18 



THE RACE-HORSE. 



mixed, by which means it has dwindled. Accurate 

 observers must have noticed, that the greater part 

 of the horses brought to this country as Barbs and 

 Arabians have exhibited a palpable deficiency in 

 the points contributing to strength, and the want 

 of general substance is apparent at first sight. It 

 is true that, of late years, their estimation has so 

 diminished in this country, that no great pains 

 have been taken to procure stallions of the highest 

 caste, and scarcely any mares have been imported, 

 and several of those sent over have been accompa- 

 nied by very unsatisfactory pedigrees. We are, 

 however, inclined to think that, as the immediate 

 descendants of such horses are found quite ineffi- 

 cient as race-horses, and but few of the second or 

 third generation have turned up tramps, unless as 

 a rational experiment, the breeding of race-horses 

 from Arabians is at an end. 



In corroboration, however, of the good qualities 

 of form and texture of this comparatively Lillipu- 

 tian breed, we give the following extract from a 

 letter of the late Captain Gw^atkin, head of one of 

 the Honourable India Company's studs, on the sub- 

 ject of crossing the English thorough-bred horse 

 with foreign blood, dated Hauper, Bengal, Septem- 

 ber 1828, to show, by their rate of going, their 

 great endurance under the combined pressure of 

 weight and speed ; for to have run these lengths 

 in the time specified, their height only averaging 

 fourteen hands one inch, and of course unfavourable 

 to speed, in addition to the ground being sandy, 

 and therefore void of elasticity, the pace must have 



