STUD BOOKS. 37 



Arabians to ensure purity of blood. Certain 

 ceremonies are observed at the covering of 

 the mare, and on the birth of the foal a 

 certificate is made out by the local authority, 

 which must be done within seven days of 

 its being dropped. " It has been asserted," 

 " Stonehenge" remarks, "by Oriental travellers, 

 that pedigrees exist which may be traced 

 back for five hundred years ! " "When the 

 Godolphm Arab, whose original name by the 

 way appears to have been Scham, was pre- 

 sented, with eight other horses, by the Bey 

 of Tunis to the King of France, his attendant, 

 a Moor named Agba, wore about his neck 

 an embroidered bag of camel's hair containing 

 the illustrious history and pedigree of his 

 precious charge. It was no doubt from the 

 importation of these Eastern horses into this 

 country that we learned the value of a 

 reliable pedigree, and to record the descent 

 of our own thoroughbred stock. 



Should the present interest in the breeding 



