264 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 
Arabs, the “sons of horses,” are raised. The chief 
horse market of Syria is Damascus, on the shore 
of the desert. Opposite, on the eastern shore, in 
almost a straight line from Damascus, is Bagdad, the 
capital of Turkish Arabia, another great horse mar- 
ket; and south of Bagdad, between the Euphrates 
and the Tigris, there is a wide stretch of country 
where many half Arabs are bred, chiefly for sale in 
India. 
The Arabian horses, so called, that are found in 
Turkey, especially in Constantinople, in Egypt, in 
Syria, and in India, are not the true coursers of the 
desert, but their “sons.” They are commonly gray, 
and hence the popular idea that gray is the normal 
color of the Arabian horse. As a matter of fact, the 
Bedouins prefer bay with black points, —not objecting 
to three white feet, —and this is the most frequent 
color among the Anazeh mares; next comes chestnut, 
then gray. Black is a rare and inferior color. White 
horses are much esteemed, but seldom occur. Roans, 
piebalds, duns, and yellows are never found among 
pure-bred Arabs. The two Arabian stallions sent to 
General Grant as a present from the Sultan of Tur- 
key, in 1876, are both grays, and though they were 
supposed to be pure bred, the probability is, I can- 
not help thinking, that they are kadishes, “sons of 
horses,” not horses themselves. Neither money nor 
high office can command the flower of the desert. 
Even Abbass Pasha had only a few really thorough- 
bred mares, and yet he spent five million dollars in 
gathering his famous stud at Cairo. 
This man appears to have had a notable passion 
for horseflesh. On one occasion he despatched a 
