Chapter VI: Introduction (3)

The Arabs affirm that the best age for reproduction is from four to twelve years as regards the mare, and from six to fourteen as regards the horse. Exacting as concerns the mare, which must be of good descent, swift of foot, of good height, of sound constitution, and of a graceful form, they are still more difficult to please as concerns the horse. "Choose him" say they, "and choose him again, for the offspring always resembles the sire rather than the dam." They do not object, however, to the horse being of shorter stature than the mare, provided he be of pure race and sound in wind and limb. They attach far more importance to bottom, speed, and sobriety than to that conventional type of beauty which is so seductive in our eyes. Thus a stallion, fat, sleek, rounded in all parts, and who owes the brilliancy of his form to high feeding, indolence of disposition, or inaction, excites their distrust in the highest degree. They will say of such an animal: "Let us not be in a hurry. Let us see him at work. There may possibly be nothing there but a lion's hide upon the back of a cow." But, on the other hand they esteem as a genuine sire a horse for long journeys, whose flesh is firm, whose ribs are bare, his limbs clean and his respiration powerful. He must also be endowed with a good temper, and have given proof of being able to bear great fatigue, privations, and hardships.

As to the mare, the case has been pending for centuries. Now as formerly the custom is to picture an Arab by the side of his mare. The gold of the purchaser glitters at his feet, but whilst this gold is being counted out the descendant of Ishmael casts a melancholy look on the noble animal from whom he cannot bring himself to separate. He springs upon her back and rushes far away into the desert: "The eye knoweth not where he has passed." Such is the orthodox representation; let us now see the truth as depicted by the Emir Abd-el-Kader:

The Arabs prefer mares to horses, it is true, but only for the three following reasons. The first is because they consider the profit to be derived from a mare as something very handsome, for it is well-known that as much as fifteen to twenty thousand _douros_ (from £3,000 to £4,000) have been received for the offspring of a single mare. Hence they may be often heard to exclaim: "The head of riches is a mare that produces a mare." And this idea gathers strength in their eyes from it having been said by our lord Mohammed, the messenger of Allah: "Give the preference to mares; their belly is a treasure, and their back a seat of honour. The greatest of blessings is an intelligent woman, or a prolific mare." These words are thus explained by commentators: "Their belly is a treasure," because a mare by means of her offspring increases the wealth of her master; and "their back is a seat of honour," because the pace of a mare is more easy and agreeable; some even going so far as to say that the easiness of her gait will after a time render her rider effeminate.

The second motive is that the mare does not neigh in time of war like the horse, and is less sensitive as to hunger, thirst, and heat, and is therefore of greater use to a people whose riches consist principally in flocks of camels and sheep. It is known to all, that camels and sheep do not really thrive except in the Sahara, where the ground is so arid that many Arabs, being unable to procure water more than once in eight or ten days, accustom themselves to drink nothing but milk. This is one of the consequences of the great distance that frequently, on account of the pasturage, divides the encampment from a spot where there are wells. The mare is like the serpent: her strength increases in the hot season and in torrid regions. A snake that lives in a cold country or in water has very little life or venom, so that its bite is rarely mortal; whereas a snake that lives in a hot country is full of life, and the virulence of its poison is intensified. Contrary to the horse who is less capable of supporting the heat of the sun, the mare, owing doubtless to her temperament, finds her vigour doubled in the hottest season.

The third and last motive is, the little attention required by the mare. She feeds on anything. Her owner leads or sends her to graze on the same herbage as the sheep and camels. There is no occasion to place a watchman in regular attendance. The horse, however, cannot dispense with being well kept, nor can his owner send him to the pasture without a _saïs_, or groom, to look after him.

Such are the true reasons for the preference which Arabs show for mares. This preference is not caused by an idea that the foal inherits from its dam more than from its sire, or that it is better on all occasions to ride a mare than a horse. But it rests partly on substantial benefits received, and partly on the necessities of the life which the Arabs habitually lead. It may be laid down, then, as a fact that the horse is more noble than the mare, and that the sire bequeaths to the foal more than the mare does, which the Arabs express by the saying: _El mohor itebaâ el Faâl_, "the foal follows the stallion." I admit, however, that the best produce is that which proceeds from a sire and a dam both of pure race. In this case, it is gold allying itself with gold. I will add that the horse is stronger, of a higher courage and greater speed than the mare, and is free from the grave drawback attendant on the latter of stopping short under her rider, even in battle and at a time perhaps when everything depends on rapid movement.

There can be no doubt that the foal proceeds from the stallion and the mare. But the experience of ages demonstrates that the essential parts of the body, such as the bones, tendons, nerves, and veins follow after the sire. The mare may impart to her young the colour of her coat, a general resemblance, and something of her frame, but it is the stallion that transmits the strength of the bones, the vigour of the nerves, the solidity of the tendons, speed and all the other most important characteristics. He also communicates to his offspring his moral qualities, and if he is really noble, preserves him from all vice, for the Arabs of old have said: "The noble horse has no malice."

* * * * *

No sooner has the foal seen the light than one of the bystanders takes it in his arms, and walks up and down with it for some time in the midst of almost inconceivable noise and uproar. It is supposed that a useful lesson is thus taught for the future—the animal, accustomed from its birth to horrible sounds, will never afterwards be frightened at anything. This lesson finished, the master of the tent places the right dug of the mare in the foal's mouth, and exclaims: "In the name of Allah! Allah grant that the new-born (_mezyoud_) may bring us good fortune, health, and abundance!" The friends who are present answer all together: "Amen! May Allah bless thee! He has sent thee another child."[33]

To teach the foal to suck, a fig or a date soaked in milk slightly salted is put into his mouth. As soon as he has taken a liking to it and begins to suck it, he is placed under his dam. After two or three attempts he soon mistakes the dug for the fig or date he has just left, and the thing is done. After that he is carefully preserved from the night-cold. But it is also necessary to accustom him to drink camel's and ewe's milk. It is done in this manner. They take a goat's skin used several years for holding milk, and fill it with air. Then squeezing it gently, they blow up his nostrils a few times. By way of complement to this operation they crush dates in milk, which impart to it a sweetish flavour and then place the mixture close to the foal's mouth, forcing him every now and then to dip his lips into it. He begins by tasting and licking it and after a while drinks it, whether the dam gives him suck or not. Great importance is attached to teaching the foal to drink milk; first, because he can thus be left in the tent while the mare is again put to work; and secondly, because in after years, in default of water, he will be satisfied with milk instead, and also as food if barley runs short. Should the mare take an aversion to her young, she must be separated from him, and the latter must be brought up on camel's milk, as this is deemed preferable to the milk of the cow or the she-goat, which produces laziness and heaviness.

A few days or a few months after the birth of a foal, some Arabs slit one or both of the ears. This fancy is accounted for in various ways. According to one party this operation is performed on animals born in the night time, because they ought to have a better sight than those that come into the world during the day. According to others, it is done to foals born on Friday, the day of the gathering together of Mussulmans at the mosque, because it is a lucky sign. The truth is simply this: The master of a tent has a child of tender years, whom he loves very dearly. In slitting the ear of his foal he declares that he reserves him for his son so-and-so. Should the father afterwards die, no one would dispute the possession of the animal with the child thus named. Others, however, slit the ear of a foal that has the colic; the bleeding saves him.

Soon after the birth of a foal they hang round his neck amulets, and talismans (richly ornamented in the case of wealthy people) and little shells called _oudaâ_. They are suspended by neckbands of wool or of camel's skin (_goulada_) which the women delight to make with their own hands, especially applying themselves to harmonise the colours tastefully. To bay or black horses they attach a white _goulada_, to those of a light colour red _gouladas_. These neckbands are useful as well as ornamental, for they serve to hold the animal by if need be, thus replacing our halters in a manner more agreeable to the eye and less irksome to the horse. As for the talismans (_heurouze-aâdjab_) they are simply little bags made of Morocco leather, more or less ornamented, and containing words extracted from the sacred writings, by means of which they hope to preserve the animal from wounds, from sickness, and from the evil eye.

Occasionally in war time the foal is killed immediately after its birth, in order that the dam may be the sooner fit for service; but never do they slay a filly. Such a one is weaned and left in the tent to shelter it from the sun, and the women frequently succeed in saving its life by giving it ewe's or camel's milk. If a filly be born on the road during a journey or march undertaken for a commercial or a warlike object, in order to save it every possible fatigue it is placed upon a camel, where a soft nest is constructed for it; but it will only be allowed to approach its dam during a halt or in the night time.

During the Taguedempt expedition in 1841 I saw a cavalier of Makhzen, who had no means of transport, carry before him on his saddle for the first four days after its birth a filly which his mare had given him at the bivouac. At the end of that period it followed its dam, throughout the campaign.

When the colts are not destroyed they are usually sold in the Tell, at the season of buying grain, whereas the fillies are preserved as a source of riches through their offspring.

The greater the value attached to the mare, the earlier is the time for weaning, but it generally takes place in the sixth or seventh month. In weaning the foal they remove it from its dam, first of all for one day, then for two, and so on, gradually increasing the period of separation. To render the transition less abrupt, they give it camel's milk sweetened with date honey, and to keep it from wandering in search of its mother they tether it by its fore or hind-legs with woollen cords but in either case above the knees or the hocks; whence proceed the whitish marks that are often observable. If at that age the animal were fastened by the pasterns considerable injury might be done. The foal never remaining still and puzzled by its novel situation, the processes called by the Arabs _louzze_, or almonds, would speedily be formed. Redoubled attention is paid to the foal while being weaned, for if it succeeded in getting loose and approached its dam it would be liable to fall ill through sucking a corrupt and sour milk.

In the day time while the mare is on the march or in the pasture, a sort of halter (_kuemama_) is put on the foal, the noseband of which is furnished with short porcupine's quills. The dam then refuses of herself to let the foal touch her. As soon as it is fairly weaned, it is necessary in order to prevent the accumulation of milk to draw it off from the mare from time to time, and somewhat to lower her diet. After being weaned, the foal is fed on ground barley in regularly increasing quantities, taking care, however, not to cause satiety. They use a wooden measure called _feutra_. This measure contains three double handfuls, and is common to all the tribes of the desert, because its origin dates from a religious tradition. At the _aïd-es-seghrir_, that is, at the little festival which follows the Ramadan, the Prophet recommends every Mussulman who is tolerably well off to give to the poor a _feutra_ of food, wheat, barley, dates, rice, etc., according to the productions of the country in which he may be residing.

As soon as the foal is weaned, the women take possession of it, saying: "It belongs to us now; it is an orphan, but we will make its life as pleasant as possible."

REMARKS BY THE EMIR ABD-EL-KADER.

The foal follows the sire. The best stock is that which proceeds from a sire and a dam of pure extraction. The produce of a foreign mare by an Arab horse is less valued, and much less that of a blood mare by a common horse. Lastly, a colt whose sire and dam are both of foreign race has no good quality whatsoever.

The Arabs affirm that an entire horse has more vigour and speed than a mare. As a rule stallions are scarce in the Sahara. They are seldom to be met with except with the chiefs or with men of wealth, who can afford to have them properly tended and looked after, as it would be dangerous to turn them loose on to the grazing grounds. On the contrary, the mare requires very little attention, and is therefore chiefly ridden by the Saharenes.

Immediately after the foal is born it is made to swallow two or three eggs. Then, while the foal is still on the ground they rub the sole and crust of the hoof with salt dissolved in a preparation of _bouna-faâ_,[34] which renders the horn hard and tough. After that, the foal gets up, gropes about, and seeks its dam. Twelve hours later it will follow her to the pasture. As soon as the foal is born the master of the tent hastens to arrange his ears, the forelock, the mane, and the neck, carefully collecting the hairs together from the root upwards. If the weather is cold, both the dam and the foal are kept in the tent. Seven days afterwards the mare is made to swallow a pound or a pound and a half of rancid butter not salted.

The nobler the mare, the sooner is the foal weaned, and in any case it is never permitted to suck longer than six months. In certain countries the Arabs are under the impression that a protracted suckling almost always produces a bad disposition and a hard mouth. Everywhere, where it is possible, and according to the season of the year, they give the foal camel's, or cow's, or ewe's milk, which is supposed to render the coat more soft and sleek.

"The best treasure of a man is a fruitful mare."

"Allah bade them multiply, and they have multiplied."

REARING AND BREAKING-IN

Though weaned, the foal accompanies its dam to the pasture. This exercise is found necessary to its health and to the development of its faculties. In the evening it comes home to lie down beside the tent of its owner. There, it is to every member of the family the object of the greatest care. The women and the children sport with it, and give it _Kouskoussou_,[35] bread, flour, milk, and dates. This daily contact leads to that docility which is so much admired in Arab horses.

Sometimes tushes grow out even in one-year olds, and the animal falls away in condition until they are extracted, when it recovers its health. Should the colt at the age of fifteen to eighteen months fail to promise a fine free action of the shoulder, they do not hesitate to apply the cautery to the scapulo-humeral joint. It is generally applied in the form of a cross, the four extreme points of which are joined by a circle. Previous to the operation care is taken to trace the design with pitch if the animal be of a light colour, or with plaster if it be dark. If, again, a colt's knees are ill-shaped, or indicate a predisposition to bony tumours or to thickening, fire is applied in three parallel lines. Lastly, if any apprehension is felt of the colt becoming too straight either in front or behind, they fire the fetlock joint but only on the front part, which shows that the Arabs understand the tendons and treat them carefully. The fire is usually applied with a sickle. In performing this operation they avoid as much as possible the great heats of summer. The most favourable season is the end of autumn or the beginning of spring: there are fewer flies then, and the temperature is cooler.

The education of a colt should commence when eighteen months old, because it is the only way to make him thoroughly docile, and also because the development of the spleen is thus checked—a very important point in the opinion of the Arabs. If he is first of all mounted at a later period, he may look stronger to the eye, but in reality he will be inferior in patience and in speed.

"Every horse inured to fatigue brings good fortune."[36]

And Heaven knows how the Arab horse is inured to fatigue! So to speak, he is always on the march. He travels with his master who is one of the greatest travellers on horseback in the world. He travels to seek his food. He traverses long distances to find water; and this sort of life renders him abstinent, not easily tired, and ready for anything. It must be admitted that that is a method of training horses not easily surpassed.

I repeat, for I cannot too strongly insist on this capital point, the opinion of the Arabs is unanimous in favour of the education of the colt beginning at a very early age. In acting otherwise, there is a risk, they imagine, of having an unmanageable horse, or one heavy and clumsy. Exercise, on the contrary, accustoms the horse to submission, gives strength to the joints while rendering them supple, imparts firmness to the bones, develops the muscles, and brings out that power of enduring fatigue without which the animal is nothing more than source of outlay without any return for it.

At the age, then, of eighteen to twenty months the colt is mounted by a child who takes him to water, goes in search of grass, or leads him to the pasture. Not to hurt the bars he guides him with a longe, or a tolerably soft mule's bit. This exercise is good for them both. The child grows up a horseman, and the colt acquires the habit of carrying a weight proportioned to his strength. He learns to walk, to fear nothing, and it is in this manner, say the Arabs, that "we contrive never to have restive horses." The first time the child mounts the colt, he should say, while in the act of bestriding him: "Glory to Him who has subjected the horse to us! Without Allah we should never have accomplished it."

It is at this age also they begin to shackle the colt. The clogs are at first fastened very short, as without that precaution the young animal might lose something of the steadiness of its balance and injure its chest or shoulders either in lying down or getting up again. They ought likewise to be attached loosely so as not to occasion the formation of hard knots. This mode of shackling a horse is decidedly the best. With it one never hears of a horse breaking loose, a misadventure that causes such confusion in a bivouac, drives horsemen to despair, and is the source of a thousand accidents. As the animal is forced to stoop and lean forwards to graze, one would imagine that it could not fail after a while to lose something of its uprightness. The fear is altogether unfounded. The chest expands, the limbs acquire strength. All Barbs stand well upon their legs and are admirably straight along the back and loins. The Arabs are loud in their abuse of our mode of tying up horses with a longe. They affirm that in addition to the vices and accidents it may occasion, it has the great inconvenience of not allowing the animal to lie down. Whereas with clogs a horse protrudes his head and neck and when he wants to sleep places himself exactly in the position of a greyhound basking in the sun. Besides, a great many stable vices disappear when they are used. The animal can neither entangle itself in the halter, nor slip it, nor get into the manger nor lie down beneath it, nor scratch the earth with its foot, nor rub against the manger nor contract any other bad habits of the kind: an indisputable advantage so far.

The colt being thus shackled in front of the tent, a little negro with a switch is placed near him to accustom him to remain still. It is the duty of this young slave to correct him slightly if he attempts to lash out at anything passing behind him, or if he bites at his neighbours. He is watched in this manner until he is brought to the most perfect gentleness. When he is sent to the pasture, the ligatures fasten together a fore and hind foot at the same side, and the cord is purposely made very short. It is observed that when the colt stoops to graze, the shortness of the cord compels the vertebral column to remain straight, and to become rather convex than concave. If, on the contrary, the cord were too long, there would be nothing to support the vertebral column, and it would easily become distorted.

When from twenty-four to twenty seven months old, the colt is for the first time saddled and bridled, but with every precaution. For instance, he is not saddled until quite used to the bridle. For the first few days the bit is covered with undressed wool, partly with a view not to hurt his bars, and partly to allure him to docility by the saltish flavour of which he is so fond. When he begins to champ the bit, the task is nearly accomplished. This preparatory exercise takes place morning and evening. Thus sagaciously handled, the young animal will be ready to be mounted in the early part of the autumn, when he will be less tormented by the flies and heat. Wealthy owners, before they allow their colt to be mounted by a grown-up man, sometimes have him led up and down gently for a fortnight, with a pack-saddle on his back supporting two baskets filled with sand. He thus gradually passes from the weight of the child that first bestrode him to that of the man who is about to mount him.

Suppose the colt now to have completed two years and a half. His vertebral column has acquired strength. The clogs, the saddle and the bridle are familiar to him. A cavalier mounts on his back. The animal is certainly very young, but he will be ridden only at a walking pace, and his bit will be a very easy one. The main point is to accustom him to obedience. The owner without spurs and holding only a light cane in his hand which he uses as little as possible, rides him to the market, or to visit his friends, his flocks and pastures, and attends to his affairs without exacting anything more than submission and docility. This he ordinarily obtains by never speaking to him except in a low voice, without passion, and carefully avoiding anything likely to elicit opposition that must result in a contest from which he might come forth conqueror, but at the expense of his horse. Particular importance is attached to keeping the young animal still and quiet for a few minutes before letting him start. At a later period, his owner will not fail to reap the benefit of this excellent practice.

The common people sometimes mount their colts before they are two years and a half old, and if reproached for doing so, they answer: "You are quite right; we know that, but how can it be helped? We are poor, and have no choice but to act in this manner or go on foot. We prefer the former alternative, notwithstanding its disadvantages. In the perilous life we lead, the present moment is everything."

Seeing the Arabs employ their colts so early, mounting the two-year olds and exacting from them considerable fatigue, and forced marches, and using them even as pack-horses without regard to their age or strength, many persons have concluded that this people knew nothing about the proper mode of managing horses, and have even denied that they had any love for the animal. Such persons, however, cannot have taken into account that sometimes to save their families, sometimes their property, and frequently to obey the summons of the holy war (_djehad_) these Arabs are obliged to use whatever materials come to hand. They are compelled to employ their horses through the necessities that beset them, and through circumstances quite beyond their control, but they are perfectly aware that it would be better not to do so.

It is also when he is about thirty months old that the colt is taught not to break loose from his rider when the latter sets foot to earth, and not even to stir from the spot where the bridle has been passed over his head and allowed to drag on the ground. Especial care is taken in teaching this lesson, because it is one of great importance in Arab life. The same means is adopted in this case, as in accustoming the colt to the clogs. A slave stands beside him, who puts his foot on the bridle whenever the animal is about to go off, and thus gives a disagreeable shock to the bars of his mouth. After a few days of this exercise he will stand stock still at the spot where he has been left, and will wait for his master for days together. This practise is so universal throughout the Sahara that the first thing an Arab does after killing his adversary, if he wants his horse, is to pass the bridle quickly over his head. The animal then remains perfectly still and allows the conqueror time to despoil his fallen foe: without this precaution it would have rejoined its _goum_.

Here is a scene we have all witnessed. An Arab arrives at the market, and dismounts in the midst of a score of horses or mares. You suppose that he is going to give his animal to some one to hold. Not so: he passes the bridle over his neck, lets it fall on the ground, and placing a stone upon it goes without disquietude to transact his business. Two hours afterwards he returns, finds that his horse has not moved from the spot where he left him—and to which he probably fancied himself fastened—gets on the saddle and returns to his own people.

From the age of two and a half to three years the system already indicated continues to be applied with a view to confirm the young animal in the docile habits so essential in war time. Pains too are taken to make him very quiet to mount, by using every precaution. In his life of perilous adventure the Arab has need, before all things, of a horse easy to mount. Lessons to this effect will be renewed day after day until they are no longer necessary: but not too long at a time for fear of tiring out the colt. At first the owner will be assisted by two men, one of whom will hold the bridle and the other the stirrup, and after a while he will succeed in producing a statue-like immobility. Sick and ill-shaped horses, say the Arabs, alone prove unteachable.

From three to four years old more is expected from a horse, but at the same time he is better fed. He is now ridden with spurs and, being thoroughly grounded in the foregoing lessons, he gives proof of mettle and learns to fear nothing. The cries of the animals living in the same _douar_, the roaring of the wild beasts that prowl around during the night, and the constant discharge of fire-arms, soon prepare him for war.

However, if notwithstanding all the careful management we have described, a horse takes to rearing either through laziness or vice, or to plunging, or biting, or refuses to leave the tent or the other horses, recourse is had to the potency of spurs. These are made very sharp, and their point is bent in the form of a slightly rounded hook. With these instruments the rider draws long bloody wheals along the animal's belly and flanks, which inspire him with such terror that he becomes as tame as a lamb and will track his master out like a dog. Horses that have undergone this punishment rarely relapse into their former faults. To increase the potency of the spurs, salt or gun powder is rubbed into the still bleeding wounds. The Arabs are so convinced of the efficacy of this chastisement that they do not look upon a horse as thoroughly trained for war until he has passed through this terrible experience. At the same time that the rider uses the spurs to chastise a decidedly restive horse, he strikes him a little behind the headstall of the bridle with a short thick stick, with which he is always provided when he means to break in an animal of this kind.

In certain localities to prevent a horse from rearing they attach an iron ring to his ear. If he tries to rise up a smart blow with a stick is struck upon this ring, the pain thus caused soon sickening the animal of his bad "defence." To cure a horse of plunging, he is mounted with his tail towards a thick thorny shrub (_gandoule_). He is then urged forward, but jibs, lashes out, and pricks himself. However, after a few lessons of this kind, he breaks himself of his abominable habit.

The Arabs declare that spurs add one-fourth to the rider's horsemanship, and one-third to the spirit of the animal, and illustrate their assertion by the following fable:

"When beasts were first created, they had the gift of speech. The horse and the camel took an oath never to harm one another but to live, on the contrary, with a perfect mutual understanding. An Arab placed in a critical position by one of the chances of war, saw with despair the flight of the camel on which he had hoped to save his property. There was no time to lose. 'Bring my horse!' he exclaims, and leaps on his back. He scolds him, beats him, gives him the heel. All in vain. The horse stirs not a step, remembering the promise made to his friend. The Arab then puts on his spurs, which he carried in his _djebira_,[37] and the horse, smarting with his torn flanks, springs forward, and speedily overtakes the runaway. 'Ah! traitor!' cried the camel, 'thou hast violated our compact; thou tookest an oath never to do me any harm, and yet thou hast replaced me in the power of my tyrant.' 'Accuse not my heart,' replied the horse, 'I refused to move, but "the thorns of misery" have brought me up to thee.'"

It is not an easy task to use the spurs properly. Horsemen who possess that talent are cited even among the Arabs. Some are only able to urge on their steed by constantly tickling his flanks without wounding him. Others are acquainted only with the _tekerbeâa_, or the art of clashing their iron spurs against their iron stirrups in order to frighten the animal. The most skilful alone know how to raise those bloody wheals to which we have already alluded. When it is said of a horseman that he marks his horse with wheals from the navel to the vertebral column, the highest compliment has been paid to him. During my residence at Mascara, how often have I heard the Arabs assert, by way of vaunting the horsemanship of their Emir: "Abd-el-Kader! why, he crosses his spurs on his horse's loins!"

These spurs are dangerous for inexperienced horsemen, who sometimes prick the animal on the kneepan and so lame him if the wound be deep. And if a horse comes down, the spur is very apt to run into him. For this reason the Arabs generally have the leathers of their spurs tolerably loose, in order to obviate by their slackness, their own awkwardness. It also enables them to disembarrass themselves more quickly in battle if their horse happens to be killed and they are compelled to flee on foot to save their lives. On the same grounds they prefer in a serious combat loose-fitting shoes to boots. Our spurs they look upon as utterly inefficient. "What benefit, in a case where your life is at stake do you expect to get from them with a horse already knocked up? They are good only for tickling a horse and to make him restive. With our spurs we draw every thing out of him. As long as there is life in him, we will get it out of him: they lose their effect only in presence of death."

Every Arab trains his own horse. In the Sahara the only riding masters are practice, tradition, and example. A reputation as a good rider is only acquired after many proofs of skilfulness. It is not sufficient to be competent to manage a horse on level ground. It is necessary, gun in hand, to make the most of him at a rapid pace over a broken, wooded, and difficult country, "Such a one," say they, "is a horseman of the gun, while so-and-so is only a horseman of the heel." Perfection implies equal skill with the gun and the heel. They even go so far as to institute a difference between one who rides well over dry ground, and one who rides boldly over slippery ground. They distinguish between the horseman of summer and the horseman of winter.

What experience must not such an apprenticeship lay up! There is one point, however, which they entirely overlook—they never trouble themselves as to which leg the horse puts foremost. An Arab horse as always power and well formed shoulders which, owing to his practice as a colt of grazing on mountains, in woods, and on broken ground, have become far better developed than they would have been by means of the plate-longe and the riding school. He is also easy in his paces because the rider yields to all the movements of his body and never sets himself against them. I may add that the Arab has a perfect seat, and though he rides very short he makes up for that disadvantage by wearing very long spurs which, by the slightest movement of the leg, catch the horse on the flank, compel him to bring his hind-legs under the centre of gravity, keep him in hand, and place his head as correctly as if he had acted upon our best system of horsemanship.[38]

Arab horses have always a good mouth. A proverb says:

The horseman makes the horse,
As the husband makes the wife.

But it is not enough to have softened and tamed the horse. Although by means of kind treatment, daily intercourse, and punishment judiciously applied, he has become docile, and a good action has been secured, his education is still incomplete. It still remains to perfect him, and to do so they train him to the following exercises:

_El Feuzzâa_, "setting off suddenly at full gallop." To accomplish this they pursue nearly the same method as ourselves, with this difference that they avail themselves of the aid of the _tekerbeâa_, which we have already described, so that a horse must be altogether impracticable if he does not act as he is required to do.

_El Kyama_, "going free." They rush the animal at a wall, or tree, or a man, and pull him up short. By degrees he will learn to halt abruptly in the middle of a rapid career, on the bank of a river or on the edge of a ravine or precipice—a valuable accomplishment, oftentimes most advantageous in war. If a young horse is not a free-goer, but capers about and obstinately refuses to separate from the other horses, a fault of the last consequence to an Arab, he is cured by the following process. The owner's friends get on horseback and draw themselves up in two lines, facing each other and two or three paces apart. The horse is then ridden between these two hedges. If he stops, the horsemen beat him with sticks, while his rider plies him vigourously with the spur. A fortnight of this lesson is more than enough for the most obstinate.

_El Lotema_, "the wheeling round." This exercise consists in turning suddenly to the right or left, but more frequently the latter, as soon as the rider has fired off his piece. The principle is this, the trigger being pulled, the horseman strikes his horse sharply with the left hand behind the saddle, and at the same moment with his right hand on the neck. The animal understands what is meant, and in a very short time learns to obey merely the movement of his rider's body. This instruction is inculcated with the greatest care, being of great importance to the Arab, who is so often exposed to single combats.

_El Djery_, "the race." They first of all make the animal go at a swift pace by itself over a level plain, stimulating it with whip and spur, but only for a short distance. After a while they match the colt against an old horse of some renown. The young one becomes excited, and does his utmost to maintain the contest. These exercises being frequently repeated serve likewise to give the owner an exact knowledge of his horse's capabilities, and of what he may safely undertake with him in the future. They are not unattended with danger, but "the angels have two special missions in this world: to preside at the racing of horses and at the union of man with woman." It is their duty to preserve horsemen and horses from all accident, and to see that marriages are fruitful.

_Teneguize_, "the leap." Moreover, the colt must be taught to leap. This teaching is progressive and demands much patience. The lesson is not repeated more than twice or thrice in the course of one day. At first they begin with small obstacles, so as not to disgust the animal, nor is he brought face to face with any of a serious nature until he is quite docile and fully developed. Unquestionably, the Arabs regard the leap as the necessary complement of a colt's education, but they are far from attaching to it the same importance that Europeans do. Their country is for the most part difficult, full of ravines, strewed with huge stones, and covered with prickly bushes. They assert, therefore, that if they were to jump over every obstacle they encounter either in war or in hunting, they would be always jumping, which would fatigue their horses terribly and in the long run ruin them. Consequently, they go round any very rough ground, ride down almost perpendicular places, and go straight up the steepest slopes, and practice renders their horses so adroit that in a long journey they reach the end more quickly than if they had jumped over everything that came in their way.

_El Nechacha_, "the exciting." The horse is taught to throw himself upon that of the adversary, and bite either the rider or the animal. The rider pulls up his horse, while he pushes him with his legs, and all the time keeps on repeating the cry of _sheït_, and success is the more easy because the animal is naturally excitable. The Arabs declare that horses trained in this manner have often unseated an enemy in single combat. Sometimes, too, in razzias, they quicken the pace of the camels that have been captured. I myself have seen a Makhzen horseman thus hurry on animals that had fallen behind. His horse rushed at them and bit at them with apparent pleasure.

Horsemen of renown do not, however, confine the education of their horses to these manœuvres so necessary in battle, but they also teach them to shine at feasts and fantasias by the following accomplishments:

_El Entrabe_, "the caracol." The horse walks, so to speak, on his hind-legs. Scarcely does he touch the ground with his forefeet, than he again rises. One hand in concert with the legs, soon trains to this exercise a horse of fair intelligence.

_El Gueteâa_, "the bucking." The horse springs up with all fours off the ground, the horseman at the same time throwing up his gun into the air and cleverly catching it. To obtain this action, the rider marks certain intervals of rest and works with his legs. He gives with the animal as he rises, in order to hold him up when he comes down again. Nothing can be more picturesque than this exercise. The horses quit the earth, the guns fly into the air, and the ample folds of the burnous float and unroll themselves in the wind, thrown back by the vigourous arms of the children of the desert. It is, in truth, the charm and crowning act of the fantasia.

Lastly, _El-Berraka_, "the kneeling." The rider remaining on his saddle causes his horse to kneel down. This is the _nec plus ultra_ of the man and the animal. Not every horse is fit for this exercise. The colt is trained to it by tickling him on the coronet, pinching him on the legs, and forcing him to bend the knee. After a time the horseman will reap the benefit of these preliminary steps. He need only clear his feet of the stirrups, stretch his legs forward, turn out the points of his toes, touch with his long spurs the animal's fore-arms, and then as his piece is fired at marriage feasts and other rejoicings, his horse will kneel down amid the applause of the young maidens, piercing the air with joyful acclamations.

After the horse is completely "suppled" by all these exercises, the following feats are attempted:

_Laâb el Hazame_, "the girdle feat." When the horse is thoroughly trained, at a family festivals and religious solemnities, the horseman going at full gallop will pick up a girdle lying on the ground: the most skilful grasping it at three different places.

_Laâb Ennichan_, "firing at a mark." The target is usually a stone, or a mutton shoulder-blade. The performers start from a distance in order to get a good seat, and when fifty or sixty paces off they discharge their pieces. The Saharene will recall these lessons to mind when out hunting, and going at full speed, he brings down an ostrich or a gazelle. It is not of an inhabitant of the Tell that you must expect these prodigies of address, skilfulness, and equestrian science. Nor will you see on him the light apparel, the fine and beautiful wool of a child of the desert, whom, besides, you will always recognize by his slender, long-bodied horse, the ease with which he handles his gun, and that graceful forward movement by which he quickens his courser's pace. How many are there in the Tell who would ride a whole stage without dropping a piece of money placed between the sole of the foot and the spur?[39]

"And you Christians! you go at a trot. And so do we, but only when time is of no consequence and to breathe our horses. In war time we know nothing but the walk and the gallop. If we are not in a hurry, the trot is enough for us, but if there be danger it is the gallop that saves our heads."

An Arab chief would not keep a horse whose pace was not formed. The above exercises are not adopted by all Arabs. Each selects what is best suited to his position, his fortune, and his tastes. But all conform themselves to the principles we have laid down for the education of the colt. These consist in first of all reducing the young animal to the last degree of wretchedness, in order to handle him gently when between three and four years old. After these trials, his real value is known. These principles are, moreover, summed up in a familiar proverb that shows the amount of interest attached to beginning by times the task of training.

Let the one-year old colt do nothing but eat,
And he will not strain himself:
Mount him from two to three years old,
Until he is quite tamed.
Feed him well from three to four.
Then mount him again,
And if he does not suit you,
Sell him without hesitation.

Let it not be supposed, however, that it is only the Arabs of our African possessions who are so mad, if I may be allowed the use of the expression, about commencing the process of breaking-in at an early age. The Arabs universally, no matter to what country they belong, profess the same principles. If proof be wanted, read what has been said on the subject by no inexperienced person, in fact by an inspector-general of the Haras, M. Pétiniaud, who was commissioned by the French Government to travel through Upper Asia to procure horses of pure Oriental blood. He shall speak for himself:—

"After three years of wanderings among the tribes encamped from Diarbekir and Aleppo to the confines of the Nedjed, I returned to Bagdad last January. Among the papers that awaited me, I found a number of the _Journal des Haras_, containing an article on the horses of the Sahara. The perusal of this only too brief memoir which denoted such a perfect knowledge of the Arab and his horse, inspired me with a desire to possess the entire work. On my arrival in France, you were obliging enough to send me a copy, for which I thank you. No one could take a greater interest than myself in a work which you might safely have entitled: "On the Arab horse of Asia and Africa;" for such is the spirit of tradition among this peculiar people that at every line I recognized in the customs of the Moghreb Arabs the customs of their ancestors of the Koreish and the Nedjed, and that after a separation of many centuries."

"In 1851 I descended the Tigris from Mosul to Bagdad, with a volume of Herodotus in my hand. All his descriptions of men and things were still strictly applicable. Thus, at a distance of two thousand three hundred years he depicted the manners of the Arabs with the same truthfulness with which you, General, have described in Africa the Arabs of Asia. Time and space are impotent in the presence of the unchangeableness of such habits: intestine feuds, the chace, _fantasias_, love of the horse, etc., etc., I have witnessed in Asia exactly what you have written of Africa."

"Your work which possesses the great merit of telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth, is calculated, as I think, to exercise a great influence on the education of the horse in France. This delightful style of reading will develop an interest in the animal in those who have never before given it a thought, while our breeders will derive some useful hints from the numerous details you relate. They will learn not to reserve their admiration for a horse that has no other merit than that of being fat, and they will at last come to understand the advantages that result from putting a colt to salutary work from his earliest age. "The horse is a labourer"—let him, then, be accustomed to it in good time."

"I observed that the Arabs used universally to fatigue without mercy their two and three-year olds, but spared them from three to four years of age. They say that sustained work at an early age strengthens the chest, muscles, and joints of the colt, at the same time imparting a docility that will remain with him until death. They also declare that as soon as these rude trials have been got over, his constitution should be developed by rest, care, and an abundant diet, because after this new stage of life he will only be able to show himself exactly what he really he is—good or bad. If good, they will keep him: if bad, they will get rid of him without hesitation, for in their eyes a bad horse is not worth the barley they give him."

I trust to be pardoned for this digression for the sake of the reflections which it suggests. Is it not wonderful to behold a people scattered over vast territories, from the Persian Gulph to the Atlantic Ocean, without means of communication, without printing machines, without telegraphs, without any one of the thousand appliances of modern civilization, but still speaking the same language, living in obedience to the same law, and preserving by simple tradition as well as we could do by books, the usages, the manners, and even the precepts of their ancestors? While seeing and interrogating the Arabs of Algeria, I saw and listened to the Arabs of the primitive stock. Is not this oneness, under such circumstances, a matter to create astonishment?

It may happen that after a horse's education is finished, vices will occasionally break out. The Arabs, however, pay little attention to these, because they consider that such faults proceed simply from too long a period of rest which renders them of lazy habits, or subject to caprice through excess of vitality. They correct them by work, the fatigues of war and the chace. The convenient disposition of their saddles enables them to keep their seat in spite of the obstinate "defences" of the animal, they are consequently never taken by surprise, nor frightened, and always end by mastering the animal completely. No one ever thinks of getting rid of his horse because he rears or plunges or is otherwise troublesome. On the contrary they take delight in these proofs of spirit, for the time will come when they will find their advantage in it. The Arabs have a saying that "The horseman who has not known how to train his horse, bestrides death every day."

The individual to whom they attribute the honour of having been the first to tame the horse is Ishmael, the common ancestor of all the Arabs. Their authority is these words of the Deity: "We placed horses under his dominion in order that he might ride them"—and the celebrated invocation of Ishmael himself: "Horses, night, and space are my witnesses, as well as my sabre, my pen, and paper." Always, always, religious tradition.