'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎184] (193/568)

184
agrkiculture and land tenure
Desert; but it is said that north of the 30th parallel they soon
deteriorate and cannot maintain their former speed. Central Ara
bian camels are generally grey or white ; in the north a dun colour
is preferred ; black is supposed to indicate an uncertain temper.
A well-bred dromedary will perform great feats of endurance.
Leachman states that mail-carriers between Damascus and Baghdad
have ridden 60 miles a day for nine days in succession.
Camels are bred by the nomad and semi-nomad tribes. The great
est breeders among all the Bedawis are the Anazeh of the Syrian
Desert (the Fed'an and Amarat about the Euphrates valley, the Sba
on the Deir—Damascus road, the Euweileh on the Syrian border).
The Anazeh may own some 300,000 head, and their camels are
reputed the largest and strongest in all Arabia. The Mesopotamian
Shammar own perhaps some 10,000 head. Some of the nomads and
semi-nomads of Irak breed camels, but very few of them are ex
ported ; among the best are those of the Beni Lam. There is
scarcely any camel-breeding in Arabistan.
Horses. — Horses are bred for riding by Arabs and Kurds, the former
preferring mares for this purpose. The Arab attaches great importance
to the pedigree of the finer breed of horses, and the descent of such
animals is preserved by tradition ; celebrated horses are valued at
a high price and in many instances they are not purchasable.
Good breeds of Arab horses are raised in the Hilla and Diwaniyeh
districts of the Euphrates, on the Tigris by^the Beni Lam, in the
Jezlreh by the Shammar, in the Syrian Desert by the Anazeh and in
the neighbourhood of Diarbekr. The Mesopotamian breeds have
a good reputation, but are inferior to the best of Nejd and Syria.
Horses over short distances will outstrip and overtake the fastest
riding-camels ; for purposes of general transport in the desert, how
ever, their value is negligible, as they suffer from thirst and cannot
take the coarse grazing which contents the camel. Horses are
chiefly valued by the Arabs for purposes of war; their ability to
cover a wide space of ground in a short time makes them specially
valuable for this. To ride a horse is a sign of importance among
the Arabs, and for a sheikh's horse the difficulty of providing water
is sometimes overcome by taking a foster camel, on the milk of
which, when other sources fail, the horse can live. The Bedawi
rides either bare-backed or on a pad with a slender girth, guiding his
horse with a halter only. The bit is not used in the desert, and
hoofs are left unshod.
In Mesopotamia a native shoe is used which covers nearly the
whole of the frog of the hoof, and only a small oval aperture is left
in the centre. The result seems to be that animals are frequently