Color of Arab horses.

Scientific American 26, 24.12.1859

A writer in Blackwood's Magazine, speaking of horse-dealing in Syria, and of the color of Arab horses, says:— "Gray of various shades, bay, chestnut and brown are the ordinary, and it may almost be said the only, colors of Arab horses. The commonest of all colors is one which I recollect as being very frequent among the Arabs met in India, a dark, uniform, nutmeg gray. Light gray verging on white is neither rare nor peculiar to old horses. Next to gray in frequency comes bay and chestnut, both fine and rich in quality, and the latter so prized above all colors by the Arabs, that they have a saying that, if you ever hear of a horse performing any remarkable feat, you will be sure to find upon inquiry that he is a chestnut. Thrown is not unfrequent, and in my register of horses brought from ArneIt, I find one black. Hut so rare is that color, that if I had merely trusted to my recollection, I should have said I never saw a black horse in the desert. Of other colors I saw none, except in the solitary instance, of a skewbald; and I cannot, at this moment, undertake to say that he was an Anazeh, or belonged to some of the tribes where the purity of the breed can less be de-pended on."