Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates Vol 2 - The Search For Mecca

til. XXVIII.] Causes of Dcoencracy. 255
doubt that in the early years of the present
century, the Roala were possessed of immense
numbers of mares, and had the reputation of
having the monopoly of some of the best strains of
blood. It was to their Sheykh, Ibn ShaaMn, whom
he called the " Prince of the Desert," that Abbas
Pasha sent his son to be educated, and from them
that he bought most of the mares, of which he
made such a wondei'ful collection. Yet from one
cause and another the Ebala, thoue^h still rich and
powerful, have now no mares to speak of. They
have within the last few years abandoned the old
Bedouin warfare with the lance, and taken to firearms.
Horses are no longer indispensable to them,
and have been recklessly sold. The Shammar of
Mesopotamia have suffered for the last two generations
by the semi-Turkism of thisir Sheykhs, Sfuk
and Ferhdn, and have been
divided by internal dissensions
to such an extent, that their enemies, the
Anazeh, have greatly reduced them. Ablms Pasha
also bought up many fine mares from among them
at extravagant prices ; and they now have not a
single specimen among them of the Seglawi Jedn'in
Ijreed, for which they were formerly famous. TJic
Montefik in the south, once also celebrated for tlieir
horses, have allowed the purity of their breed to be
tampered with, for the sake of increased size, so
necessary for the Indian market which they supplied.
It was found that a cross-bred animal of
mixed Persian and Arabian blood, would pass