THE ARAB AND HIS STEED 3 



' How many books hast thou written upon the 

 horse ? ' asked one day of a celebrated Arab poet, 

 the vizir of Mamoun, the son of Haroun-al-Raschid. 

 ' Only one.' Then turning to Abou-Obeida, he put 

 to him the same question. * Fifty,' replied he. ' Eise, 

 then,' said the vizir. ' Go up to that horse, and 

 repeat the name of every part of his frame, taking 

 care to point out the position of each.' ' I am not a 

 veterinary surgeon,' answered Abou-Obeida. ' And 

 thou? ' said the vizir to the poet. 



' Upon that ' — it is the poet himself who relates 

 the anecdote — ' I rose from my seat, and taking the 

 animal by the forelock, I began to name one part 

 after another, placing my hand upon each to indicate 

 its position; and at the same time recited all the 

 poetic allusions, all the sayings and proverbs refer- 

 ring to it. When I had finished, the vizir said to 

 me, " Take the horse." I took it ; and if ever I 

 wished to annoy Abou-Obeida, I rode the animal on 

 my way to visit him.' ^ 



General Daumas, from whom we have just quoted, 

 was a distinguished officer of the French army, who 

 served sixteen years in Algeria. For two years he 

 was consul at Mascara, accredited to the Emir Abd- 

 el-Kader, and afterwards for a considerable time 

 Central Director of fche Arab Office of Algeria — posts 

 which brought him in close contact with the native 



^ The Horses of the Sahara, by General Daumas, translated by 

 James Hutton. 



B 2 



