A study of the purebred classes at the
1983 U.S. Nationals revels that Arabians with Davenport imports
in their pedigrees received 211 -- or 83% -- of 255 Championships,
Reserves and Top Tens. Every purebred class had a winner who traced
to a Davenport import somewhere in its pedigree. These statistics
are in spite of waves of recent imports, and in spite of the small
number (27) of Arabians imported by Davenport
in 1906. The Davenport Arabians are truly a common denominator in
the pedigrees of American Arabians today.
ANYONE STUDYING
ARABIAN BREEDING in
America quickly becomes familiar with the term, "Davenport Arabian."
This term is applied to 24 horses registered by the Arabian Horse
Registry as imported from Arabia to this country in 1906 by a man
named Homer Davenport. According to long-standing usage, the term
is also extended to horses tracing exclusively to these desert imports.
These bloodlines are present in approximately 90% of American pedigrees;
a presence so nearly universal that the Davenport Arabians could
well be called the common denominator of American breeding. On the
average, they contribute a little over 12% of the total genetic
material when they are present in a pedigree, an amount equivalent
to one great-grandparent. That is certainly enough to make a difference
in the kind of animal produced.
The number of Davenport horses has never
been great. Since 1906, only about 700 of them have been registered,
of which perhaps 350 are living horses. Most Arabian horse people
have never seen a living Davenport horse and have to form their
opinions of them from what others have written -- frequently
from an equal state of knowledge -- and from photographs which
were taken at a time when most photographs were unsatisfactory
by present standards.
The Davenport presence in pedigrees is
undeniable. Additionally, these horses have been maintained
as a breeding group in their own right, tracing to no other
bloodlines. Those presently alive are one of the two oldest
breeding groups of Arabians to have been maintained anywhere
without out crossing from founding stock. They have maintained
a continuity of type with their imported ancestors while still
meeting the needs of modern American horsemen. Maybe that is
a sign that the "old-fashioned" Arabian that came from the desert
is not out-of-date after all.
Homer Davenport (1867-1912) was the foremost
political cartoonist at the turn of the century. He was a part
of the journalistic movement which worked to correct some of
the abuses of power by corrupt machine politicians and the robber-baron
type of capitalism. As a boy, he had become fascinated with
the idea of Arabian horses, but apparently never saw any until
1893, when the Hamidie Society importation of Arabians came
to this country for the Chicago World's Fair. After the Fair,
these horses were sold at public auction in settlement of debt,
most of them going to Peter Bradley
of Hingham, MA. In 1898, Davenport called
on Mr. Bradley and began his career as an Arabian horse owner
by the purchase of one of the Hamidie Society horses, Koubishan.
(1) As time passed, other Arabians were
added to his stable, including the balance of the Hamidie society
horses, imports from England, and, of course, individuals from
the famous desert importation of 1906. His collection of Arabian
horses constituted one of the major breeding establishments
in America of his time, and even by today's standards would
be considered to be very significant because of its size and
the quality of bloodlines represented in it.
The 1904 U.S. Presidential election was
a contest between the Republican incumbent, Theodore Roosevelt,
and Judge Alton B. Parker of New York. Previously, Davenport
had supported the Democratic party with his cartooning, but
before this election he had a personal meeting with the President.
Perhaps the two men talked Arabian horses a bit because the
President was already familiar with the breed, having ridden
some of Randolph Huntington's
horses in 1904. (2) Davenport decided
to change the political orientation of his cartoons to support
Roosevelt. His great contribution to this end was a cartoon
showing the figure of Uncle Sam standing behind Roosevelt with
his hand upon Roosevelt's shoulder and saying, "He's good
enough for me." This was said to be one of the most effective
campaign cartoons in cartooning history. (In fact, according
to a member of the Davenport family, the attempt was even made
in the election of a later candidate having the Roosevelt name
to use the cartoon with a different head substituted for that
of Theodore Roosevelt -- a bit of plagiarism which was stopped
by court action.)
No doubt Roosevelt would have been elected
without Davenport's help, but perhaps the recollection of it
favorably disposed the President towards Homer Davenport and
projects he might have. Favors beget favors.
Shortly after the re-election, Davenport
contacted the President requesting help in importing Arabian
horses directly from Arabia. At that time, Arabia was a part
of the Ottoman Empire, which prohibited the export of Arabian
mares as a matter of policy. Stallions could be exported, but
not mares. A special dispensation form the Ottoman Sultan called
an "Irade" was therefore necessary in order for mares to be
obtained for export to this country. Of course, without mares,
no major importation of Arabian horses could be complete.
Roosevelt responded to Davenport's request
for help with a strong letter of support for his project and
by action through diplomatic channels resulting in the necessary
relaxation of export prohibitions by the Ottoman government.
The President's interest in the project proved to be a continuing
one. He facilated the shipment to America of the horses obtained
and some years later, in 1908, he personally inspected them
at Oyster Bay, Long Island, N.Y. He may even have had some influence
in seeing that these horses were bred to each other during their
initial years in this country. According to
Albert Harris, who knew Davenport personally, there was
an understanding between Roosevelt, Davenport, and Peter Bradley,
that any horses secured would
"not be disposed of but
would be kept intact for the Government, as the President
wanted the United States Government to establish a cavalry
stud and wanted the Arab horses for that purpose."
Within a few days of receiving word that
the Ottoman government had made an exception in his case by
issuing an Imperial "Irade," Homer Davenport was on board "La
Louraine" and on his way to Arabia. He was joined in the expedition
by two young New Yorkers, Jack Thompson and Charles Arthur Moore,
who were along just for fun. Major financial support for the
expedition was furnished by Peter Bradley, with whom Davenport
appears to have had a partnership of some sort. Davenport planned
to raise additional money for the trip by selling articles about
it to the Woman's Home Companion.
A FEW WORDS
ABOUT Homer Davenport and Peter Bradley
as people are in order. At the time of his trip to Arabia, Davenport
was 39 years old. He had been raised in Silverton, Oregon, and
like many people of his time, he was more or less self-educated.
This was especially obvious in his cartooning, which did not
represent "finished" work in an academic sense, but was carried
out in considerable detail and was very effective in communicating
his intent to his audience. He cultivated a westerner's informality
and was apt to be spoken of as "Homer" rather than "Mr. Davenport."
From his writing, it is obvious that he had a volatile, artistic
temperament combined with a cartoonist's gift for seeing the
humor in a situation. Contemporaries spoke of him as a very
good "talker," and he was a successful public lecturer. He had
a taste for the exotic in animals, extending from Arabian horses
to various kinds of dogs, Sicilian donkeys, angora goats, Persian
sheep and a collection of exotic fowl. (4)
He was an effective organizer of enterprises, as the success
of his expedition to Arabia and his contribution to the establishment
of the Arabian Horse Club of America were to prove. He had many
friends, but his gift for companionship did not extend to maintaining
personal domestic bliss forever. Some time after the importation
adventure, his marriage ended in divorce which appears to have
caused the circulation of a number of untrue statements about
him. Perhaps here, too, he was ahead of his time.
Peter
Bradley, who started Davenport with Arabian horses, was
an industrialist from the Boston area about whom we know little
personally. He had an extensive horse operation involving several
breeds of horses at Hingham Stock Farm. Among these horses were
a number of the Hamidie Society Arabians, which he used for
breeding purposes and for polo. When Davenport became interested
in Arabians, Bradley's Hamidie horses were transferred to him
in a continuing partnership which was also used to finance the
trip to the desert and other horse-related activities. Eventually
it became a corporation with Bradley and Davenport as controlling
officers. Generally speaking, Peter Bradley was the sort of
person who chose to stay in the background of events. It was
Davenport's role to make the public presentations for their
joint venture.
Davenport's trip to Arabia, begun in
July of 1906, is described in detail in his own book, My
Quest of the Arabian Horse, still one of the best books
on buying horses directly from the Bedouins. Davenport, Thompson
and Moore arrived in Constantinople, where the Irade was confirmed
by the Sultan who also warned that it was too hot in Arabia
at that season of the year for an expedition and advised waiting
for cooler weather. Nevertheless, the Davenport party went on
to the town of Aleppo, which, Davenport comments, was made of
stone and mud, was hot, and smelled. Aleppo was an ancient city,
noted as a point of entry to the lands of the desert tribes
of Arabia, and was sufficiently important to American affairs
to have a U.S. consulate.
Once in Aleppo, Davenport was at a loss
-- he had no idea how to proceed further. His main knowledge
of buying Arabian horses in the desert was from
Lady Anne Blunt's
books, and there was nothing in these to tell a buyer what to
do after getting to Aleppo. Davenport did know from Lady Blunt's
books, however, that he needed to contact the Anazeh tribe,
which she described as the source of the best Arabian horses.
In a bazaar, he chanced upon two Bedouins who said they were
from a sub-tribe of the Anazeh (the Fid'an) which was located
about ten hours' ride from Aleppo. One of them offered to take
Davenport to the house of a man named Akmet Haffez, the representative
(wakhil) of the Bedouins of the desert to the Ottoman
government in Aleppo.
Davenport accepted the invitation immediately
and shortly found himself on the outskirts of Aleppo in the
large and richly furnished reception room of a two-story mud
and brick horse. Here he met Akmet Haffez, an obviously distinguished
Bedouin sheikh who had lived away from his tribal people for
thirty years, serving his tribe as the intermediary between
it and the Ottoman government. Akmet Haffez had already heard
of the newly arrived traveler with the letter of endorsement
from "the one Great Sheikh of all the Americ tribes" (5)
(none other than Theodore Roosevelt) and the extraordinary Irade
of the Sultan authorizing the export of mares from Arabia. He
was extremely touched that, having these, Davenport had called
on him before calling on the primary government official of
the area, Nazim Pasha, the Governor of Aleppo and Syria.
"You have called on me," Akmet
Heffez told Davenport, "before calling on the Governor
of Aleppo and Syria. No such honor was ever paid to a Bedouin
before, and if I should live to be one hundred years old,
my smallest slave would honor me more for this visit."
To Davenport's amazement, Akmet Haffez
expressed a great desire for a continuing friendship, volunteered
to personally conduct his horse-buying expedition directly to
the Bedouin tribes, and presented to him the noted war mare,
*Wadduda 30. In addition,
a young grey stallion was given to Davenport's
traveling companion, Jack Thompson. The gift horses and the
offer to guide the expedition were accepted without hesitation.
With that business out of the way, Akmet Haffez took Davenport
to make the call on the Governor, Nazim Pasha, which should
have been made in the first place.
The Governor was very cordial in spite
of the breach of protocol which had made such an impression
of Akmet Haffez. He offered Davenport a guard of twelve soldiers.
this was declined on the grounds that there was no need for
a guard when Akmet Haffez was present, a point which enhanced
Davenport's position in the eyes of Akmet Haffez. The governor
also presented to Davenport the stallion *Haleb
25 as a gift. This horse, according to Davenport, had
been sought after by the Italian government. It had come into
the possession of Nazim Pasha as a presentation horse from the
combined Bedouin tribes of the area. Later, the Governor's son
presented an additional stallion, *Gomusa 31,
to Davenport. *Gomusa had been a gift horse from the Gomusa
clan of the Saba-Anazeh. Perhaps the generosity of the governor
and his son towards Davenport had something to do with the Sultan's
Irade, which could well have been taken as an expression of
the Sultan's intent that the Davenport mission be treated well
by Turkish officialdom. One of the noted Arabian travelers of
the era, Gertrude Bell, had visited with Nazim Pasha in 1904,
only two years before Davenport's expedition, and she had observed
that the Governor's position was of insecure tenure and that
the Governor was very anxious to retain it. (7)
WITH DIPLOMATIC
PROTOCOL taken care of, Davenport and
his two friends set out for the desert under the auspices of
Akmet Heffez. Although they had come equipped with arms, these
were left behind except for a rifle which was taken along to
be used as a gift. (There was also at least one pistol left
to their party.) Although Arabia was known as a wild and lawless
place, Davenport and his two friends had truly placed themselves
in the hands of Akmet Heffez, whom they had just met.
From what has been written of him, is
should be obvious that Homer Davenport was not an ordinary kind
of fellow. It took an unusual person to develop the idea of
going directly to Arabia for Arabian horses at a time when that
country was a remote and notoriously dangerous place for the
novice traveler. And, it took a person with some kind of unprecedented
combination of nerve, luck, intuition, and charm to place himself
and his two companions in a situation of complete dependency
on a person they had never met before and of whom they really
knew almost nothing. The Bedouins who were to be visited were
considered to be near-savages, the townspeople, liars and cheats;
and all of these were known to have a religious bias against
non-Moslems. In addition, the Davenport party was carrying a
substantial amount of actual gold currency. Even assuming Akmet
Haffez' good intent, as Davenport did, it was perhaps a greater
matter to assume that he could guarantee safety in desert conditions
to such an easy and worthwhile prize. The law, the police force,
and the army of the Ottoman Sultan did not reach into desert
areas to protect the traveler.
The question has to be asked as to why
Akmet Haffez chose to bother with Homer Davenport. Several answers
suggest themselves. The Bedouins were a people to whom personal
honor and prestige were of controlling importance in life. At
that time, the Bedouins were a subject people, controlled in
major things by the administrative apparatus of the Ottoman
Empire. They were governed by Ottoman officials who were almost
entirely Turks or Europeans from the Caucasus or the Balkans.
they were not even permitted to use their own Arabic language
in official matters. The Bedouins were deeply resentful of their
position of inferiority and this resentment, in fact, played
an important part in the overthrow of Sultan Abdul Hamid II,
an event which was put in motion not long after Davenport's
trip. Akmet Heffez, furthermore, as the illiterate representative
of an essentially "uncivilized" tribal culture, was no doubt
very aware of being constantly looked down upon by the Ottoman
ruling group, represented by the Governor. Akmet Haffez was
overwhelmed by the honor Davenport had paid him by calling on
him before the Governor, especially since the honor was more
than a matter of strictly personal prestige.
The manner in which Davenport
contacted Akmet Haffez was of equal importance. Among the Bedouin
Arabs, the tradition of hospitality was considered a sacred
obligation. Even bitter enemies who gained access to a tent
or house could claim a period of complete sanctuary in which
they were treated as honored guests. The way in which Davenport
approached Akmet Haffez' reception area and then placed himself
at the complete disposal of the old Bedouin was in effect the
same thing as if he had approached a Bedouin tent in the desert,
taken hold of a tent pole, and claimed hospitality.
In addition, there was some professional
advantage for Akmet Haffez in helping Davenport. Akmet Haffez
was known as the "diplomat" of the desert tribes, their representative
to the Ottoman government, and he served them well. Davenport
comments that
"he has the absolute respect from
all the Bedouin tribes from the Ruala in the west to the
Shammar in the far east, as he has brought the price of
their camels up from $20 to $45 apiece within the last few
years. In times of war, hardships and drought, it is this
distinguished old gentleman that borrows money to heal their
wants. On the other hand, he has pleaded with the Sultan's
troops not to collect the camel tax by force, but to allow
the Bedouins of the various tribes to pay their camel tax
on their own estimate." (8)
THE SULTAN
intended Davenport to succeed in the export of horses, and by
contributing to the achievement of this intention, Akmet Haffez
reflected credit upon himself as a diplomat and upon the tribes
he represented. Putting it another way, if Davenport, who had
come to Arabia under the auspices of the President, had returned
to America having had a bad experience, how pleased would the
Sultan have been? Abdul Hamid II, the Sultan, was famous for
keeping track of little details, and he would have known if
Davenport's trip had gone badly. Davenport's book about the
importation shows a picture of Akmet Haffez wearing a medal
from the Sultan, which Davenport said was taken in 1908, two
years after his expedition. Perhaps Akmet Haffez' help to Davenport
might have had something to do with that medal.
Perhaps the most important reason for
the unqualified character of Akmet Haffez' help to Davenport
was simply that the two men liked each other. In Davenport's
book on the importation, in his catalogs of imported horses,
and in his testimony at the Durland hearing, the very great
personal respect which he had for Akmet Haffez is evident. Akmet
Haffez' own regard for Davenport was apparent when he suggested
that they go through the blood-brother ceremony, which they
did. This may seem a little like a college initiation rite in
our society, but in Arabia, 1906, it was a serious mater imposing
obligations upon both parties. Many years after the Davenport
trip, Carl Raswan writes
of being mistaken for Davenport's son by the son of Akmet Haffez,
whom he met at the same house in Aleppo where Davenport had
met the father. Even at that distance in time, the family remembrance
of Davenport was of intense affection. Raswan writes:
"Whence cometh thou?"
the big fellow questioned without any form of introduction
and with scant courtesy. I reached into my breast pocket
and drew from it the letter of recommendation, much crumpled
and stained, and with it, inadvertently, a photographic
reproduction of Homer Davenport's well-known drawing, "Haleb's
Farewell to the Desert." The picture shows Sheykh Achmed
Hafiz and his Bedouin friends witnessing the departure of
that celebrated Arab stallion, Haleb, which the Turkish
governor of Syria had given Davenport as a present. My tall
friend grabbed both letter and picture from my hand and
fingered them clumsily. Suddenly he discovered on the photograph
familiar faces and figures. A thunderbolt could not have
produced greater consternation in the tranquil courtyard
than did the giant's frantic exclamations at this sudden
recognition. His surprise was comical. Stuttering with emotion,
he tried to communicate not only to me, but to all and sundry,
the startling fact that he had discovered his father in
the picture. He behaved like a lunatic. He flung his arms
about and danced round like a howling dervish...When peace
was at last restored, I found myself in the arms of my new
friend. Like the protecting wings of the Cherubim, the loose
sleeves of his herder's cloak flapped round me, as he hugged
me to his chest and kissed me on both cheeks.
"Thou are Davenport's
son?" he cried, but it was more a statement than a
question. I tried to explain, but in vain! He insisted that
I must be Davenport's son, and would hear nothing to the
contrary.
Gradually the man grew calmer and mutual understanding
became possible. Ali was his name -- Ali ibn Achmed Haffez!
And he was the eldest son of the sheyk ...
With Akmet Haffez as guide and sponsor,
Davenport made a trip into the Arabian desert, lasting only
about thirteen days. The trip was certainly not sufficient to
qualify Homer Davenport as one of the notable travelers on the
Arabian peninsular, but he had come not to travel, but to obtain
Arabian breeding stock at its point of origin. Other desert
travelers, such as the Blunts, had been in Arabia during the
late winter and early spring, when the weather was cold or mild
and the pasture was lush. The Bedouin tribes were scattered
at such times, and it was difficult for the traveler to see
horses without spending a great deal of time going between encampments.
Davenport, on the other hand, made his trip in the late summer
and early fall, when the temperature was very hot and the desert
country relatively barren. At the time of his trip, the primary
horse-breeding tribes were within a relatively short ride of
Aleppo. Thus, with little travel he was able to see many horses
and to make contact with the same tribes and even with the same
families of Bedouin breeders who had previously furnished Arabian
horses to other well-known western importers, including Abbas
Pasha, Ali Pasha Sherif, Upton, and the Blunts. The family of
Hashem Bey Ibn Mheyd -- former owner of *Wadduda -- was even
proud that in years past it had furnished the Darley Arabian
to England.(10)
Among westerners who have exported Arabians
from Arabia, Davenport had a special advantage in that he had
previously owned Arabian horses, obtaining his first Arabian
from Peter Bradley in 1898. Furthermore, the horses with which
he was the most familiar were Hamidie Society imports from Arabia.
Like birds, Arabian horses have phases of expression, according
to their bloodlines and how they are raised. Desertbred horses
and bloodlines of close derivation from the desert often tend
to be different than horses which have been raised and shaped
by the essentially European standards of western society. Davenport's
best knowledge of the Arabian horse was in its desertbred phase,
and he was not hampered by pre-conceived notions about Arabian
horses which were not apt to be fulfilled in desert conditions.
The greatest problem in importing Arabian
horses directly from Arabia to the West has been to obtain horses
which are the real thing. the Middle East is notorious for having
many horses of various sorts, most of them for sale. Only a
few of these were what the Sherif horse-breeding tribes of the
desert would consider to be purebred and fit for their stern
life of intertribal warfare. Western buyers, of course, did
not want a horse for what purpose at all, but experience has
proven that the successful importations of Arabian breeding
stock to the West have been of horses which the Sherif Bedouin
tribes valued for their own purposes. Importations such as those
of Abbas Pasha (which set the tone for subsequent Egyptian breeding),
the better horses of the Blunts (from which the best of Crabbet
breeding derives), and more recently, the 1931 Zietarski-Raswan
importation to Poland for Prince Sanguszko (which redirected
modern Polish breeding) are among the most influential importations
in our stud books, and they are notable in the authenticity
of the horses which they procured. That kind of quality has
never been easily obtained.
