HISTORY. 477 



was taken in an attack by an Arab tribe on a party of the 

 Royal Family of Persia, when journeying on a pilgrimage. 

 The Arab chief who headed the attacking party was killed, 

 and his charger, running into the Persian ranks, was taken. 

 A ransom, enormous for so poor a tribe, was subsequently 

 offered by the Arabs for their noble horse, but refused ; and 

 he was brought to England by Sir John M'Neil, the British 

 Resident at the Court of Persia. He stands fourteen and 

 a half hands high. He is gentle in the highest degree, and 

 so thoroughly trained to that kind of exercise which the 

 Arabs are careful to teach their horses, that he may be gal- 

 loped round the narrowest circle. When his portrait was 

 in the course of being painted, he was languid from the cold 

 of the weather. It was wished to rouse him for a little, and 

 the idea occurred of trying the effect of some tones of simple 

 music. The sounds no sooner struck his ear than his whole 

 frame was agitated ; his heart throbbed so violently, that its 

 beating could be seen ; and so great was his excitement, 

 that it was necessary instantly to stop the music. Some 

 chord of feeling, it seems, had been struck : perchance he 

 was reminded, for a moment, of his desert home, and of the 

 friends from whom he had been so rudely severed. 



The horses of England would perish under the scanty 

 nourishment, the toils, and privations of the Arab. These 

 Desert horses subsist on the scantiest fare, and are patient 

 of hunger and thirst in a degree unknown in any other races 

 except the African. They feed on the scanty plants which 

 the borders of the desert supply, and when these are wanting, 

 they are fed on a little barley, with chopped straw, withered 

 herbs, roots dragged from the sands, dates, when these can 

 be obtained, and in cases of need, the milk of the Camel. 

 They drink at long intervals, and in moderate quantities. 

 They bear continued exposure to the fiercest heat, and day 

 after day pursue marches of incredible toil through the burn- 

 ing sands of the wilderness. The temper of these beautiful 

 horses is no less happily moulded than their bodily powers 



