THE ARABIAN, I3 



desert, she stands watchful over him, and, neighs and rouses him if either 

 man or beast approaches. An old Arab had a valuable mare that had 

 carried him for fifteen years in many a hard-fought battle, and many a 

 rapid weary march ; at length, eighty years old, and unable longer to ride 

 her, he gave her, and a scimitar that had been his father's, to his eldes; 

 son, and told him to appreciate their value, and never lie down to rest until 

 he had rubbed them both as bright as a looking-glass. In the first skir- 

 mish in which the young man was engaged he was killed, and the mare 

 fell into the hands of the enemy. When the news reached the old man, he 

 exclaimed that "life was no longer worth preserving, for he had lost both 

 his son and his mare, and he grieved for one as much as the other;" and 

 he immediately sickened and died.* 



Man, however, is an inconsistent being. The Arab who thus lives with 

 and loves his horses, regarding them as his most valuable treasure, some- 

 times treats them with a cruelty scarcely to be believed, and not at all to 

 be justified. The severest treatment which the English race-horse endures 

 is gentleness compared with the trial of the young Arabian. Probably 

 the filly has never before been mounted ; she is led out ; her owner 

 springs on her back, and goads her over the sand and rocks of the desert 

 at full speed for fifty or sixty miles without one moments respite. She is 

 then forced, steaming and panting, into water deep enough for her to swim. 

 If, immediately after this, she will eat as if nothing had occurred, her 

 character is established, and she is acknowledged to be a genuine descen- 

 dant of the Koch/ani- breed. The Arab is not conscious of the cruelty 

 which he thus inflicts. It is an invariable custom, and custom will inijuce 

 us to inflict many a pang on those whom, after all, we love. 



ARABIAN ANECDOTES. 



The following anecdote of the attachment of an Arab to his mare has 

 often been told, but it comes home to the bosom of every one possessed of 

 common feelings. " The whole stock of an Arab of the desert consisted 

 of a mare. The French consul offered to purchase her in order to send 

 her to his sovereign, Louis XIV. The Arab would have rejected the pro- 

 posal at once with indignation and scorn ; but he was miserably poor. He 

 had no means of supplying his most urgent wants, or procuring the barest 

 necessaries of life. Still he hesitated ; — he had scarcely a rag to cover 

 him — and his wife and children were starving. The sum offered was 

 great — it would provide him and his family with food for life. At length, 

 and reluctantly, he consented. He brought the mare to the dwelling of 

 the consul — he dismounted, — he stood leaning upon her ; — he looked now 

 at the gold, and then at his favourite ; he sighed — he wept. ' To whom is 

 it,' said he, ' I am going to yield thee up ? To Europeans, who will tie 

 thee close, — who will beat thee, — who will render thee miserable. Re- 

 turn with me, my beauty, my jewel, and rejoice the hearts of my children.' 

 As he pronounced the last words, he sprung upon her back, and was out 

 of sight in a moment." 



The next anecdote is scarcely less touching, and not so well known. 

 Ibrahim, a poor but worthy Arab, unable to pay a sum of money which 

 he owed, was compelled to allow a merchant of Rama to become partner 

 with him in a valuable mare. When the time came, he could not redeem 

 his pledge to this man, and the mare was sold. Her pedigree could be 

 traced on the side of sire and dam for full five hundred years. The price 



* Smith on Breeding, p. 80. 



