398 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARABU. 



in his strength : He mocketh at fear ; neither turneth he back 

 from the sword : He swalloweth the ground with fierceness 

 and rage, and smelleth the battle afar off." The famous 

 racers Dahes and Ghabra have been already noticed (vol. i. 

 p. 170), from which it would appear that the amusements of 

 the turf were among the national festivals of the ancient 

 Bedouins. D'Herbelot speaks of the Kamel el Sanaieyn, 

 an old work which treats of the keeping and physick- 

 ing of horses. Another on the same subject, still more 

 curious, bears the title of " Summary of all tbat can be 

 desired to be learned respecting the different Races of 

 Horses:" According to the author of this treatise, all the 

 breeds already alluded to sprung from a stallion and a mare, 

 called Zad al Rckeb and Serdet Shekhan, which belonged to 

 Muthayer Ibn Oshaim, chief of one of the primitive tribes of 

 Yemen. He has given a table, which contains 136 races of 

 Arabian horses, — three Persian, nine Turkoman, and seven 

 Kurdj— and mentions the Safenet as being of the same spe- 

 cies with those presented to Solomon by the Queen of Sheba. 

 The modern Bedouins repose implicit faith in the traditions 

 of antiquitv, and still reckon their five noble breeds to bs 

 descended from the stud of the prophet. The following are the 

 names : — Taueysc, Manekeye, Koheyl, Saklawye, and Jul fa ; 

 which, according to the \'ulgar notion, are derived from the 

 different districts of Nejed, where they were born. These 

 principal races diverge into innumerable ramifications. The 

 Saklawye is subdivided into the Jcdran, Abriyehi and Nejm 

 cl Subh ; the Koheyl into Ajuz, Kerda, Sheikha^ Dabbah, Ibn 

 Khuei/sha, Khumeyseh, and Abu Moarraff ; the Julfa has 

 only a single branch, that of Estemblath. Besides these, 

 they have various others of a secondary or less-esteemed 

 breed, such as the Henaydi, Abu Arkub, Abayan, Shcraki, 

 Shueyman, Hadaba, Wedna, Medhemehy Khabitha, Omeriah^ 

 and Sadathukan. The different races have not any charac- 

 teristic marks by which they can be distinguished from each 

 other. Every mare particularly swift and handsome, with 

 noble blood in her veins, may give origin to a new stock, the 

 descendants of which are called after her ; so that the cata- 

 logue of distinct races in the desert is almost endless. The 

 only means of recognising them is by certificates of their 

 genealogy, which are drawn up by the proprietors, and at- 

 tested by witnesses : in these the issue, both masculine am^ 



