62 THE HORSE. 



may have been true Arabians is possible, 

 though there is no evidence to show this ; 

 for Charles seems to have sent agents to 

 Arabians. the Levant as well as to Barbary, and we 

 know that the Levant Company was then 

 already established at Aleppo, where 

 English merchants would be in easy 

 communication with the north Arabian 

 Desert. At the same time Eastern blood 

 was being rapidly introduced in the male 

 line through the Turkish Barb and Arab 

 sires purchased by these very merchants 

 in different parts of the Mediterranean, 

 and the produce of these sires, partly 

 from Royal and partly from native mares, 

 whose produce was constantly crossed 

 and re-crossed with Arabian or quasi- 

 Arabian blood, became accepted generally 

 as a thorough -bred." 



