256 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxvm. 



muster among the English in India as j)ure Arabian^ 

 and would command a better price from his extra 

 height. The Persian or Turcoman horse stands 

 fifteen hands two inches, or even, I am told, sixteen 

 hands ; and these the Montifik have used to cross 

 their mares wdth. The produce is known in India 

 as the Gulf Arab, but his inferior quality is now 

 recognised. Lastly, among the Sebaa themselves, 

 who have maintained the ancient breeds in all 

 their integrity, various accidents have concurred in 

 diminishino; the number of their mares. Several 

 seasons of drought and famine, within the last 

 fifteen years, have reduced the prosperity of the 

 tribes, and forced them to part with some of their 

 best breeding stock. Many a valuable mare was 

 thus sold, because her owner had no choice but to 

 do so or to let her starve, while others, left " on 

 halves " with inhabitants of the small towns, never 

 returned to the desert. Mijuel, of the Misrab, told 

 me of a mare of his, which he had been obliged to 

 leave in this way with a townsman, and which, 

 from having been left standing a whole year in a 

 filthy stable, had become foundered in all four feet 

 and could not be removed. Finally the continual 

 wars, which for years past have devastated the 

 tribes, have caused an immense consumption of 

 horses. AVhen a mare is taken in war she is usually 

 galloped into the nearest town, and sold hurriedly 

 by her captor, for what she will fetch, for fear of 

 her being reclaimed when peace is made. While 



