28 FOREIGN BREEDS OF HORSES. 



Druses on horseback, attacked, in the summer of 1815, a party of Bedouins, and 

 pursued them to their encampment : the Bedouins were then assisted by a 

 superior force, and becoming the assailants in their turn, killed all the Druses 

 excepting one who fled. He was pursued by some of the best mounted Bedouins, 

 but his mare, although fatigued, could not be overtaken. Before his pursuers 

 gave up the chase they called to him, and begged to be permitted to kiss his 

 excellent mare, promising him safe conduct for her sake. He might have taken 

 them at their word, for the pledge of an Arab, in such circumstances, might have 

 been relied on : he however refused. They immediately left the pursuit, and, 

 blessing the noble beast, cried out to the fugitive, ' Go and wash the feet of your 

 mare and drink off the water.' This expression is often used by the Bedouins 

 to show the regard they have for their mares*." 



A periodical writer, on what authority is not stated, but he is right in most 

 of the particulars if not in all of them, says, that " taking the comparative 

 excellence of the different races, Nejed, between the desert of Syria and Yemen, 

 and now in the possession of the Wahabis, is generally reckoned to produce the 

 grandest, noblest horses. Hejas (extending along the Red Sea, from Mount 

 Sinai to Yemen, and including in it Medina and Mecca) the handsomest ; Yemen 

 (on the coast of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and the most fertile part of 

 Arabia) the most durable ; Syria the richest in colour ; Mesopotamia the most 

 quiet ; Egypt the swiftest ; Barbary the most prolific ; and Persia and Koor- 

 distan the most warlike t." 



The introduction of the Arabian into England, and the concern which he has 

 had in the improvement of the English horse, will be treated of in the next 

 chapter. 



THE PERSIAN HORSE. 



Next in the route which has been pursued along the south of Asia, towards 

 the east, and yielding only to the Arabian in beauty and value, stands the Per- 

 sian horse. He is of larger growth than the Arabian, — purposely bred so, — 

 and on that account some foreign — still east country, but not pure Arabian 

 blood, being introduced. A larger animal, one more adapted for modern war, 

 is the result, but with some diminution of speed and endurance. The Persian 

 is a nobler-looking animal at the first glance, but he will not bear the accurate 

 examination that only increases our admiration of the other. Berenger thus 

 describes their principal points : — " They are in general small headed ; they 

 have long and somewhat too fine foreheads, and they are rather too narrow 

 chested ; their legs are a little small, but their croups are well fashioned, and 

 their hoofs good and firm. They are docile, quick, light, bold, full of spirit, 

 capable of enduring much fatigue, swift, sure-footed, hardy in constitution, and 

 contented with almost any provender." They have, since his time, lost 

 somewhat of the beauty, elasticity, docility, speed, and almost never-failing 

 endurance. 



The Persian horses constituted in ancient times the best cavalry of the East. 

 The improved, incomparable Arabian breed was not then in existence. 



An entertaining traveller (Sir R. Kerr Porter) gives the following account of 

 them : — " The Persian horses seldom exceed fourteen or fourteen and a half 

 hands high, yet certainly, in the whole, are taller than the Arabs. Those of 

 the desert and country about Hillah run very small, but are full of bone and oi 

 good speed. General custom feeds and waters them only at sunrise and sun- 

 set, when they are cleaned. Their usual provender is barley and chopped straw 

 which, if the animals are picketed, is put into a nose-bag and hung from their 

 heads ; but if stabled, it is thrown into a small lozenge-shaped hole left in the 



Compr.mtiYO View of the Racer, p. 151. •(■ The Sportsman, vol. Hi. p. 256. 



