Image: Syrian man with Arabian horse 1893

Description: Syrian man with an Arabian horse, at the World's Columbian Exposition, 1893. THE BEDOUIN'S PRIZE STEED - It was stated that when the Bedouins reached New York City, they were offered $6,000 for the horse which is portrayed in the engraving, and as this was probably one of the finest of the historic Arabian animals, the reader may study the picture with profit and authority. The central plateau of Arabia is Njed, surrounded by deserts, but by no means a forbidding region for shepherds. The Nejdee horse, it is claimed, is indigenous to the Arabian peninsula. While there are swifter and larger horses, it is probable that they all owe some of their racing points to the Nejdee; and in the matters of domesticity, fidelity, beauty, and endurance, it is still claimed for these animals that they are without equals on the entire face of the earth. History shows that since the Fifth Century the Nejd possessed these same high-bred horses in numbers the same as at present. But they are not plenty, even now. The shepherd rides a camel among his flocks and the merchant in his caravans. It is only for war or for state occasions that the beautiful horse is caparisoned. The chief owns all the horses he can, and mounts his retainers on them. As business is often war in the shepherd-lands, there remains considerable use for the horse. The conditions of ownership have kept the breed of Arabian horses pure, but it averred that, though they have not degenerated, they have not gained in development for fourteen hundred years.
Title: Syrian man with Arabian horse 1893
Credit: http://columbus.gl.iit.edu/
Author: Unknown
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No