on a sounder bit. We escaped. I could not have believed any animal could have displayed such strength; formerly on several occasions I had been bogged on Dartmoor, and have subsequently on forest lands in England, but I never found a horse behave under me like the old Arab. Five minutes afterwards there was a whimper, an indication of a find; the gallant old horse's head was up, his beautiful little ears pricked; he was dancing on his legs, anticipating another gallop.

As to the action of the Arabian, it is very well described by the writer of an able article who signed himself Picador.' 'Sit easily and flexibly on him, put your hands down, and set him going, and then you will experience a sensation delightful to the man who really can ride: he will bound along with you with a stride and movement that gives you the idea of riding over india-rubber.'

CHAPTER III.

The boundaries of the Arab people-The Arabian horse and his habitat further discussed-Arab horses in Africa; but horses called Barbs not generally of pure Arabian blood-Confusion existing as to the Arabian horse, owing to the use of improper terms-Egypt and Turkey not the habitat of the Arabian-Different terms explained-One breed of Arabians-The several families discussed, and the tribes who possess them-Apparent discrepancies in the accounts of travellers explained.

'Who can tell where the Arab dwelleth, or who has marked out the boundaries of his people?'-Warburton.

Mr.

FROM Diarbekr in the north, to Hadramaut in the south, from the Euphrates and even the Tigris, to the western coast of Africa, is Arabic spoken, more or less; and every part of this vast district is traversed by the Arabs or their descendants.' But our present business is with the Arabian horse and his habitat. Layard mentions the horses of the Shammar tribe who were frequently about him during his excavations at Nineveh, and speaks with the greatest admiration of some of their mares. Sofuk, then their sheikh, was possessed of a mare of matchless beauty, and Kubleh, her dam, was still more celebrated for her speed and powers of endurance, and was known from the sources of Khabour to the end of the Arabian promontory.

It must not be thought that Arabian horses are common, or to be found throughout this district, or wherever Arabic may be spoken.

The Shammar migrated from Central Arabia about two hundred years ago. Being pushed by subsequent emigrations, they crossed the Euphrates, and are to be found principally between that river and the Tigris, known as Mesopotamia. Here we have the Arab and his horse in the most north-eastern district. Mr. Gifford Palgrave speaks of him in Nejed, which is the central highland of Arabia proper; Abd-el-Kader and General Daumas speak of him in Africa, or the most westerly part of the Arab's possessions. But all horses from the north of Africa are not. Arabs. Barbs, properly speaking, are common horses on the coasts or northern parts of Africa, of Arabian origin, but of mixed blood, and very inferior, yet are often, although falsely, called Arabs. There is no reason to doubt that the horses of the Sahara are the pure and unmixed descendants of the importation from the parent country; and when in Africa some years ago the writer saw one or two horses, evidently pure Arabian, and entirely different from common Barbs. So, again, on the borders of Syria, in Irak, Khuzistan, and Kurdistan, are to be found horses of mixed blood, generally called Arabs, often sold and bought as such; and being sometimes of taller growth, but always less beautiful and far inferior to the Arabian, are often even preferred by the European; and from the eastern side of the Persian Gulf, horses of mixed blood are often passed as Arabs. Could a stranger form a correct idea of the English thorough-bred horse, if he had only seen the hacks let out for hire at our sea-side places of resort?

Much confusion exists with regard to Arab horses. This has arisen partly from the vast districts occupied and traversed by the Arabs, partly from the misapplication of terms and words. A man possessing an Arab horse says he is of such and such a breed, instead of saying, of such a family of the Arabian breed; and therefore it has got about that there are upwards of a hundred different breeds of Arabian horses. It is not unfrequent to hear people speak of horses as Egyptian, Syrian, or Turkish Arabs. If it were intended to convey the idea that such horses were of pure Arab blood, only foaled or bought in those countries, they might be simply styled Arabs; but as it really infers that they are not of pure Arabian blood they should simply be called Egyptian, &c. With the exception of horses sent as gifts very occasionally to the Sultan at Constantinople, or the Viceroy in Egypt, let it be most distinctly understood there are no Arabians in Egypt or Turkey. The Arabian is not the horse of either country. The Egyptian is the degenerated horse of Egypt crossed with the horse of Dongola, the English horse, and also the Arab, and is as mixed as most European breeds.

The terms Nejed or Nejdee, and Anezah, as applied to Arabian horses, have led to much confusion and produced many doubts. It has been generally supposed they implied two separate breeds of horses, rival breeds by some, a superior and inferior by others, or that they were the horses of two great rival tribes. Some will tell you the Nejdee is the only pure Arabian, others that the Anezah is the best.

These doubts and conflicting statements have arisen, I do not doubt, from a want of knowledge of the country of Arabia, and correct information of its people and its horses. Nejed is the name of a country or district in Arabia; but is neither the name of a breed of horses, nor of any particular tribe; and probably that district discussed at the commencement of the first chapter, in which the horse was kept free from the causes of degeneracy which has befallen the horse in other parts of the world; or, as Mr. Palgrave has aptly put it, 'In Nejed is the true birthplace of the Arab steed-the primal type, the authentic model.'

Every horse bred in Nejed, or bred by any of the tribes of Nejed, may be called correctly a Nejdee, or a horse of Nejed; not, I think, implying any difference in race and blood from an Anezah horse, but solely as a distinction from the horses of other tribes than those

of Nejed, such as the Shammar, although they possess horses of the same blood as those in Nejed; and most distinctly in opposition to all horses of mixed blood on the borders or outskirts of Arabia.

The horses of the Great Anezah and other Bedouin tribes of Nejed, of which there are several (Mr. Palgrave enumerates twelve), are essentially Nejdee horses. The Great Anezah is sub-divided into many families; and from among them the Gomassa have, perhaps, the best horses in the known world. In describing a horse as an Anezah, or, still further, as a Gomassa, it is not implied that he is not Nejdean, but he is particularised as a Nejdean horse of the Great Anezah tribe, of the