ARAB MARES. 257 



might sell a horse of the best breed, but a mare — 

 never : she must be taken from him by force ; and, 

 in consequence of this, the most famous mares are 

 the property of three or four persons, as by this 

 means the thief will have to evade three or four 

 pairs of eyes, or the spoiler vanquish three or four 

 individuals, before the prize can be gained. 



The love the Arabs bear to their mares is exem- 

 plified by an anecdote which was told me by a 

 celebrated Arab chieftain who served on my staff 

 in the Crimea, Mahomet Ben Abdullah, better 

 known as Bou Maza (the son of the Goat), whose 

 daring exploits, and hair-breadth escapes in his 

 predatory expeditions against the French, have 

 caused his name to become famous in song among 

 the Santons of the desert. One of the tribes of the 

 Djdjhura mountains possessed a coal-black mare of 

 the pure Nedjed breed, which in the desert was of 

 untold value, for her fame had gone forth far and 

 wide, and the tribes were wont to swear by her 

 fleetness and endurance. Bou Maza, then a young 

 man, determined to possess her either by fair or 

 foul means, and offered the whole of his wealth in 



