Anazah horse in Damascus besides his own, and the Badaween who were with him, and to whom he referred, said the same; but I think one Badawee did mention that he knew of one.

There are those who think the horses of Damascus the finest in the world, and travellers think they have seen the Arab horse in the greatest perfection in that city. It will be well to hear the estimation in which they are held by a Badawee. Mohammed ed Duhee says, "Many people think the Damascus horses are handsomer than the Arabian of the desert, but I would not myself give five pounds for any one of them. I cannot answer for their mares; and if the Damascenes had the best blood of the desert, they would spoil it." We quite understood what this implied, and what Shaykh Mohammed ed Duhee intended.

CHAPTER IX. ·

CERTAIN REMARKS ON HORSES DESCRIBED AS SYRIAN AND BAGHDAD HORSES, NOTING SOME POINTS IN WHICH BOTH KINDS DIFFER FROM THE ARABIAN HORSE OF THE DESERT, AND SOME IN WHICH THEY DIFFER FROM EACH OTHER.

THERE is some difference in external form to be observed between horses in Syria and those east of the Euphrates, even among such as are supposed to be of genuine Arab blood, but bred respectively in these two districts; and in general character, and in several minute respects, both differ from the Arabian horse, or the Keheilan of the superior tribes of the interior desert. Many horses bred in and to be found in both of the before-mentioned countries, are not real Arabs at all, but most are related to or are partly of Arabian blood; for it must be understood that the Arabian bears a similar relation to all other horses in the East, as also to the horses of Northern and North-Western Africa, as does the thoroughbred horse in England to the various half breeds, only in a far greater degree.

The term Syrian is taken here to express a horse

bred in Syria and on the west side of the desert, of supposed pure Arab blood, as the term Baghdad is selected to describe horses of the same pretensions on the east of the Euphrates.

The ears of both kinds are not so perfect, nor generally of the characteristic shape and attitude which has been described as peculiar to the Keheilan in the desert. The eye of the Syrian horse is often better than that of the Baghdad horse; it is full and brilliant, and is often very conspicuous. You will hear one draw attention to the eye of such or such a horse from the fact of contrast; that is, the head is far inferior to the Anazah horse, therefore the eye, if good, is more conspicuous. In the Syrian the nasal bones are longer and straighter than in the desert horse, and are often more prominent, whereas the frontal bones are generally less developed. This is also the case with regard to the Baghdad horse. In neither kind are the jaws so fine, so deep, nor set so wide apart as in the desert Arabian; and we thought the Syrian had cleaner jaws than the Baghdad horse. The Syrian has a better nostril, but inferior to that of the desert horse. In the Baghdad horse frequently, and in the Syrian sometimes, the nostrils are too small and round, instead of being long and curved, and set too low down, and differing from the inimitable nostril so characteristic of the Keheilan in the desert. The neck of the Syrian is generally lighter and more muscular than that of the Baghdad horse, but the setting on of the head is not nearly so perfect, in either Baghdad or Syrian, as in the horses of the Anazah.

Neither are the shoulders generally so good, but I think in this respect the Syrian has the advantage over the Baghdad horse; but the croup of the Baghdad horse is often handsomer and the quarters better turned than those of the Syrian. Both kinds have good legs and feet, but I think the preference is in favour of the Syrian -not larger, perhaps, but firmer and harder; but the knees are hardly so square, nor the pasterns so long, oblique, and pliant, nor are the feet generally so open, as those of the desert horse. The barrel of the Baghdad horse is, as a rule, longer than that of the Syrian, which latter is more like the desert horse in this respect. On the whole, the Syrian looks a hardier, active, and more muscular horse; the Baghdad rather more bulky, and of a more imposing appearance.

These remarks are intended as general indications only. In many instances these distinctions are not so decided or marked.

The horses bred generally by the Badaween tribes have a finer structural and sensorial organization than is to be found among the horses bred by townspeople and in Syria and Baghdad; and if some, as seen in the desert, have a less imposing appearance than the horses in the hands of wealthy townsmen, yet the desert-bred Arabian has an air of breeding which the others lack; and, without any doubt, among certain of the Anazah tribes you find the Keheilan of superior structural form, accompanied almost invariably with great beauty.

CHAPTER X.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT WRITTEN PEDIGREES.

IN the desert we neither saw any written pedigrees of horses, nor heard of any; that is to say, there is no custom of keeping written pedigrees. It must be remembered that there are few, very few indeed, in the desert who can write; but most of the Shaykhs of important tribes keep a secretary. Every horse, however, has a pedigree; the breeding of each one is well known. In describing the breeding of a horse or mare, he or she is said to be of a certain strain or family of blood, which is always that of the mother. The strain of blood of the sire is then stated, and which is not always of the same strain as the dam. These Arab pedigrees are very simple and concise, but perfectly explicit and accurate. The individual animal which is the sire and dam of every living horse and mare in each tribe of genuine Badaween (or perhaps I should confine myself in these remarks to the Anazah) is known. Each horse and mare has a specific and well-authenticated pedigree.

Nor in Syria did we ever see a written pedigree;