12 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



2. The Arabian Horse. The genealogy of the Arabian 

 horse, according to Arab account, is known for two thousand 

 years. Many of them have written and attested pedigrees ex- 

 tending more than four hundred years, and, with true Eastern 

 exaggeration, traced by oral tradition from the stud of Solo- 

 mon. A more careful account is kept of these genealogies than 

 of those of the most ancient family of the proudest Arab chief, 

 and very singular precautions are taken to prevent the possi- 

 bility of fraud, so far as the written pedigree extends. 



The head of the Arabian horse is inimitable. The broadness 

 and squareness of the forehead, the shortness and fineness of the 

 muzzle, the prominence and brilliancy of the eye, the smallness 

 of the ears, and the beautiful course of the veins, are its char- 

 acteristics. In the formation of the shoulders next to the head, 

 the Arabian is superior to any other breed. The withers are 

 high and the shoulder-blades inclined backward, and so nicely 

 adjusted that in descending a hill the point or edge of the hain 

 never ruffles the skin. The fineness of the legs and the oblique 

 position of the pasterns may seem to lessen his strength ; but 

 the leg, although small, is flat and wiry, and its bones uncom- 

 monly dense.* 



Richardson says : " Often may the traveler in the desert, on 

 entering within the folds of a tent, behold the interesting spec- 

 tacle of a magnificent courser extended upon the ground, and 

 some half dozen little dark-skinned, naked urchins scrambling 

 across her body, or reclining in sleep, some upon her neck, 

 some on her body, and others pillowed upon her heels ; nor do 

 the children ever experience injury from their gentle playmate. 

 She recognizes the family of her friend, her patron, and toward 

 them all the natural sweetness of her disposition leans, even to 

 overflowing." 



The Arabian horse Tartar, whose portrait we give on the next 

 page, is thus described in the New England Farmer : " This 

 beautiful horse was bred by Asa Pingree, of Topsfield, Mass. 



* Youatt. 



