io8 THE ARAB THE HORSE OF THE FUTURE 



who would speak of himself in his picturesque idiom 

 as ' having no other profession than to live by his 

 spurs.' He affirms that he had consulted the most 

 esteemed authors and great men of erudition, but 

 confessed that it was among the Arabs that he had 

 met with the most just and practical appreciation of 

 the subject. Surely no man will say that the views 

 of the people which has lived and maintained its 

 nationality by its horses, which has a large literature 

 on the subject, and which are thus vouched for by a 

 French General after close study and long practical 

 experience, are not worthy of being considered ? 



Then he sets out a letter from Abd-el-Kader, 

 which is, unfortunately, too long to be set out fully 

 here, the more especially as much of it is poetic, like 

 Job's description, so I shall only give a few extracts. 

 When a bookmaker, however hard and practical, 

 having his mind on sprinting, ridicules the Arab 

 opinion of the horse because it is poetical, I crave 

 leave to observe that nobody makes poetry unless 

 the subject be worthy of poetry ; men do not write 

 poetry about a pig. And even if men could make 

 rhymes upon the totalizator, it could never be poetry. 

 Discount the poetry as much as you choose, but a 

 wise man will accept the facts which call it forth. 

 Abd-el-Kader writes : 



' To our friend General Daumas. Peace be with you f 



' Know then that amongst us it is admitted that 



Allah created the horse out of the wind, as he 



