THE ARABIAN HORSE. 25 



Syria is the best place to purchase true Arabian blood-horses ; and no district 

 is superior to the Naurau, where the horse may be purchased from the first 

 hand, and chosen in the very encampments of the Arabs themselves, who fill 

 these plains in the spring. The horses bought at Bassora for the Indian markets 

 are purchased second-hand from Bedouin dealers. These procure them from 

 the Montifell Arabs, who are not careful in maintaining a pure breed. Damascus 

 would be the best residence for a person constantly employed in this trade. 



While the number of horses generally is much smaller than had been sup- 

 posed, there are comparatively fewer of those of perfect quality and beauty, — 

 perhaps not more than five or six in a whole tribe; probably not two hun- 

 dred in the whole desert. Each of these in the desert itself may be worth 

 from one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds ; but very few, if any, of 

 these have ever found their way to Europe. 



There has, however, been much exaggeration with regard to these pedigrees. 

 Burckhardt says, that in the interior of the desert, the Bedouins never make use 

 of any, because, among themselves, they know the genealogy of their horse 

 almost as well as that of their own families ; but if they carry their horses to 

 any distance, as to Bassora, Bagdat, or Damascus, they take care to have a 

 written pedigree made out, in order to present it to the purchaser. In that case 

 only would a Bedouin be found possessed of his horse's pedigree. He would 

 laugh at it in the desert. 



The Kochlani are principally reared by the Bedouin Arabs in the remoter 

 deserts. One of them was sold at Acre for the sum of fifteen thousand piastres. 



It is an error into which almost every writer on the history of the horse 

 has fallen, that the Arabian is bred in the arid deserts, and owes the power of 

 endurance which he possesses in his adult state to the hardships which he 

 endured while he was a colt. The real fact is, that the Arabs select for their 

 breeding-places some of those delightful spots, known. only in countries like 

 these, where, though all may be dry and barren around, there is pasture 

 unrivalled for its succulence and its nutritious or aromatic properties. The 

 powers of the young animal are afterwards developed, as they alone could be, 

 by the mingled influence of plentiful and healthy food, and sufficient, but not, 

 except in one day of trial, cruel exercise. 



The most extraordinary care is. taken to preserve the purity of the breed. 

 Burckhardt states that the favourite mare of Savud the Wahabee, which he 

 constantly rode in all his expeditions, and was known in every part of Arabia, 

 produced a colt of very superior beauty and promise, and it grew to be the finest 

 stallion of his day. Savud, however, would never permit him to be used for 

 the purposes of breeding, because his mother was not of pure blood ; and not 

 knowing what to do with him, as the Bedouins never ride stallions, he sent 

 him as a present to the scheriff. 



The parentage and birth of the foal are carefully recorded by competent 

 witnesses, whose certificate includes the marks of the colt, and the names of the 

 sire and dam. 



The colt is never allowed to fall on the ground at the period of birth, but is 

 caught in the arms of those who stand by, and washed and caressed as though 

 it were an infant. The mare and her foal inhabit the same tent with the 

 Bedouin and his children. The neck of the mare is often the pillow of the 

 rider, and, more frequently, of the children, who are rolling about upon her 

 and the foal. No accident ever occurs, and the animal acquires that friend- 

 ship and love for man which occasional ill-treatment will not cause her for a 

 moment to forget. 



At the end of a month the foal is weaned, and is fed on camel's milk for 

 one hundred days. At the expiration of that period, a little wheat is allowed ; 



