The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1856-05-28
For the Register.
En- Chevalier.

it be with us, if we would have perfect,
reliable breed, Of any stylc, on which to
found lasting trade and reputation,
For the best, from the best, is not
enough. This maxim is amongst the
fckle elements Of breeding, to be reduced
to science, adopted in practice, and
then disciplined into the horscman's Sec
end nature The Arabians are the pu-
rcSt-cittel people in the world. None,
in the sphere Of their ideas, as people,
it is said, can think or talk oomparably
to them. The sphere IS limited to the
purposes Of their living as pastoral no.
mads, the feeders and possessors of ami
mals, moving from place to place for
facilities Of pasture, even their wars
spriuging from predatory iucursions for
sport and profit, to renew their supply
Of stock. They have their domestic and
social life Of course, their excitements
too Of gaming, or tho chase, or robbery,
their Intellectual delights Of poetry and
their religious obsorvances. Bright as
men can be by nature and habit animals
their property and study, the horse is their
cynosure Of thought, the first of wants
and choicest Of works with them. En-
joying a climate Of great purity, there
fore. and pastures in their season Of abun-
dant rich moss, it is natural and reasona-
bic that the perfection of the animal
should have fallen to them. and that 9TH
er men should make pilgrimagcs to their
feet as to an oracle, to learn the secrets
Of their management. and cherish them
when found as they might the elemental
arcana from the same source, in settled
lie, of Arithmetic and Algebra. lay
ARD is our Interpreter in the natural
! school of which the Bedouins are teach.
crs, and We follow him with unaffected
! interest from the mounds OF Nimroud to
the banks of the Khabour, and exchange
with hearty relief the winged bulls of
Nineveh for the mares of the Shammar,
whose speed is in their tcndons.
The Shammar tribes Of Mcsopotamia,
with their enemies aud rivals the Aney
"a, the author tells Us, occupy the Oldest,
it may be the most f1rtie grazing dis
tfict of the earth, between the famous
rivers which define Mesopotamia. They
have introduced L;thcr from Arabia,
large numbers Of the best animals Of
their people, the noetcst dromedaries
and finest mares. Mares in preference
to horses arc habitually, not exclusively
in use with the Arabs 1t is of the pos.
session OF these they dream, and their
performances chiefly ofwhich they speak
and Layard tells with sympathy Of a lad
whom he saw, just coming to mans es-
tate, poor but aspiring, who was then
outlying By the camp of ucighboting
tribe by the week, feeding upon roots to
watch for and obtain iagorite mare,
known to his people, the possession of
which, if he could escape death in pro-
curing cr,would make NAH Of him.
The desert thorough-breds are of fiyc
races, sometimes said to be descended
from the Ave fayorite mares of tho
Prophet. These, according to the
ShoiLb Loyord's associate aud best Be.
douin authority, were Of one stock, the
Koheyleh. and their names distinguish
the races known as the Kamsc, from
which alone sires Of the species are select
cd Yet another esteemed race, not ira
ccd to the Kamsc, is the Saklawi, con-
sidcred by the Shammar as possibly the
nublcst Of all OF thest. the most valued
arc the Jedran Saklawi, now almost ex-
tinct, which had the preference with the
yiccroy of Egypt, in his preparation to
contend with English jockeys for wag-
er,-for mare Of which family as high
as six thousand dollars was offered and
refused. In other instances as high as
thousand pounds, sterling, was said to
have been paid the Sheikhs of tho Aney-
"a for well known mares. In the prevail
ing trade into India, from the lower re-
gion of the Euphrates, in the hands Of
the half settled Agayl tribe, from ono
hundred and fifty to six and seven hun.
drcd dollars are paid for colts from two
to four years old, the Agayls, as traders
aud not breeders, caring less indeed for
pedigree, than the Shammar and Ancyza
Of whom they purchase.
Tho Arab horse is more remarkable
for its exquisite symmetry and beautiful
proportions connected with wonderful
powers Of endurance, then for extraor-
diuary speed. Their color is generally
white, light or dark grey, light chesnut
aud bay, with white or black feet Black
as color is exceedingly rare. and so is
dun, sorrcl or dapple. The average