His Habitat. 1 6 1 



greatest number, and the best horses in Arabia, and 

 that they do come from Nejed, and that they are indeed 

 a part of the population of Nejed, and when wandering, 

 as a rule keep within the more remote parts of the 

 desert, avoiding as far as possible all intercourse with 

 the Turks, whom they dislike and despise. 



Although representatives of the five families are dis- 

 tributed indiscriminately among the different tribes, it 

 is necessary to know where to go for the best of each 

 kind. Keheilans are to be found in all tribes. The 

 Shammar in Mesopotamia have principally Hellawis, 

 which are a third class of Keheilan. Of course there 

 are some horses of the first class in their possession ; 

 and these have not been overdrawn by Mr. Layard, for 

 the celebrated Anezah sheik Jedaan rode a mare con- 

 stantly, which had been given him by the Shammar 

 sheik, because she was unsurpassed in speed and 

 bottom, so that he might not fall into the hands of the 

 Shammar — the two sheiks having been playmates in 

 their boyhood's days. But the Shammar have a bad 

 name. They have Kurds and Persians in their close 

 proximity, who would always be ready to pass off an 

 animal of mixed breed as an Arab. 



The number of first-class animals among small tribes, 

 such as the Mowali, must necessarily be small. For- 

 merly at feud with the Anezah, but latterly often on 

 friendly terms with them, they might have an oppor- 

 tunity of acquiring horses, or of breeding from their 

 first-class horses. 



The Fedan Anezah is a great fighting tribe, and use 



M 



