26 FOREIGN BREEDS OF HORSES. 



and by degrees that quantity is increased, the milk continuing to be the prin- 

 cipal food. This mode of feeding continues another hundred days, when the 

 foal is permitted to graze in the neighbourhood of the tent. Barley is also 

 given ; and to this some camel's milk is added in the evening, if the Arab can 

 afford it. By these means the Arab horse becomes as decidedly characterised 

 for his docility and good temper, as for his speed and courage. The kindness 

 with which he is treated from the time of his being foaled, gives him an affec- 

 tion for his master, a wish to please, a pride in exerting every energy in obedi- 

 ence to his commands, and, consequently, an apparent sagacity which is seldom 

 found in other breeds. In that delightful book, Bishop Heber's " Narrative of 

 a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India," the following interesting cha- 

 racter is given of him : " My morning rides are very pleasant. My horse is a 

 nice, quiet, good-tempered little Arab, who is so fearless, that he goes without 

 starting close to an elephant, and so gentle and docile that he eats bread out of 

 my hand, and has almost as much attachment and coaxing ways as a dog. This 

 seems the general character of the Arab horses, to judge from what I have seen 

 in this country. It is not the fiery dashing animal I had supposed, but with 

 more rationality about him, and more apparent confidence in his rider, than 

 the majority of English horses." 



When the Arab falls from his mare, and is unable to rise, she will immedi- 

 ately stand still, and neigh until assistance arrives. If he lies down to sleep, 

 as fatigue sometimes compels him, in the midst of the desert, she stands watch- 

 ful over him, and neighs and rouses him if either man or beast approaches. 

 The Arab horses are taught to rest occasionally in a standing position; and a 

 great many of them never lie down. 



The Arab loves his horse as truly and as much as the horse loves him ; and 

 no little portion of his time is often spent in talking to him and caressing him. 



An old Arab had a valuable mare that had carried him for fifteen years in 

 many a rapid weary march, and many a hard-fought battle ; 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 eldest son, and told him to appreciate their value, and 

 never lie down to rest until he had rubbed them both as bright as a mirror. 

 In the first skirmish 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." He 

 immediately sickened and soon afterwards died *. 



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

 been told : " 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 proposal, but he was misera- 

 bly poor; he had scarcely a rag to cover him, and his wife and his children 

 were starving. The sum offered was great, it would provide him and his 

 family with food for life. At length, and reluctantly, he yielded. He brought, 

 the mare to the dwelling of the consul, dismounted, and stood leaning upon 

 her ; he looked now at the gold, and then at his favourite. ' To whom is it,' 

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



* A Bedouin had committed some offence, and astonishment. She, however, dropped dead 



and was pursued by the governor's guards in on entering Jericho. The Bedouin, who would 



the direction towards Jericho. They were so not quit her, was taken weeping over the body 



close upon him that his only chance of escape of his faithful companion. " AH Aga," gays 



was to gallop down the almost perpendicular M. Chateaubriand, "religiously showed me 



declivity of the hills that overlooked the town, her footsteps along the face of the mountain." 



His mare precipitated herself down it at full A Macedonian could not have beheld those of 



speed, leaving the soldiers lost in admiration Bucephalus with greater veneration. 



