40 MY HORSE ; MY LOVE 



or elsewhere, he will behold a thoroughbred Arab, but 

 without these marks he is not one. 



'The signs on the left foreleg indicate the feminine side 

 of descent, the mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, 

 etc. On the right, the masculine side, the father, grand- 

 father, great-grandfather, etc. An Arab regards the father 

 of a family of very little account compared to the mother, 

 whether of man or horse. 



Is not that contrary to most precedent ? 



' As a plurality of wives is an essential element in the 

 domestic economy of the Arab tribes, the question of a 

 man's title to distinction, and indeed, almost his identity, 

 must be established by the fact of who is his mother. She 

 belongs to the man who has bought her of her father, as do 

 his other wives ; and when she is established in his house- 

 hold he sets his eunuch to watch her, that no doubt of her 

 virtue may distract his thoughts, or fill his mind with un- 

 easy jealousies.' 



Then each of his numerous offspring is the proverbial 

 ' wise child ' in his day and generation ? 



' Most emphatically so, but to offset the duties of the 

 watchful eunuch, to the mother and wife is shown the 

 highest respect. A man or child may not sit in the 

 presence of his mother, without her gracious permission, 

 and to her wisdom and judgment, all important questions 

 are submitted. The Arabs hold this same peculiar tenet 

 with regard to their horses. Nothing will induce them to 

 part with a mare of any rare breed, and because of their sex 

 they are more highly esteemed and more favoured. A 

 superstition of the Ourral Cossacks is that a horse having 

 two white feet at opposite extremities carries misfortune to 

 his owner. When a colt is born with a white nose, it is a 



