THE EXCELLENCE OF THE ARAB HORSE 113 



the horse of the Orient, which, thanks to the French 

 conquest of Algeria, is daily called upon to render 

 to France services more and more valuable and 

 more and more valued. 



Then follows another letter from Abd-el-Kader to 

 General Daumas : 



' Praise to the one God. His reign above is 



eternal. To proceed : You have asked us our 



opinion of Barbary horses, their character and their 



origin. To give you satisfaction ... I can do 



nothing better to-day than send you some extracts 



taken from the poetical works of the famous Aamrou- 



el-Kais, who lived a short time before the coming of 



the Prophet ; they refer to the superiority of the 



horses of the Berbers ' (the Berbers took the jennet 



to Spain). ... * Aam-el-Kais was one of the 



ancient Kings of Arabia who took infinite pains to 



procure Barbary horses wherewith to combat his 



enemies. . . . The Berbers' native country was 



Palestine, whence they were expelled by one of the 



Kings of Persia. They then emigrated to Egypt 



. . . crossed the Nile, and spread over the other 



side of the river. . . . Peace be with you at the 



end as at the beginning of this letter on the part of 



your friend, 



' Abd-el-Kader Ben Mahhidden. 



' (May Allah cover him with his blessings !) 



I think Abd-el-Kader may be wrong as to 

 Palestine being the Berbers' native country ; they 



