174 THE ARAB THE HORSE OF THE FUTURE 



would slip, he dismounted, but found that was for 

 the worse, since the horse proved the surer footed, 

 and he had to remount and trust to the animal. 



Sir Henry Layard describes clouds of Bakhtizari 

 and Arab horsemen in mimic fight, pursuing each 

 other, bringing up their horses on their haunches 

 at full speed, firing guns as they turned in their 

 saddles, and performing various feats. 



Sir Henry was once chased, and his horses were 

 weary, having been nearly twenty-four hours with- 

 out rest ; but, says he, ' they were sturdy beasts, 

 and eluded their pursuers — it was wonderful !' The 

 horses were able to bear great fatigue, and required 

 little nourishment. Could Carbine have saved him ? 



He describes Mehemet Taki Khan's magnificent 

 and beautiful Arab mare of pure blood, and the 

 exercises of his horses of the finest Arab breeds — 

 galloping to and fro, wheeling in narrowing circles, 

 while their riders discharged their guns from behind, 

 picked up objects at full speed, or clung at full length 

 to one side of their horse, in order not to offer a 

 mark to the enemy, and so on. How would these 

 exercises suit your thoroughbreds, or your cavalry 

 horses which ran into the streets at Winchester, and 

 into the sea at Southampton ? 



Mr. Selah Merrill, of the American Exploration 

 Society, writing of his journeys in Syria and Pales- 

 tine, says that on one occasion he was ten hours 

 and forty minutes in the saddle, and that on another 

 occasion he was seventeen hours in the saddle one 



