin, as comparatively recent inventions, and of small credit, got up for 

 the market by Bedouins or townsmen ; nor is a Kahlanee mare by any means a warrant for 

 a Kahlanee stallion. Crossing the breed is an every-day occurrence, even in Shomar. Once 

 arrived at this last district I heard no more of Siklamee, Delhamce, or any other like genealogies ; 

 nor were Salaman's stables better known to fame than those of Augeas in Nejed. I was dis- 

 tinctly assured that prolonged lists of pedigrees were never kept, and that all inquiries about 

 race are limited to the assurance of a good father and a good mother; 'as for Salaman,' added 

 the groom, ' he was much more likely to have taken the horses from us than we from him ' 

 — a remark which proved in him who made it a certain amount of historical criticism. In a 

 word, to be a successful jockey in Nejed requires about the same degree of investigation and 

 knowledge that it would in Yorkshire, and no more, perhaps less, considering the stud-books. 

 The genuine Nejdean breed, so far as I have hitherto found, is to be met with only in Nejed 

 itself Nor are these animals common even there ; none but chiefs or individuals of con- 

 siderable wealth and rank possess them. Nor are they ever sold, at least so all declare ; and 

 when I asked how then one could be acquired, ' By war, by legacy, or free gift,' was the 

 answer. In this last manner alone is there a possibility of an isolated specimen leaving Nejed, 

 but even that is seldom ; and when policy requires a present to Egypt, Persia, or Constanti- 

 nople — a circumstance of which I witnessed two instances, and heard of other — mares are never 

 sent ; the poorest stallions, though deserving to pass elsewhere for real beauties, are picked out 

 for the purpose. 



" Abdallah, Sa-ood, and Mohammed, keep their horses in separate stables, each one containing 

 a hundred or thereabouts. After much inquiry and remark, my companion and I came to 

 the conclusion that the total Nejdean horse census would not sum up above five thousand, and 

 probably fall short of that number. The fact that here the number of horsemen in an army 

 is perfectly inconsiderable when compared to that of the camel riders, may be adduced in 

 confirmation, especially since in Nejed horses are never used except for war or parade, while 

 all work and other drudgery falls on camels, sometimes on asses. 



" Pretty stories have been circulated about the familiarity existing between Arabs (Bedouins 

 in particular) and their steeds— how the foal at its birth is caught in the hands of bystanders, 

 not allowed to fall to the ground ; how it plays with children of the house ; eats and drinks 

 v/ith its master ; how he tends it when indisposed, whilst it no doubt returns him a similar 

 service when occasion requires. That the Arab horse is much gentler, and, in a general way, 

 more intelligent than the close-stabled, blinkered, harnessed, condemned-cell prisoned animal 

 of merry England I willingly admit. Matters, alas, cannot be otherwise. Brought up in close 

 contact with men, and enjoying the comparatively free use of his senses and limbs, the Arab 

 quadruped is in a fair way for developing to full advantage whatever feeling and instinct good 

 blood brings with it ; nor does this often fail to occur. If, however, we come to the particular 

 incidents of Arab horse life just alluded to, they certainly form no general rule or etiquette 

 in practice. Nor would any Arab be the worse thought of for rapping his marc over the 

 nose if she thrust it into his porridge, or for leaving Nature to do the office of midwife when 

 she is in an interesting condition. Still, I do not mean to say that the creditable anecdotes 

 immortalised in so many books may not, perhaps, take place here and there ; but, to quote 

 an Arab poet, ' I never saw the like, nor ever luard.' For my own personal experience, it 

 goes no farther than feeding Arab horses out of my hand, not dish, and prevailing on them, 

 fetter than the spirits of the vasty deep, to come wiien I did call for them. The rest I cannot 

 help classing, though reluctantly, with many other talcs of the desert. After a delightful 



