in India, which is given in a former part of this chapter, proves the suggestion to be fact; but to make it more apparent, and to save the trouble of reference, I give two tables, one showing the time occupied in running for the Epsom Derby,' during a period of fifteen years taken in succession, with the single exception of the race in 1861, Kettledrum's year, in which instance the horses were started some 50 yards in advance of the post (the time was the same in Blair Athol's year); the other giving the performances of certain Arabs before mentioned, in which account the accuracy of the distances, weights, and timing may be depended upon. I selected the Epsom Derby because the distance was exactly 1 mile. It is the race of the year, contested by the 'crack' horses of the year, and perhaps the best criterion we have in England. The period includes the Flying Dutchman's and Blair Athol's years, the latter the fastest Derby on record. Or compare the Flying Dutchman, 5 years old, standing 15 hands 3 inches, carrying 8 st. 8 lbs., winning the 2-mile match at York in 3 min. 55 sec., with the performance of the Arab Honeysuckle, 5 years old, standing 14 hands I inch, carrying 8 st., winning his 2-mile race in 3 min. 48 sec.; and the old Arab hunter Selim, carrying 9 st. 5 lbs., winning his 3-mile race in 5 min. 54 sec. It is noteworthy that heavy weights seem to have very little influence upon the running of these Arabs. These examples are not offered to prove the Arab as known in India a speedier racer than the best in England, but I maintain they do show him to be possessed of speed, courage, endurance, and to be essentially a weight-carrier, and worthy the name of a courser or You cannot call a horse that can do his 2 miles in 3 min. 48 sec. or 3 miles in 5 min. 54 sec. a slow horse. racer. The Arab may not be so speedy as the racer bred exclusively for speed for the last half-century, yet it cannot be denied, the performances of Arabs compare very favourably with those of English racers. An Arab has been brought from India, and very occasionally trained, most likely when he has lost his speed, and because such a horse has failed to be successful against a field of English racers, it is said the Arab is not a racer. A likely colt was bought a few years ago at the annual sale of yearlings at Middle Park, and taken to Australia-by Gladiateur-his dam a Stockwell mare. Every care was taken of him, he was trained and raced, and although I am assured he ran gamely on several occasions, he had not the speed to contend successfully with the Australians; he was invariably beaten : ergo, the English thorough-bred of the best blood is not a racer. On the other hand, in March 1872, the Australian Cup, a sweepstakes of 20 sovs. with 300 sovs. added, 24 miles, was won after three heats by Saladin, a son of Pegasus, an imported Arab, beating a field of seven horses. Saladin, the half Arab, aged, carried 7 st. 8 lbs., and Flying Dutchman, 6 years, 7 st. 5 lbs., made a dead heat after a splendid finish. Time, 4 min. 12 secs. The dead heat was run off at 5 o'clock, and after a close run race, resulted in another dead heat. Time 4 min. 15 secs. At 6 o'clock they started again, when the half Arab Saladin proved the winner by a good neck. Time, 4 min. 15 secs.1 1 Dagworth, at Sydney, won the Great Metropolitan Stakes, 2 miles. The hero of the meeting was the great-grandson of an Arab. Dagworth is by Yattendon, his dam Nutcut by Pitsford, grandam by Glaucus (an Arab). 181 CHAPTER II. The Arab as a hunter and charger—Considered as a hunter-Jurham and the Forbes Cup-Considered as a war horse-Arab blood likely to give better horses for cavalry and artillery-The French in Africa-Performances of certain horses-Ninety-mile match across the DesertMatch in Madras-Certain essential constitutional points more likely to be transmitted to half-bred stock either as hunters or troop horses by the Arabian than the English horse-Dissertation on the chest and its functions-Proper form of chest: to be found in the Arabian horseRemarks by Youatt-The different formation in the modern thoroughbred horse affects all other half-bred stock-The Arabian the founder of the best breeds in India. WE will next proceed to consider how admirably the Arabian is adapted to improve the character of halfbred stock for purposes of field sports and for the army. As a hunter and war-horse the Arabian has been celebrated from all time. As a hunter, from when, in early time, he was employed to ride down the ostrich and the wild ass in his native country, to the present day, when he carries the expatriated Englishman over the plains of Hindostan up to the haunches of the wild pig, faces the tiger, or, single-handed, gallops down the wild deer and antelope; and, complying with the manners and customs of the age, becomes a steeplechaser and wins the Forbes Kadur Cup over a four-mile course, stated by an experienced steeplechase-rider to have been more difficult and severe than any country or course in England, which, in 1871, Jurham, the only Arab in the race, among a good field of horses, wins with ease, the Arabian has ever proved himself a horse of unmatched courage and endurance. The tall and heavy grass, said to be so difficult and exhausting for so small and light a horse to force his way through, and other difficulties in the course, proved to be rather destructive to the Arab's opponents, as Jurham had speed and bottom left in him, in the last half-mile of tolerably open ground, when called upon to shoot away from his horses and win easily. The high courage, the suppleness, the spring and elasticity, the compact but developed form, and great muscular development of the Arabian must cause him to be the horse best adapted for a hunter. These qualities render him also more desirable than any other horse as a sire for begetting half-bred stock, either for hunting or for the military service. A horse of pure blood is more likely to implant and stamp his own good points and qualities upon properly selected stock, and in a greater degree, than a horse of less pure blood, such as the so-called English thorough-bred horse; more especially, too, when the latter horse does not possess the combination of excellences of the former. In the hunting-field, whenever a horse has possessed any direct Arab blood, he has always shown himself an excellent and superior hunter. This was the opinion of no less a udge than Davis, the late Royal Huntsman. As a war-horse, from the days when he carried his |