ENCOMIUMS ON THE ARAB TAKEN AT RANDOM 143 



perfectly steady, and the little Arab always suddenly 

 halted within a foot of the line. 



The following epitaph on his horse by Sir Harry, 

 in his own handwriting, is still preserved : 



'NEAR THIS STONE IS BURIED SIR HARRY SMITH'S CELEBRATED 

 CHARGER OF THE PUREST BLOOD, 

 ALIWAL. 

 ' Sir Harry rode him in the Battles of Moodkee, Ferozesshahur, 

 AHwal, and Sobraon. He was the only horse of the General 

 Staff that was not killed or wounded. He came from Arabia to 

 Calcutta, thence to Lahore ; he was marched nearly over India, 

 came by ship to England, thence to the Cape of Good Hope, and back 

 to England. He was twenty-two years old, never sick during the 

 eighteen years in Sir Harry's possession. As a charger he was in- 

 comparable, gallant, and docile ; as a friend he was affectionate and 

 faithful.' 



Is this all a romantic dream ? Can the opinion 

 of a racing gentleman founded upon 'sprinting,' or 

 of a stable youth founded upon 'tips,' or of a 

 ' dandy ' of Piccadilly, or of the ' best boy ' of a 

 Melbourne barmaid, be placed against the practical 

 experience of all these great soldiers ? 



In the Franco- Prussian War the x'\rab again 

 proved his superiority. The Times of February 24, 

 1 87 1, gave an account of the entry of General 

 Bourbaki's army into Berne, and the distress of 

 both men and horses, but it qualified this as to 

 the Arabs by adding that ' undoubtedly the Arabs 

 justify the established reputation of their breed for 

 endurance by the very tolerable condition they 

 presented and the comparative elasticity of their 

 paces.' 



Mr. W. G. Palgrave, in his ' Central and Eastern 



