THE ARABIAN. 11 



The JFellesley Arabian. 



A few wild horses are yet seen on some of the deserts of Arabia. They 

 are hunted by the Bedouins for their flesh, which is considered a delicacy, 

 if the animal be young ; and also to increase their stock of inferior horses, 

 which they often palm on the merchant as descended from the sacred 

 breed. They are said to be even swifter than the domesticated horse, and 

 are usually taken by traps hidden in the sand. Mr. Bruce, however, doubts 

 whether any wild horses are now found in Arabia Deserta *. 



Although in the seventh century the Arabs had no horses of value, yet the 

 Cappadocian and other horses, which they had derived from their neigh- 

 bours, were preserved with so much care, and propagated so uniformly and 

 strictly from the finest of the breed, that in the thirteenth century the Arabian 

 horse began to assume a just and unrivalled celebrity. 



There are said to be three breeds or varieties of Arabian horses : — the 

 Aitechi, or inferior breed, on which they set little value, and which are 

 found wild on some parts of the deserts ; the Kadischi, literally horses of 

 an unknown race, answering to our half-bred horses — a mixed breed ; and 

 the Kochlani, horses whose genealogy, according to the Arab account, 

 is known for two thousand years. Many of them have written and 

 attested pedigrees extending more than four hundred years, and, with 

 true Eastern exaggeration, traced by oral tradition from the stud of Solo- 

 mon. A more careful account is kept of these genealogies than belongs to 

 the most ancient family of the proudest Arab chief, and very singular 

 precautions are taken to prevent the possibility of fraud, so far as the 

 written pedigree extends. 



The Kochlani are principally reared by the Bedouin Arabs, in the 

 remoter deserts. A stallion may be procured without much difficulty, 

 although at a great price. A mare is rarely to be obtained, except by fraud 

 and excessive bribery. The Arabs have found out that which the English 

 breeder should never forget, that the female is more concerned than the 

 male in the excellence and value of the produce ; and the genealogies of 

 their horses are always reckoned from the mothers. 



The Arabian horse would not be acknowledged by every judge to pos- 



* Bruce's Travels, vol. vi. p. 430, 



