10 THE HORSE. 



those breeds, being as serviceable as that of Arabia, and as beautiful as 

 that of Barbary. 



In the more southern and western districts of Africa, and particularly in 

 the neighbourhood of the Guinea Coast, the breed of horses is very in- 

 ferior. They are small, weak, unsafe, and untrac table. But neither 

 horses, nor any other produce of value, can be looked for in those unhappy 

 countries, so long as they are desolated by the infernal slave-trade inflicted 

 upon them by the most civilized, but truly unchristian, nations of E\irope. 



THE DONGOLA HORSE. 



The kingdom of Dongola, and the neighbouring districts lying between 

 Egypt and Abyssinia, contain a horse not at all like any other oriental. 



The " Dongola horses stand full sixteen hands high, but the length of the 

 body, from the shoulders to the quarter, is considerably less. Their form, 

 therefore, is opposite to that of the Arabian, or English thorough-bred, which 

 are longer by some inches than they are high. The neck is long and 

 slender, the crest fine, and the withers sharp and high, giving a beautiful 

 forehand ; but the breast is too narrow, the quarters and flanks too flat, and 

 the back carped. They constitute excellent war-horses, from their speed, 

 durability, and size. Several of them have lately been imported into Eu- 

 rope, but they are little valued. Possibly, with three-part-bred mares, they 

 might improve our cavalry horses." 



Bosman, whose descriptions prove him to be no bad horseman, thus 

 speaks of them, but in somewhat too flattering a manner. "The Dongola 

 horses are the most perfect in the world, being beautiful, symmetrical in their 

 parts, nervous and elastic in their movements, and docile and affectionate in 

 their manners. One of these horses was sold in 1816, at Grand Cairo, for 

 a sum equivalent to 1000/." 



Mr. Bruce tells us, that the best African horses are said to be descended 

 from one of the five on which Mahomet and his four immediate succes- 

 sors fled from Mecca to Medina, on the night of the Hegira. He thus 

 accounts for very singular and opposite customs among the Arabs and 

 Africans. 



" No Arab ever mounts a stallion : on the contrary, in Africa they never 

 ride mares. The reason is plain. — The Arabs are constantly at war with 

 their neighbours, and always endeavour to take their enemies by surprise 

 in the o-rey of the evening, or the dawn of day. A stallion no sooner 

 smells the stale of the mare in the enemy's quarters, than he begins to 

 neigh, and that would give the alarm to the party intended to be surprised. 

 No such thing can ever happen when they ride mares only. On the con- 

 trary, the Funge trust only to superior force. They are in an open, plain 

 country — must be discovered at many miles distance — and all such sur- 

 prises and stratagems are useless to them." 



THE ARABIAN. 



Going further eastward we arrive at Arabia, whose horses deservedly 

 occupy the very highest rank. 



