THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



35 



THE GEAZIER. 



Arab Horses. 



We find a most interesting letter from one 

 of a party of three Americans, who recent- 

 ly visited Palestine, Syria, Damascus and 

 the homes of the Bedouin Arabs, for the 

 purpose of obtaining and bringing to Ken- 

 tucky iome horses of pure Arab blood. 

 One of these gentlemen was A. K. Rich- 

 ards, well known in Kentucky, as the owner 

 and breeder of fine horses. The whole let- 

 ter is interesting, but we have only room for 

 that portion of it directly relating to oar 

 subject. The letter is dated at "Gavston 

 near Liverpool." The writer says — 



"Tou are doubtless acquainted with A. K. 

 Richards, the importer of some Arab horses 

 a few years ago, and the owner of »ome of 

 the best stock in America — Peytona, Blonde 

 and many others. It has ever been his 

 opinion that the Arab horse is superior to 

 every race in the world, either for racing, 

 riding, or, crossed with the proper kind of 

 mares, for carriage purposes. Although 

 the importation he made was much approved 

 by the best judges, he was still dissatified, 

 and determined to make another For this 

 , purpose we went to Europe, and being joined 

 by Mr. Troye, traveled through England and 

 France expressly to examine and compare 

 the hones of those two countries, and also 

 to see the character of the importations 

 made from the East, as Arab horses. We 

 saw no Arabs in England that we consider- 

 ed thorough-bred, and but two in France. 

 These belonged to the Emperor. We saw 

 a great many called Arabs, and have since 

 seen hundreds such in Syria; but they are a 

 mixture of the Arab, Turkish and Koord 

 races. We went to Turkey, and thence to 

 Syria. We traveled through every part of 

 Palestine and Western Syria, without meet- 

 ing with a single horse that would do to 

 import. Having stayed a few months in 

 Damascus to gain some knowledge of the 

 Arabic, of the Bedouin tribes, &c., we 

 launched out into these wild tribes East and 

 South of Damascus dressed as Bedouin 

 Sheiks, and well armed with Colt's revolvers 

 and Minie Rifles. Mr. Troye was very 

 hard to please, for in the course of his pro- 

 fession you know he has had much to do 

 with the horse, and is a thorough judge. 

 We would sometimes see an animal that 

 looked perfect, but something would be 

 wrong about the pedigree, and however 

 given a Bedouin may generally be to lying, 



he will always speak the truth about his 

 Jiorse. An oath, too, is always required by 

 the buyer from the owner, and from the 

 Sheik of the tribe. Thus we would find 

 about six out of ten whose pedigree could 

 not be established. They have three varie- 

 ties — the noble, the doubtful, and the ked- 

 desh," or mixed. The nobl« races are five 

 — the Coheylan and Sacklowee beiug con- 

 sidered the best — the former for bottom, the 

 latter for speed — and these, of course, bring 

 the highest prices. The sum demanded for a 

 fine mare is sometimes incredible to those 

 unaccustomed to the Bedouin's estimation of 

 an extraordinary animal. I will give you 

 an instance of this kind, I saw a mare of 

 the most symmetrical form and the purest 

 blood. I wished to purchase her. A Be- 

 douin never fixes a price, but leaves you to 

 bid until he is satisfied with the. offer. I 

 commenced bidding, and at last went to 

 what I considered a very extravagant price ; 

 but still the savage merely shook his head 

 and showed his teeth . Then I asked him if 

 he wouldn't sell her if I doubled my offer. 

 He threw out his arm, and pointing towards 

 her, asked me if I could load her with gold. 

 I told him that was far beyond my means. 

 "Well," said he, "if you could the gold 

 would still be yours, the mare mine. Such 

 is the Bedouin's appreciation of his horse. 

 And yet that same mare stood chained in 

 front of the tent, exposed to cold nights 

 and rains, or ready at any time for a run of 

 twenty miles over the burning sands of the 

 desert. 



We at last selected two stallions and a 

 yearling colt. One of the stallions and the 

 colt are Nesjda bred, of the most perfect 

 forms and purest pedigrees; the former, a 

 dark gray, being of the Coheylan; the latter 

 a dark chestnut, three years old, also of the 

 same race. The other stallion is a rich bay, 

 nearly four years old. bred near Palmyra, of 

 the Sacklewee race . This horse Mr. Troye 

 considers one of the most perfect animals he 

 ever saw. He is very much like the Darley 

 Arabian, according to the plates we have 

 seen, and resembles Wes<" Australian, but is 

 a much more blood-like horse. I have, also 

 a magnificent mare. 



I am now going to show why the Arab 

 horse has been so underrated since the time 

 of the Godolphin or Darley Arabian. If, 

 in the deserts, six out of ten, as we found, 

 are not thoroughbred, is it probable that a 

 thoroughbred is often to be found in the 

 town and villages of Syria or Egypt? When 

 a Bedouin visits a towii he never rides a fine 

 horse, and this we often observed. There is 



