1902.] Dr. E. D. Ross — On an early Arabic M8..,relating to famous horses. 63 



Tradition by which they have become famous. In the case of horses 

 who owe their fame to the poets, verses in which their names occnr 

 are quoted in full. In a few cases, the author apparently knowing 

 nothing of the horse in question, or having lost his reference, merely 

 mentions that the horse was " famous." In many instances we find 

 genealogies of horses, which in some cases go back five or six genera- 

 tions. There have been many Arab writers on hippology and on the 

 veterinary art, but I believe the present " Stud-Book " is among the 

 older writers unique of its kind. 



Our Asiatic Society's Library is sadly deficient in the important 

 item of catalogues of manuscripts. On this account before committing 

 the above statement to print I wrote to Mr. E. G. Ellis of the British 

 Museum on the subject. He kindly sent me the following reply : *' I 

 can find nothing out about the Ititab ul-Halbah of Mulj. b. 'AH b. 

 Kamil. A work of a similar nature was compiled for Dr. Perron by 

 Mu^ Ayyad al Tantawi. Dr. Perron published a translation of it in 

 the first volume of his " Le Naceri. La Perfection des Deux Arts, 

 Traite complet d'Hippologie et d'Hippiatrie Arabes ... Traduit de 

 lArabe d'Abou Bekr ibu Bedr " 2 pt. Paris 1852—60. Al-Tantawi's 

 treatise however contains a good many more names of horses than your 

 MS does. Unfortunately he does not name any of his sources." 

 The MS. is in the author's own hand, and is probably unique. 

 He gives his name in the colophon as Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn Kamil, 

 and says that he composed and wrote this work in A. H. 677 (A.D. 

 1278). The introduction contains a dedication to the vezir Abu '1-Mu- 

 fakhir Muhammad ibn Abu *Abdu'llah Mul^ammad ibn Abd '1- Hasan 

 'All. I have unfortunately been unable to identify either the author or 

 his patron. He quotes frequently from the following writers on the 

 horse. Abii 'Ubayda, died A.H. 209. Al-'Asma'i, died A. H. 216, and 

 Ibu al-'Arabi, died A.H. 643. I may add that I have prepared a 

 transcript of the text for publication. 



5. On a collection of birds from the Chin Hills. — By Lieut. H. 

 Wood, R.E., and F. Finn, B.A., F.Z.S., Deputy Superintendent of the 

 Indian Museum. 



6. Notes on animals at the Alipur Zoological Garden, No. 2. — By 

 Rai Bahadur Ram Brahma Sanyal, Superintendent of the Garden. 



7. Note on a disputed point in the life-history of Relopeltis thei" 

 vora. — By H. H. Mann, B.Sc. 



8. Some Anthropological notes on Calcutta Juvenile Criminals, -^By 

 Major W. J. Buchanan, I. M.S. 



