AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
31 
Arabian, or English thorough-bred, which are longer by 
some inches than they are high. The neck is long and 
slender, the crest fine, and the withers sharp and high, 
giving a beautiful forehand; but the breast is too narrow, the 
quarters and flanks too flat, and the back carped. 
“Bosnian, whose descriptions prove him to be no bad 
horseman, thus speaks of them, but in somewhat too flatter- 
ing a manner. ‘ The Dongola Horses are the most per- 
fect in the world, being beautiful, symmetrical in their 
parts, nervous and elastic in their movements, and docile 
and affectionate in their manners. One of these Horses 
was sold in 1816, at Grand Cairo, for a sum equivalent to 
1000/.’ Going further eastward we arrive at Arabia, 
whose Horses deservedly occupy the very highest rank.” 
The Arabian. 
“ A few wild Horses are yet seen on some of the deserts of 
Arabia. They are hunted by the Bedouins for their flesh, 
which is considered a delicacy, if the animal be young; and 
also to increase their stock of inferior Horses, which they 
often palm on the merchant as descended from the sacred 
breed. They are said to be even swifter than the domes- 
ticated Horse, and are usually taken by traps hidden in 
the sand. Mr. Bruce, however, doubts whether any wild 
Horses are now found in Arabia Deserta. 
“Although in the seventh century, the Arabs had no 
Horses of value, yet the Cappadocian and other Horses 
which they had derived from their neighbours, were pre- 
served with so much care, and propagated so uniformly 
and strictly from the finest of the breed, that in the thir- 
teenth century the Arabian Horse began to assume a just 
and unrivalled celebrity. 
“ There are said to be three breeds or varieties of Ara- 
bian Horses: — the Attechi, or inferior breed, on which 
they set little value, and which are found wild on some 
parts of the deserts; the Kadischi, literally Horses of an 
unknown race, answering to our half-bred Horses — a mixed 
breed; and the Kochlani, Horses whose genealogy, accord- 
ing to the Arab account, is known for two thousand years. 
Many of them have written and attested pedigrees extend- 
ing more than four hundred years, and with true Eastern 
exaggeration, traced by oral tradition from the stud of So- 
lomon. A more careful account is kept of these genealo- 
gies than belongs to the most ancient family of the proud- 
est Arab chief, and very singular precautions are taken to 
prevent the possibility of fraud, so far as tbc written pedi- 
gree extends. 
“ The Kochlani are principally reared by the Bedouin 
Arabs, in the remoter deserts. A stallion may be pro- 
cured without much difficulty, although at a great price. 
A mare is rarely to be obtained, except by fraud, and ex- 
cessive bribery. The Arabs have found out that which the 
English breeder should never forget, that the female is 
more concerned than the male in the excellence and value 
of the produce; and the genealogies of their Horses are 
always reckoned from the mothers. 
“The Arabian Horse would not be acknowledged by 
every judge to possess a perfect form; his head, however, 
is inimitable. The broadness and squareness of the fore- 
head, the shortness and fineness of the muzzle, the promi- 
nence and brilliancy of the eye, the smallness of the ears, 
and the beautiful course of the veins, will always charac- 
terize the head of the Arabian Horse. His body may be 
considered as too light, and his chest as too narrow; but 
behind the arms the barrel generally swells out, and leaves 
sufficient room for the play of the lungs. In the formation 
of the shoulder, next to that of the head, the Arab is supe- 
rior to any other breed. The withers are high, and the 
shoulder-blade inclined backward, and so nicely adjusted, 
that in descending a hill the point or edge of the ham 
never ruffles the skin. He may not be thought sufficiently 
high; he seldom stands more than fourteen hands two 
inches. The fineness of his legs, and the oblique position 
of his pasterns, may be supposed to lessen his apparent 
strength; but the leg, although small, is flat and wiry; ana- 
tomists know that the bone has no common density, and 
the starting muscles of the fore-arm and the thigh, indi- 
cate that he is fully capable of accomplishing many of the 
feats which are recorded of him. 
“ The Barb alone excels him in noble and spirited ac- 
tion; and if there be defects about him, he is perfect for 
that for which he was designed. He presents the true 
combination of speed and bottom — strength enough to carry 
more than a light weight, and courage that would cause him 
to die rather than to give up. We may not, perhaps, believe 
all that is told us of the Arabian. It has been remarked, that 
there are on the deserts which this Horse traverses, no 
mile-stones to mark the distance, or watches to calculate 
the time; and the Bedouin is naturally given to exaggera- 
tion, and most of all, when relating the prowess of the ani- 
mal, which he loves as dearly as his children; yet it can- 
not be denied that, at the introduction of the Arabian into 
the European stables, there was no other Horse compara- 
ble to him. 
“ The Arab Horse is as celebrated for his docility and 
good temper, as he is for speed and courage. In that de- 
lightful book, ‘Bishop Heber’s Narrative of a Journey 
through the Upper Provinces of India,’ the following inte- 
resting character is given of him. ‘ My morning rides are 
very pleasant. My horse is a nice, quiet, good-tempered 
little Arab, who is so fearless that he goes, without starting. 
