98 THE ARAB THE HORSE OF THE FUTURE 



General Tweedie, after citing Sir Henry Layard 

 in * Nineveh and its Remains,' who described a 

 chestnut mare belonging to the then (1843) Shekh 

 Sfiik of the Sham mar as one of the most beautiful 

 creatures he had ever beheld, at which they all 

 involuntarily stopped to gaze, states that the Arabian 

 is ' essentially a war-horse ; a knight and gentleman 

 to the manner born ; a goer-out to meet the armed 

 men ;' and he describes the Parthian warfare of the 

 desert, where ' two things make a mare exceptional, 

 the one endurance, and the other the gift of turning 

 and twisting, which distinguishes the Arab horse in 

 India with either a running or a charging boar in 

 front of him.' Even more wonderful than a boar-hunt 

 are the exploits of the Hamran Arabs in hunting 

 the elephant, described by Sir Samuel Baker. Four 

 is the proper number. One of them gallops up 

 ahead of the elephant to tempt him to charge, 

 needing no little coolness and dexterity to keep his 

 horse clear of the charging elephant burning to 

 tusk him, and yet close enough to play into the 

 hands of his fellow-hunters. One of these at the 

 ' psychological moment ' jumps off his horse with 

 his drawn sword and hamstrings the elephant. Of 

 course the riders often get killed. This story is 

 endorsed by Mr. Arthur B. R. Meyers, surgeon in 

 the Coldstream Guards, in his book on the Hamran 

 Arabs, and who says, ' It was a great luxury to be 

 mounted on our little horses ' — that is, Arabs. How 

 long before the English thoroughbred could be got 



