BEPORTS. 59 



osity for which he is renowned, and, although the law allows it, 

 I have never known an instance of it. But though the Arab 

 lends his horse gratuitously, he does not do so to the first 

 comer for any mare. No : the suppliant is often obliged to 

 make use of the intercession of persons of great interest, or of 

 his wives, if he would not see his request refused. On the 

 other hand, the Arabs are very difficult in their choice of a 

 Stud horse, and if they cannot find one of pure blood, they 

 prefer leaving their mares unproductive rather than put them 

 to a common horse. To procure a good sire they do not hesi- 

 tate to travel any distance. The proceeding discussion has al- 

 ready intimated my conclusion, to wit, that the sire has more 

 to do for the foal than the dam. And my conclusion is identi- 

 cal with the universal opinion of the Arabs. They say. El hasr 

 ilebal elfahal — ' The foal follows the sire.' " 



In confirmation of this view the writer quoted above, de- 

 scribes the Arab horses, as distinguished under the following 

 heads :— " El Hon, El Hadjim, El MeJmeref, and El Ber- 

 doune. The first is that when sire and dam arc both of noble 

 race ; the second, when the sire is noble and the dam of com- 

 mon race ; the name implies defective ; the third is when the 

 dam is high-bred and the sire half-bred, and is of much less 

 value than the second, on the same principle that a man whose 

 father is white and whose mother is a negress, is superior to 

 him whose mother is white and whose father is a negro ; and 

 the fourth is that class when both sire and dam are badly bred, 

 an animal that is reported as a stranger in Arabia. ''The 

 value of a horse is in its breeding." 



In regard to the respective value put by the Arabs on their 



