194 THE HORSE AXD HIS RIDER 



Colonel Magnan, of tlie Etat-Major of the French 



Army, I was allowed to pick one from out of a batch 



of Syrian horses intended for a regiment of dismounted 



dragoons, and went to the Daud Pacha barracks (two 



miles out of Stambonl), where the French cavalry 



were quartered, for that purpose. I was turning 



away, not at all satisfied with their appearance, as 



they were too slight, and not of the required height 



for my purpose, when I was accosted by an ofBcer of 



hussars, who offered to show me a magnificent horse 



that no one would buy on account of incurable vice. 



He was a Saclaye Arab, bred near Blida in Algeria, 



and bought by a colonel of cavalry for three thousand 



francs in that country ; but since his arrival in 



Turkey he had manifested such vicious habits that 



his owner had never mounted him. He was said to 



have killed one groom by jumping upon him after he 



had knocked him down with his fore-feet, to have 



bitten the chin off another, and to have half-eaten a 



marechal-de-logis (sergeant-major), who had attempted 



to ride him. I found him tied fore and aft by huge 



cords, besides having his head fastened with a heavy 



chain, in a small thatched mud hut about eight feet 



by seven ; and even in this confined space no one 



could approach him, for he lashed out with his heels, 



and tried to seize any one going near him with his 



teeth. He was a beautifully- shaped animal, with a 



blood-like head, wide and deep chest, good shoulders, 



and great length between the hi]D-bone and the hock. 



