cij. XXVIII.] 77/c' Original Home of the Horse. 245 



into the ark, and where the Iiorsc went after Ik,' \v;is 

 let out of it.* ' 



Not to go back so far as that, I think Ave may 

 be content with accepting the usual lielief that 

 Arabia was one of the countries where tlie liorse was 

 originally found in his wild state, and where he was 

 first caught and tamed. By Arabia, however, I 

 would not imply the peninsula, wliicli, according to 

 -every account we have of it, is not at all a country 

 .suited to the horse in his natural condition. There 

 is no water above ground in Nejd, nor any pasture 

 lit for horses except during the winter months ; and 

 the mares kept by the Bedouins there are fed, during 

 part of the year at least, on dates and camel's milk. 

 Every authority agrees on this point. The Nejd horses 

 are of pure blood, because of the isolation of the ])enin- 

 sula, but Nejd is not a country naturally fitted for 

 horses, and the want of proper food has stunted the 

 breed. Nejd bred horses are neither so tall nor so fast 

 .as those of the Hamad, although the blood is the same. 

 Dr. Colvill, who went to Riad in 1854, assures me 

 that he saw but one single mare durinoj the whole 

 of his journey there and back, and that that Avas a 

 small insignificant animal. He has seen, however, 

 ponies of thirteen hands in El Hasa which he de- 



* Since writing the above I have been shown an article in 

 Fraser's Mcujazine of September, 187G, in which Captain Upton 

 corrects his original impressions about Arabian horse-breeding, 

 in consequence of a visit paid by him to the Sebaa, Moali and other 

 tribes in the neighbourhood of Aleppo. The account thus corrected 

 is exceedingly good, though it still contains not a few mistakes. 



