The horse; with a treatise of draught / [William Youatt].

  • William Youatt
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The horse; with a treatise of draught / [William Youatt]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    common practice with the owners of superior or good horses to blemish or to lame them, in order that they might not be robbed of them by order of the Bey. Of the state to which the native horses were reduced, and even many in the corps of the Mamelukes—the body-guard of the Bey—the following evidence from a competent observer will determine :—“ Although the horses there seldom pass out of a foot pace except for a gallop of 100 yards, most of them are foundered, and none, if quickly trotted ten miles, would be able from want of wind and stamina to go farther The testimony of Burckhardt is to the same effect:—“ The Egyptian horse is ugly, of coarse shape, and looking more like a cart-horse than a racer. Thin legs and knees and short and thick necks are frequent defects among them. The head is sometimes fine, but I never saw good legs in an Egyptian horse. They are not able to bear any great fatigue, but when well fed, their action occasionally is more brilliant than that of the Arabian. Their impetuosity, however, renders them peculiarly desirable for heavy cavalry, and it is upon this quality alone that their celebrity has ever been founded.” Since the accession of Mehemet Ali to the government of Egypt, a beneficial change has been effected in the internal management and prosperity of the country, and the improvement of the breed of horses has especially engaged his attention. He has even gone so far as to establish a veterinary school at Abou-Zabel, and, as should be the case with every institution of this kind, he has not only identified it with the cavalry service, but with the agricultural interests of the country. The happy consequences of this are neither doubtful nor distant. There is a long but narrow tract of desert between the Nile and the Red Sea, on which some Arabian liorsest of the choicest breed are reared. THE DONGOLA OR NUBIAN HORSE. The kingdom of Dongola, the modern Nubia, lying between Egypt and Abyssinia, contains a breed of horses different from any other that either Arabia or Africa produces. Mr. Bruce speaks of it in the following strong terms of approbation:—“ What figure the Nubian breed of horses would make in point of swiftness is very doubtful, their form being so entirely different from that of the Arabian ; but if beautiful and symmetrical parts, great size and strength, the most agile, nervous, and elastic movements, great endurance of fatigue, docility of temper, and, beyond any other domestic animal, seeming attach¬ ment to man, can promise anything for a stallion, the Nubian is, above all compari¬ son, the most eligible in the world. Few of them are less than sixteen hands high.” Bosman, whose descriptions prove him to be no bad horseman, thus speaks of them :—“ The Dongola horses are the most perfect in the world, being beautiful, symmetrical in their parts, nervous and elastic in their movements, and docile and affectionate in their manners. One of these horses was sold in 1816, at Grand Cairo, for a sum equivalent to 1000/.“ The Dongola horses are usually of a black colour, but there are some blight bays and sorrels. When their exercise is over, the usual bridle is taken away, and a lighter one put upon them ; for the inhabitants tell of many battles that were lost, from their being attacked when their horses were unbridled. The slender yet finely set on neck, the noble crest, the elevated withers, the beautiful action and bearing of the animal were admirable ; but the long and slender legs, the weakness of the fore-arm, the narrowness and want of depth of the chest, and even a deficiency of substance about the flank and quarters, could not escape observation. Such an animal might have speed, but his enduranci * Wilson’s Expedition to Egypt in 1803, p. 250. + Comparative View of the Racer, &c., p. 148. C
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