New York Times 1906 feature on Davenport’s horse importation
Check out this article from the New York Times archives, dated Oct. 14, 1906, on the importation of 27 horses from Arabia by Homer Davenport. You can actually go to the website of the New York Times, type “Homer Davenport” in the search box, and access a lot of really interesting articles from the archives section. Don’t forget to choose the category “All results since 1851”.
What a WONDERFUL piece of history! Have saved it to read again in depth. Much appreciated Edouard!
Delightful reading. Thanks.
“When later this same scrap of writing was put into the hands of Sheikh Hashim Bey ,Chief of the Bedouins in the filthy ,pestilential little town of Aleppo,he held in his trembling hands and looking up to the sky ,murmured a non-political prayer of Mohamed’s ,and then bowed his head in reverence over the little document”
Does this fantastic piece of litterature,really deserve this comment from Majestic Lineage:
“What a WONDERFUL piece of history! Have saved it to read again in depth.”
Instead of saving it my friend go buy “the annotated quest” by Charles and Jeanne Craver.This is History,not the NY times article who sounds like a ,bad ,western movie of the ’50’s where the Colonel of Fort Apache gives a treaty to the Indians ” Our big white father in Washington…”
Even the original “the quest” by H.Davenport is full of mistakes.
According to my friends the Craver these mistakes were intentionnaly made to preseve Davenport friends in the Lebanon from the Ottomans.
The part played by his translator Ameen Zeytoun, a student at the Edimburgh University,(Davenport never mentionned it) is minimised,the famous and surrealistic scene at the Aleppo Souks when Davenport met a Bedouin with “white Teeth” and asked him “Aneze”?”yes” ” Take me to Ahmed Haffez” is false.
Ahmed Hafez was the friend of Ameen Zeytoun’s uncle (who was the political adviser of the US Consul in Beirut) friend and he was expecting Davenport and his friends. Davenport never spoke about the body guards who went with Zeytoun’s to protect him and the gold he was carrying.
In 1916 a US war ship came
to Beitut and saved Zeytoun from the Ottomans .
In 1957 Ameen Zeytoun died in New Jersey.
12 years ago I interviewed Ameen Zeytoun’s nephew who gave me all these details which I communicate to the Cravers.
So, who do you believe?
Dear Joe, thank you for the information on Zeytoun.
I have been continuing my research into the strains Al Khamsa and have found out that they are areas in Yemen. I sent this research to Yemen through my husband. There is an awsome video that the Sheik made with his 32 pure bred Yemen horses. He is the one who owns the horses on the video that the police used for the show I sent you many years back.I don’t know how to upload the video here. You can go to my facebook site and view it: just search Christine Alkatabi or google it under videos as follows: The Original Arab(Yemen) Horses.
Sheik Al Ahmer gets his horses from the tribes. The sheik on the video is from the largest tribe but there are smaller ones that still have horses.
There were many many horses in Yemen hundreds of years ago. My husband told me when the Marib dam collapsed, the As Sabah tribe migrated to Dubai, it was the largest and most powerful tribe at that time and I believe that the Saklawi strain comes from there (I believe the family name of the Skeik was Saklawi).
The Kohlan tribe north of Sana may still be breeding.
Hope you enjoy these awsome purebred Yemeni horses.
Madam, you seem to be conflating the generic strain name of Kuhaylan with the tribe of Kahlan, and they are not pronounced in the same way in Arabic as you may know.. two different variants of the letter h.. also Aal Sabah went to Kuwayt not Dubai, and not when the Ma’rib dam broke but rather 1,400 years later!
A comment re. Joe Achcar’s comment: “Even the original “the quest” by H.Davenport is full of mistakes. According to my friends the Craver these mistakes were intentionnaly made to preseve Davenport friends in the Lebanon from the Ottomans.”
I believe this is Joe’s feeling, not necessarily ours. If Davenport hid part of Ameene Zaytoun’s involvement in the trip, we have no evidence of it. Davenport links his “white teeth” comment to the Blunt books, and we have no evidence that he was not telling the truth.
I realize that Ameen Zaytoun’s nephew said some things, but Davenport said other things, and that is all we can say without further background.
We are grateful to Joe for the information he has gathered about the Hamidie and Davenport importations.
Dear Jeanne
Of course we dont have the evidence of the “white teeth evidence” ,we have to believe this Davenport version.choosing a white chal-like teeth bedouin between “Hundreds of Bedouins crowded around to look at us”page 76 But..
1 Ahmed haffez was a well known person in Aleppo ,friend of the governor,it was no use to stop a “white teeth” Bedouin in the Aleppo souk to reach him.The easiet way ,having the Sultan Irade was to ask any Turkish officer.(having the Sultan’s Irade was in those times as powerful as James 007 Bond having “the license to kill”
2 In a private communication years ago, it was you who wrote that if Davenport did not spoke a lot about the role of Zeytoun maybe it was to protect him.It is not a feeling of mine ,I can search for your email and send it to you if you want.
3 he described Zeytoun as an US cosulate employee ,which was not true ,as I said before it was Zeytoun’s uncle who was the political adviser of the US consul. Ameen was a student in Scotland spending his summer vacation in Lebanon and his uncle sent him to protect Davenport togheter with some body guards.(the Roosevelt letter)!!
3 Haffez was aware of Davenport visit and waiting for him (the telegraph existed in the Ottoman Empire,you know) he received him so well because as a Bedouin “Diplomat” he wanted another “protection” for his people than the British.
this theory was told to me by Haffez ancestor a well known barister in Aleppo.