A TRUE ARABIAN 195 



Faras (mare), 'the swallowers of the ground,' expresses 

 the attitudes in similar language to that used in the Book 

 of Job — ' He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and 

 rage ! ' 



' Al-Khamseh ' includes the celebrated five mares selected 

 and blessed by Mahommed. The history of the birth of the 

 Keheilet Ajuz is as interesting as remarkable. During a 

 short interval of rest, when on a long and rapid journey, 

 her master being pursued, his mare gave birth to a filly 

 foal. In his anxiety to escape, he was obliged to abandon 

 the baby Arab, and still rode her mother at a rapid pace. 

 When he again halted, what was his surprise, to find the 

 little foal trotting up behind, and stoutly following the trail 

 of her mother. The foal was placed in charge of an old 

 woman who cared for her, and thus she derived the name 

 Keheilet Ajuz, or 'the Arabian mare of the old woman.' 

 It is now supposed that the blood of the Al-Khamseh is 

 represented through this one source, that of the Keheilet 

 Ajuz. 



Arabs are ever loath to sell their horses, but with all the 

 hesitation, black looks and unhappiness, depicted in the 

 faces and actions of those who must part with their treasures, 

 when the sheik makes the bargain, there seems to be no 

 going back from it. 



