THE ARABIAN. 431 



be seen prattling with and climbing over the bodies, and 

 hanging round the necks of the docile creatures, Avho in 

 their turn will frequently repose with their heads inclining 

 on some one of the family. "Whipping, by an Arab, is con- 

 sidered the greatest cruelty to horses, and it is by gentle 

 measures alone that he secures tlie willing service and 

 affection of his steed. Their friendship is mutual ; for if 

 the rider falls, although in the most rapid career, the horse 

 instantly turns round, and halts till remounted by his 

 master. 



The Arab will never sell a mare on any consideration 

 whatever. The genealogies are always recorded from the 

 dams. In the pedigree of their steeds they are more par- 

 ticular than any other people on earth ; it is an undoubted 

 fact that they have pedigrees among them of not less than 

 five hundred years. In this respect they look upon it as of 

 more importance than that of their chiefs. Among the 

 great dealers, they pride themselves upon being rigidly 

 strict, and are more to be depended on than many of those 

 of Europe in the pedigree of the horses they offer for sale. 

 Weston, in his " Fragments of Oriental Literature," gives the 

 following pedigree, which w^as hung about the neck of an 

 Arabian, purchased by Colonel Ainslie during the campaign 

 of Egypt : — " In the name of God, the merciful and com- 

 passionate, and of Seed Mohammed, agent of the high God, 

 and of the companions of Mohammed, and of Jerusalem ! 

 Praised be the Lord, the Omnipotent Creator ! This is a 

 high-bred horse, and its colt's tooth is here in a bag about 

 his neck, with his pedigree, and of undoubted authority, 

 such as no infidel can refuse to believe. He is the son of 

 Rabbamy, out of the dam Lahadha, and equal in power to 

 his sire — of the tribe of Zazhalah. He is finely moulded, 

 and made f(^r ranning like an ostrich, and great in hi? 



