Irish Humour 141 



ideas about Arabs have been clean knocked on the head." 

 The famous white hunter that carried Charles Davis so 

 many seasons with the Queen's Staghounds was half Arab, 

 and many other good hunters might be mentioned that 

 were bred in the same way. 



A hunter sire that produced many good horses in 

 Yorkshire was bred thus, though probably few of those 

 who purchased his produce were aware how near to the 

 Arab he was in descent. This was " Due de Beaufort," 

 who was by " Ventre St. Gris," out of " Dame d'Honneur " 

 by the " Baron." " Ventre St. Gris " was by " Gladiator," 

 out of " Belle de Mint " by " Karchane " (Arab), out of 

 " Misere " by " Bagdali " (Arab). Thus the grandmother 

 and great-grandmother of " Due de Beaufort " were each 

 daughters of an Arabian. 



He was a very useful horse himself, and was brought 

 over as a two-year-old, with many others, from France, 

 at the time when the Prussians were investing Paris, who 

 very nearly succeeded in capturing them as spoils of war. 

 He won on the fiat, over hurdles, and over steeplechase 

 courses, capturing the Sefton Steeplechase at Liverpool, 

 and running fourth for the Grand National Steeplechase 

 itself. Not bad work for a horse with so much Arabian 

 blood in his veins. 



The Spaniards and Portuguese are particularly fond 

 of an Arab cross, and breed many excellent racehorses in 

 this way. What they preferred was to cross their country 

 mares with the Arabian, and then to follow with the 

 thoroughbred. To reverse this, and begin with the 

 thoroughbred, did not produce such satisfactory results. 

 The Arab cross at once knocked out the ungainly points 

 of the "jaca," and in place of the ungainly head, ewe 



