270 Bedouin Tribes of the EiipJirates. [en. xxvni. 



French under Napoleon in Egypt, others of horses 

 introduced into Syria forty years ago, but nobody 

 who knows anything of the Anazeh can for an 

 instant conceive that the existence of any number 

 of Eno;lish thorousfhbreds at Damascus or Cairo, 

 would have the slightest influence on their own 

 breeding stock. By the Anazeh the finest horse 

 that ever ran at Newmarket would be accounted a 

 mere kadish, and would not even be looked at for 

 stud purposes. ■"'■ 



But to resume. The Kchihins, whenever first so 

 called, have been without doubt a recognised breed 

 in Arabia for many centuries, and were in all pro- 

 Ijability the parent stock which produced the other 

 four great strains of blood, which with the Kehilan 

 make up the Kliamsa. These also have existed as 

 distinct breeds in Arabia from "time immemorial," 

 but whether that means one hundred or five hun- 

 dred, or a thousand years, it is quite impossible to 

 say. The common belief of their descent from the 

 five mares of Solomon is of course a fable,"]* and is 

 not much talked of in the desert itself. 



* Some thorouglibreds brouglit by Mr. Skene to Aleppo oigbleen 

 or twenty years ago were laughed at bj'^ tbe Arabs even of the 

 towns, and no one dreamed of sending his mares to them. Preju- 

 dice was too strong. We took great pains, while travelling with 

 the Anazeh, to ascertain what they knew of our English thorough- 

 bred stock, but with the exception of !Mi". Skene's they had never 

 heard of any, and laughed heartily at the idea of any mixture with 

 them or other kadishes having been permitted. 



f Abd-el-Kader told me that these five mares were Bvnat-d- 

 AhivaJ, purchased by Solomon of the Ishmaelites, and that one of 



