3 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



The best horses are -understood to be bred by the 

 Bedouins of the north part of Arabia, and the gene- 

 alogy is invariably reckoned from the mother. Those 

 of the pure blood are more readily and cheaply ob- 

 tained from the people about the towns than from 

 the nomads of the desert, for the latter have a strong 

 affection for their horses, and will hardly ]3art with 

 them at any price. It sometimes haj^pens, however, 

 that there is an ' unlucky mark ' on the horse, as the 

 superstitious Arab imagines, and then a really good 

 thoroughbred Arabian steed can be obtained for a 

 very small sum. 



But the European who purchases horses of the 

 Arabs will require all his wits, for the simple sons of 

 the desert, although very romantic, are reputed to 

 be most accomplished cheats. They beat even York- 

 shiremen at horse-dealing. 



Learned Mussulmans have written a great num- 

 ber of books upon horses, in which they discourse at 

 considerable length upon their colours, upon all that 

 is esteemed beneficial or injurious, their maladies, 

 and the right mode of treatment. One of them, 

 Abou-Obeida, a contemporary of the son of Haroun- 

 al-Raschid, composed no fewer than fifty volumes on 

 the horse. This Abou-Obeida met with a little mis- 

 adventure, which shows that it is not the author of 

 the most ponderous and numerous volumes who im- 

 parts the soundest information, and that not the 

 worst plan is to consult men themselves. 



