ARABIAN HORSES. 265 
special mission to Medina for the sole purpose of 
procuring a rare work on farriery. At another time 
he sent a bullock cart from Egypt all the way to 
Nejd to bring home a famous mare, old and unable 
to travel on foot, that he had purchased from the 
Anazeh. A Bedouin, who had been sent to Cairo by 
one of the chiefs of Nejd, was shown over the vice- 
roy’s stables, by order of that official, On being 
asked his opinion of the blood, he replied frankly 
that the stables did not contain a single thorough- 
bred. He added an apology on the part of his chief 
for the animals which he had just brought to the 
viceroy from Arabia, declaring that neither Sultan 
nor sheikh could procure colts of the best strain. 
Bagdad is on the very edge of the desert, and the 
Pasha of that place has unlimited resources; but 
Mr. Blunt says: “Although his Excellency’s horses 
were, as a lot, good of their kind, they were very 
different from real Arabs; and on comparing them 
with those of the Anazeh their inferiority was con- 
spicuous, and their history could easily be under- 
stood. They were very nearly all gray.” 
In the centre of Arabia, in the district of Nejd and 
on the border of the desert, is the city of Hail, where 
for many years has existed the famous stud of the 
Emir-of Hail. Emissaries of this dignitary are con- 
stantly on the lookout for mares, wherever they can 
find them, and not infrequently ghdzus, or maraud- 
ing expeditions, have been sent out by the Emir 
against this or that tribe, for the express purpose of 
capturing some particular mare whose fame had 
spread over the desert. It was of the animals in 
this stud that Mr. W. G. Palgrave’s oft-quoted de- 
