The Dongoi.a. 23 



hour passed in walking up and down among these beautiful creatures, attended by grooms 

 professionally sensible to all the excellences of horseflesh, I examined the iron-grey mare in 

 question, saw another whose appetite was ailing, prescribed a treatment (which, if it did no 

 good, could certainly do no harm), and left the stables with longing, lingering looks behind, 

 whither, however, I subsequently paid not unfrequent visits befitting to a doctor. 



" Farther on, when we cross the eastern and southern limits of Toweyk, we find the Arab 

 breed rapidly losing in beauty and perfection, in size and strength. The specimens of indigenous 

 race that I saw in Oman considerably resembled the 'tatties' of India; but in the eastern 

 angle of Arabia the deficiency of horses is in a way made up for by the dromedaries of that 

 land. Nejdee horses are especially esteemed for great speed, and endurance of fatigue ; indeed, 

 in this latter quality none come up to them. To pass twenty-four hours on the road without 

 drink and without flagging is certainly something ; but to keep up the same abstinence and 

 labour conjoined, under the burning Arabian sky, for forty-eight hours at a stretch, is, I 

 believe, peculiar to the animals of the breed. Besides, they have a delicacy, I cannot say of 

 mouth, for it is common to ride them without bit or bridle, but of feeling, and obedience to 

 the knee and thigh, to the slightest check of the halter and the voice of the rider, far surpassing 

 whatever the most elaborate manege gives a European horse, though furnished with snaffle, 

 curb, and all. I often mounted them at the invitation of their owners, and, without saddle, 

 rein, or stirrup, set them off at full gallop, wheeled them round, brought them up in mid-career 

 at a dead halt, and that without the least difficulty, or the smallest want of correspondence 

 between the horse's movements and my own. The rider on their backs really feels himself 

 the man-half of a centaur, not a distinct being. This is in great part owing to the Arab system 

 of breaking-in, much preferable to the European in conferring pliancy and perfect tractability ; 

 nor is mere speed much valued in a horse, unless it be united with the above qualities, since, 

 whether in the contest of an Arab race, or in the pursuit and flight of war, doubling is mucli 

 more the rule than going ahead, at least for any distance. Much the same training is required 

 for the sport of the djerccd~t\\di\. tournament of the East — and which, as I witnessed it in 

 Nejed, differed in nothing from the exhibitions frequent in Syria and Egypt, except that the 

 palm-stick or djereed itself is a little lighter. I should add that in the stony plateaus of Nejed 

 horses are always shod, but the shoe is clumsy and heavy. The hoof is very slightly pared, 

 and the number of nails put in is invariably six. Were not the horn excellent, Nejdean farriery 

 would lame many a fine horse." 



THE DONGOLA. 



The Dongola is an Oriental blood-horse to which the term "pony" does not apply. Attention 

 was first called to the Dongola by James Bruce, the traveller in Abyssinia. He described 

 the first horse he purchased as a black Dongola horse, 161 hands high, fully equal to his 

 weight with his heavy Turkish saddle and arms, this must have been some sixteen or seventeen 

 stone (Bruce was over six feet high), with lofty action, but not remarkable for speed. 



Some few years after the publication of Bruce's Travels, Mr. John Knight — who after- 

 wards purchased Exmoor — being at the house of Sir Joseph Banks, the eminent naturalist and 

 companion of Cook in his first voyage round the world (Lord Moreton, an enthusiast in horse- 

 breeding, Lords Hcadley and Dundas 'oeing also of the party), the conversation turned on the 

 book of the da)', and Bruce's description of the big Nubian horse. It ended in their each 

 writing a cheque for ^^^250, and handing them over to Sir Joseph Banks on account of the 

 expenses of bringing over some specimens of the Dongola. 



