allied armies will encounter in their march on Pekin — a shaggy rough 

 galloway, under fourteen hands. 



Through the care of man, it is needless to add that vast improve- 

 ments have been effected in the horse. This care, as is well known, has 

 been long bestowed by the Arabs. It is certain, however, that in Arabia, 

 as in every other country, a native race must have existed to afford 

 the materials for selection. In sacred writing Solomon is represented 

 as purchasing his stud, not in Arabia but in Egypt, from which it 

 has been very hastily inferred that the last of these countries, and 

 not the first, is the parent country of the high-bred Arab as we know 

 him. For this notion, however, I can see no good foundation. The 

 Egyptians of the time of Solomon were a civilised and wealthy people, 

 with abundance of horses, and the Israelite king naturally went for 

 his to the best or most abundant market, which was Egypt. The 

 Arabs of the same period were a rude, nomadic, and isolated people, 

 and so they continued for a long time after, until, indeed, Mahomed, 

 in the seventh century of our own time, "breathed," as Gibbon 

 expresses it, " the soul of enthusiasm into their savage bodies," and 

 made them an united, a conquering, and in many respects a prosperous 

 people. It was most probably then only that they began to pay 

 special attention to the breeding of the horse, and the result of which 

 has been the production of that animal which, in so far as form, bottom, 

 and beauty are concerned, is considered the perfection of the blood 

 horse. He is, however, in size what we should call a mere galloway, 

 and when in perfection seldom exceeding fourteen and a half hands 

 high. He cannot be said to be master of a weight exceeding ten stone, 

 and yet there is some adaptation of his strength to the usual class of 

 riders he has to carry, for the man of Asia is much lighter than the 

 man of Europe. In India it has been ascertained that on an average 

 the Indian trooper is lighter than the English light dragoon by no 

 less than two stone and a quarter. The difference between the 

 Englishman and the Arab is probably not so large, but still it must 

 be very considerable. 



The Arab horse has been justly praised for its gentleness and docility, 

 qualities generally ascribed to their rearing and tuition. I am, however, 

 satisfied that this character is far more owing to the natural temperament 

 of the race, for it sometimes happens that an Arab is vicious, and when 

 he is, he is exquisitely and incorrigibly so. There is one quality in 

 which the Arab horse perhaps excels every other, endurance of con- 

 tinuous labour. A little Arab of U hands, for a bet of £500, rode 400 



