ON ARABIAN HORSES. 
187 
and so gentle, so docile, that they allow themselves to be rubbed 
down and managed by women and children, with whom they 
often sleep in the same tent. Till the age of four years they are 
ridden without a saddle, and not shod. They will endure thirst 
for days together, and are commonly fed with camel’s milk 
alone. 
“ The physical qualities which the Arabs prize most in a horse 
are the following :—neck long and arched ; delicately formed ears, 
almost touching each other at the ends; head small; eyes large, 
and full of fire; lower jaw lean; muzzle bare; wide nostrils; 
belly not too broad; sinewy legs; pasterns short and flexible; 
hoofs hard although not ample; chest broad; rump high and 
rounded. Whenever the animal combines the three beauties of 
head, neck, and rump, they regard it as perfecf. This is what 
Horace has laconically expressed in this verse, 
‘ Pulchrce dunes, breve quod caput, ardua cervix.’ 
It will not be useless to remark, that amongst the natural 
signs of the horse several are esteemed by the Arabs sinister and 
unfavourable, and some they believe to be capable of producing 
happiness to the owner of the horse. It is needless to give this 
double enumeration. 
“ The different colours of Arabian horses are clear bay (ahmai'), 
brown bay (edhem), sorrel (ashekicar), white {ahiadh)^ pure grey 
{azrak), mottled grey {raktkd), and bluish grey {akhdhar). 
Blacks and light bays {aswad and ashehab) are unknown in 
Arabia; they are found only in Persia, Tartary, and Turkey. 
The races of Nejed are commonly regarded as the noblesc: 
those of the Hejjaz as the handsomest; those of Yemen as the 
most durable ; those of Syria as the richest in colour; those of 
Mesopotamia as the most quiet; those of Egypt as the swiftest; 
those of Barbary as the most prolific ; and those of Persia and 
Kurdestan as the most warlike. 
“ Eulogies of the horse abound in Oriental waitings, including 
the Old Testament and the Coran. The description of the war- 
horse in the Book of Job is well knowm. 
‘‘ The Moalhika of Lebid and that of Amr-el-Kays contain 
highly-wrought descriptions of the horse. In the latter it is said, 
‘ he has the reins of a gazelle and the legs of an ostrich ; he trots 
like the wolf, and gallops like the fox ; his haunches are large and 
strong; when you look at him behind, his tail, which trails on the 
ground, covers the space between his legs ; when he stands beside 
my tent, the glittering polish of his back is like that of marble 
on which perfumes have been rubbed for a young bride on her 
wedding day’. 
‘‘ The most splendid encomium on the horse that could possi- 
