King David. 175 



and, except to the fastidious or initiated, as taking or 

 even more so to the European eye. This, I feel sure, 

 has been one of the reasons why more horses hke Bare- 

 foot and Honeysuckle have not found their way there. 

 The latter horse was disliked on his first appearance on 

 account of his want of size, and called an impostor and a 

 brute. But Sheik Ibraheen-bin-Alee, of Calcutta cele- 

 brity, quietly remarked, ' Very well, gentlemen, you will 

 see what a horse he will prove ! ' and when, in the 

 following season, ' the denounced ' did prove a distin- 

 guished winner, added, * Gentlemen, I told you so ! You 

 will never meet his like again ! ' His end was a sad 

 one ; he was burnt to death going up the Ganges in 

 the steamer ' Benares.' 



It is related that about the close of the last century, 

 an Arab horse was taken to Madras, and 6,000/. de- 

 manded for him. 1,000/. was eventually offered ; the 

 offer was indignantly refused, and the horse taken back. 

 I find, also, that in 1797 a horse of extraordinary merit 

 was sent to Bombay, evidently in very poor condition, 

 and out of all form, from neglect and bad usage, an 

 Arab called King David, 14 hands i^ inch high. He 

 was entered to make up one for the Aged Plate of 800 

 rupees, at Bombay, with little hope of his saving his 

 distance. He started with three others ; he won the 

 first' heat with great ease, distancing two of his three 

 competitors, and won the second very easily. The 

 next month being February, 1798, he ran a match for 

 10,000 rupees (1,000/.), with a famous Arab horse called 

 Antelope, which was brought down from Surat, it was 



