THE DONGOLA OR NUBIAN HORSE. 17 



common practice with the owners of superior or good horses to blemish or to 

 lame them, in order that they might not be robbed of them by order of the Bey. 



Of the state to which the native horses were reduced, and even many in the 

 corps of the Mamelukes— the body-guard of the Bey — the following evidence 

 from a competent observer will determine :— " Although the horses there seldom 

 pass out of a foot pace except for a gallop of 100 yards, most of them are 

 foundered, and none, if quickly trotted ten miles, would be able from want of 

 wind and stamina to go farther *." 



The testimony of Burckhardt is to the same effect : — " The Egyptian horse 

 ' s u gly> of coarse shape, and looking more like a cart-horse than a racer. Thin 

 legs and knees and short and thick necks are frequent defects among them. 

 The head is sometimes fine, but I never saw good legs in an Egyptian horse. 

 They are not able to bear any great fatigue, but when well fed, their action 

 occasionally is more brilliant than that of the Arabian. Their impetuosity, 

 however, renders them peculiarly desirable for heavy cavalry, and it is upon 

 this quality alone that their celebrity has ever been founded." 



Since the accession of Mehemet Ali to the government of Egypt, a beneficial 

 change has been effected in the internal management and prosperity of the 

 country, and the improvement of the breed of horses has especially engaged 

 his attention. He has even gone so far as to establish a veterinary school at 

 Abou-Zabel, and, as should be the case with every institution of this kind, he 

 has not only identified it with the cavalry service, but with the agricultural 

 interests of the country. The happy consequences of this are neither doubtful 

 nor distant. 



There is a long but narrow tract of desert between the Nile and the Red Sea, 

 on which some Arabian horsest of the choicest breed are reared. 



THE DONGOLA OR NUBIAN HORSE. 



The kingdom of Dongola, the modern Nubia, lying between Egypt and 

 Abyssinia, contains a breed of horses different from any other that either 

 Arabia or Africa produces. Mr. Bruce speaks of it in the following strong terms 

 of approbation : — " What figure the Nubian breed of horses would make in 

 point of swiftness is very doubtful, their form being so entirely different from 

 that of the Arabian ; but if beautiful and symmetrical parts, great size and 

 strength, the most agile, nervous, and elastic movements, great endurance of 

 fatigue, docility of temper,and, beyond any other domestic animal, seeming attach- 

 ment to man, can promise anything for a stallion, the Nubian is, above all compari- 

 son, the most eligible in the world. Few of them are less than sixteen hands high." 



Bosman, whose descriptions prove him to be no bad horseman, thus speaks of 

 them : — " The Dongola horses are the most perfect in the world, being beautiful, 

 symmetrical in their parts, nervous and elastic in their movements, and docile 

 and affectionate in their manners. One of these horses was sold in 1816, at 

 Grand Cairo, for a sum equivalent to 3 000/." The Dongola horses are usually 

 of a black colour, but there are some bright bays and sorrels. When their 

 exercise is over, the usual bridle is taken away, and a lighter one put upon 

 them ; for the inhabitants tell of many battles that were lost, from their being 

 attacked when their horses were unbridled. 



The slender yet finely set on neck, the noble crest, the elevated withers, the 

 beautiful action and bearing of the animal were admirable ; but the long and 

 slender legs, the weakness of the fore-arm, the narrowness and want of depth of 

 the chest, and even a deficiency of substance about the flank and quarters, could 

 not escape observation. Such an animal might have speed, but his endurance 



* Wilson's Expedition to Egypt in 1803, p. 250. 

 "?'- >j- Comparative View of the Racer, &c, p. 148. 



c 



