226 THE BARB OF MOROCCO. 



Society, relative to a tour through Morocco, and the 

 unfortunate Mr. Davidson's papers gave more satis- 

 factory intelligence on the subject. The first men- 

 tioned gentleman often observed in Barbary, horses 

 that were of great beauty, with more power than 

 the Andalusian, having a long striding walk, not 

 slipping in the quarters, and galloping with great 

 surety of foot over rough ground, while hunting 

 wild boar and gazelle. According to him, they 

 stand from fourteen to fifteen hands in height, are 

 of every colour, but the black and chestnut are con- 

 sidered the best bred : their full flowing manes are 

 never docked, though in youth it is a practice to 

 shave the tail, probably to obtain a more abundant 

 growth of hair ; hence two feet and a half of mane, 

 and a tail sweeping the ground, is not rare. The 

 Moors do not ride mares, nor mount horses under 

 four years old. 



On a journey, the Barb starts unfed and without 

 water ; at the end of his day's work, he is picqueted, 

 unbridled, never unsaddled ; he then receives as 

 much water as he will drink, then barley and broken 

 straw is thrown before him as far as he can stretch 

 his neck ; hence he rarely or never lies down, nor 

 gets sleep, and yet he is high spirited. Broken 

 wind is rare, but tender feet and shaken in the 

 shoulder from the abuse of the bit and sudden stop- 

 ping in a gallop, are not unfrequent. In the interior 

 of Morocco, a good horse may be obtained for a 

 hundred Spanish dollars, or about 20 sterling, 

 but not readily, and to export one requires an ordei 



