248 Bedouin Tribes of the EiLpIirates. [cn. xxvm. 



tino-uisliinn^ feature, is set on at a different an2;le. 

 When I returned to England the thoroughljreds 

 seemed to me to hold their heads as if tied in with 

 a bearino: rein, and to have no throat whatever, the 

 cause perhaps of that tendency to roaring so common 

 with them. 



The neck of the Arabian horse is light, and I 

 have never seen among them anj^thing approaching 

 to the crest given by his pictures, to the Godolphin 

 Arabian. The shoulder is good, as good as in our 

 own horses and the wither is often as high, although 

 from the greater height of the hind-quarter this is 

 not so apparent. The forearm in the best specimens 

 is of great strength, the muscle standing out with 

 extraordinary prominence. The back is shorter than 

 it is in our thorouo-hbreds, and the barrel rounder. 

 The Arabian is well ribbed up. He stands higher 

 at the croup than at the wither. The tail is set on 

 higher, but not, as I have heard some people say, on 

 a level with the croup. Indeed, the jumping bone, 

 to use an Irish phrase, is often very prominent. 

 The tail is carried high, both walking and galloping; 

 and this point is much looked to, as a sign of breed- 

 ing. I have seen mares gallop with their tails as 

 straight as a colt's, and fit, as the Arabs say, to hang 

 your cloak on. 



The hind-quarter in the Arabian is much narrower 

 than in our horses, another point of breeding, which 

 indicates speed rather than strength. The line of 

 the hind-quarter is finer, the action freer, and the 



