34 THE HORSE. 



Anaze, and Seclaoni/ Horses of this breed are little known at 

 Damascus, and connoisseurs assert that they are incomparable; 

 thus their value is arbitrary, and always exceeds two thousand 

 piastres." 



The first and last of these breeds are those which are most sought 

 after by East Indian sportsmen ; and Colonel Bower, who is one of 

 their strongest admirers, tells us that he once possessed a three- 

 year-old colt which stood fifteen hands and an inch at that age. 

 He describes him as having " the stereotyped assortment of Eastern 

 beauties : could stick his nose in a tumbler, and looked the gentle- 

 man all over ; remarkably muscular, and as stately in his bearing 

 as an autocrat, but his clean flat wiry legs, measuring eight inches 

 round the shank below the knee, had nothing English in their 

 composition. This was a pure Anaze Arab, but his career in the 

 field was cut short by his casting himself in his stall, and dislocat- 

 ing his hip." It will be seen that no mention is here made of the 

 breed which has been so long familiar to those who read our mo- 

 dern histories of the horse as that called " Kochlani" or " Kailhan/' 

 descended from the stud of Mahomet, who is supposed by many 

 historians to have laid the foundation of the Arabian pedigrees. 

 There is a tradition that the Prophet, being desirous of selecting 

 mares for his stud, had a number of them which had been used as 

 chargers kept for two days without water. At the end of that 

 time, when mad with thirst, they were set at liberty, and at the 

 moment when they were close to the coveted water, his trumpets 

 sounded a war charge, which had such an efiect upon five of them 

 that they abandoned the water, and gallopped to the spot where 

 they expected to meet with the still greater excitement of war. 

 These five were therefore selected to form the foundation of his 

 stud, and from them it is supposed that the race called "Kochlani" 

 are descended. There is a slight similarity between this name and 

 that of the second in the list enumerated by Ali Bey, and perhaps 

 his " Seclaoni" may be identical with the " Kochlani" of previous 

 writers. It is asserted by Oriental travellers that pedigrees exist 

 which can be traced five hundred years back, and in the highest 

 breeds there is no doubt that at present great care is taken, and 

 many ceremonies performed at the covering of the mare. After 

 the birth of the foal, a certificate is always duly made out by the 

 local authority, and this must be done within seven days of its 

 being dropped. 



Arabia is, in great measure, made up of rocky mountains and 

 sandy deserts ; but in Arabia Felix there are numerous valleys of 

 remarkable fertility ; though it is chiefly on the limited oasis sur- 

 rounding each well or spring of water that the Arab horses are 

 dependent for their food. It is found even in this country that a 

 very luxuriant herbage does not suit the horse, whose frame be- 



