THE AMERICAN TROTTING-HOKSE. 377 



trot him to Sliema and back, from the St. Frances 

 gate, in less than thirty-five minutes. The perform- 

 ance was accomplished, and very much under time ; 

 nor in the return did I push my nag, as I found 1 

 had the race in my hands. Now this Barb, if he 

 had been in the possession of a person who would 

 permit him no other gait, would doubtless have be- 

 come a fast trotter. 



Although a great many years may have passed 

 since any direct importation of horses from Spain 

 to America took place> still the resemblance between 

 the two breeds remains most striking. The cele- 

 brated sire, known as Rydsich's Hamiltonian, whom 

 I have alluded to before, as the father of the present 

 champion of the transatlantic trotting turf, is un- 

 like any horse I have ever seen in England, but is a 

 perfect counterpart of many animals I have seen in 

 Spain and Morocco, except that the American has 

 the advantage in height and substance. Few of us 

 have not seen pictures of the celebrated horse, famil- 

 iarly known as the Godolphin Arab. Now, this 

 horse was doubtlessly a Barb, his appearance at 

 once tells it, if we can place reliance on the correct- 

 ness of his portraits ; and even could we not, the 



majority of authorities who have written on horse- 



8* 



