Chambry and De Saunhac’s French horse-buying mission to the Orient, 1902

I happened upon two online editions of the French magazine Le Sport Universel Illustre from the year 1902. They feature an extensive and fascinating account, in two parts, of a French government buying mission to the Orient.

The mission started in Constantinople, made its way to Beirut by sea, then traveled to Damascus by rail over Mount Lebanon, before returning to Beirut. It then followed the coastline northwards from Beirut all the way to Antioch where it bought several horses, before staying at Aleppo for four days. In Aleppo, it met the military governor Hasan “Mousim” Pasha, and saw his horses. I wonder if he was not the Hasan Tahsin Pasha whom Davenport met four years later. The mission tried to make its way to Deir Ezzor but a rebellion prevented it from reaching the Euphrates, so instead it went from Aleppo southwards towards Maarah, Hama and Homs. From there it went back again to Beirut and from there traveled south to Sidon, Safad, Nablus and Jerusalem.

The mission was led by General Inspectors Chambry and de Saunhac, with the veterinary doctor Manoury. It brought back 12 stallions and 5 mares. Among these was the impressive stallion Khouri, sired by an Ubayyan Sharrak, with his dam from the Fad’aan. See his photo below, at the Beirut barn where was first seen and purchased in January 1902. Khouri was the maternal grandsire of the French racehorse Denouste.