py?i''j#-"-''^- - - "'*^-* 



ofif on tbe merchant as descended from the 

 sacred breed, f hey are said to be even 

 swifter than the domesticated horse." Mr. 

 Bruer, however, doubts whether any wild 

 horses are now found in Araba Deserta. 



"Although in the seventh century," cou- 

 tinoes the writer, "the Arabs had no horses 

 of value, yet the Capadocian and other 

 horses which they derived from the neigh- 

 bors, were preserved with so mnch care, 

 and propagated eo uniformly and strictly 

 from the finest of the breed, that in the 

 thirteenth century the Arabian horse began 

 to assume a just and unrivaled celebrity.'' 



There are said to be three breeds or var- 

 ieties of Arabian horses: — the Attechi, or 

 inferior breed, on which they set little value, 

 and which are found wild on some parts of 

 the deserts; Kadischi, literally horses of an 

 unknown race, answering to our half-bred 

 horses — a mixed breed; and the Kochlani, 

 horses, whose genealogy, according to the 

 Arab account, is known for two thousand 

 years. Many of them have written and 

 attested pedigrees extending more than four 

 hundred years, and with true Eastern ex- 

 aggeration, traced by oral tradition from the 

 stud of Solomon. A more careful account 

 is kept of these genealogies than belongs 

 to the most ancient family of the proudest 

 Arab chief, and very singular precautions 

 are taken to prevent the possibility of fraud, 

 80 far as the written pedigree extends. 



The Kochlani are principally reared by 

 the Bedouin Arabs in tbe remoter deserts. 

 A stallion may be procured without much 

 difficulty, although at a great price. A 

 mare is rarely to be obtained, except by 

 fraud and excessive bribery . The A rabs 

 have found out that which the American 

 breeder should never forget, that the female 

 is more concerned than the male in the ex- 

 cellence and value of the produce; and the 

 genealogies of their horses are always 

 reckoned from their mothers. 



The Arabian horse would not be acknow- 

 ledged by every judge to possess a perfect 

 form: his head, however, is inimitable. 

 The broaduers and squareness of the fore- 

 head, the shortness and fineness of the muz- 

 zle, the prominence and brilliancy of the 

 eye, the smallness of the ears, and the 

 beautiful course of the veins, will always 

 characterize the head of the Arabian horse. 

 His body may b« considered as too light, 

 and his chest as too narrow ; but behind the 

 arms the barrel generally swells oot, and 

 leaves sufficient room for the play of 

 the lungs. In the formation of the 

 shoulder, next to that of the head, the 

 Arab is superior to any other breed. The 



■ withers are high, and the shoulder-blade in- 

 clined backward, and so nicely adjusted 

 that in descending a hill ihe point or edge 

 of the ham never ruffles the skin. He may 

 not bethought sufficiently high; he seldom 

 stands more than fourteen hands two inches. 

 The fineness of his legs and the oblique 

 position of bis pasterns, may be supposed 

 to lessen his apparent strength; but the 

 leg, although small, is flat and wiry; ana- 

 tomists know that the bone has no common 

 density, and the starting muscles of the fore- 

 arm and the thigh indicate that he is folly 

 capable of accomplishing many of the feats 

 which are recorded of him. 



The Barb alone excels the ^ Arabian in 

 noble and spirited action; and if ther« be 

 defects about him, he is perfect for that for 

 which he was desigiid. He presents the 

 true combination of ipeed and bottom — 

 strength enough to carry more than a light 

 weight, and courage that would cause him 

 to die rather than to give up. We may not, 

 perhaps, believe all that is told us of the 

 Arabian. It has been remarked, that there 

 are on the deserts which this horse traverses, 

 no mile-stones to mark the distance, or 

 watches to calculate the time; ^nd the 

 Bedouin is naturally given to exaggeration, 

 and most of all, when relating the prowess 

 of the animal, which he loves as dearly as 

 his children, yet it cannot be denied that, at 

 the introduction of the Arabian into Euro- 

 pean stables, there was bo other horse com- 

 parable to him. 



The Arabian horse la as celebrated for 

 docility and good temper, as he is for speed 

 and courage. The following anecdote of the 

 attachment of the Arab to his mare, has 

 often been told, but it comes home to the 

 bosom of every one possessed of common 

 feeling: 'The whole stock of an Arab of 

 the desert consisted of a mare. The French 

 Consul offered to purchase her in order to 

 send her to his sovereign, Louis XIV. The 

 Arab would have rejected the proposal at 

 once with indignation and scorn, but he was 

 miserably poor. He had no means of sup- 

 plying his most urgent wants, or procuring 

 the barest necessaries of life. Still he hes- 

 itated ; — he had scarcely a rag to cover him 

 — and his wife and his children were starv- 

 ing. The sum offered was great, — it would 

 provide him and his family food for life. 

 At length, and reluctantly, he consented. — 

 He brought the mare to the dwelling of the 

 consul, — be dismounted, — he stood looking 

 upon her; — he looked now at his gold, and 

 then at his favorite; — he sighed — he wept. 

 "To whom is it," said he, "I am^oing to 

 yield thee up? To Europeans, who will 



