322 THE ARAB HORSE OF AFRICA. 



which is his own friend, and the friend of all his family, 

 petted and prized alike by old and young. 



Allah has said "The horse shall be cherished by 

 all my servants, and none will I place on his back save 

 those who know me and worship me." The Mussulman 

 princes have availed themselves of this politico-religious 

 dogma to prohibit the sale of Arab horses to Christians 

 under pain of sin and damnation. The Arab's love of 

 money cannot be gratified by the sale of a really valu- 

 able horse ; his whole tribe would resist it. And so, if 

 the repute of the Arab steed among us be not so high as 

 once it was, the explanation is, that the horses and 

 mares of the highest order are never parted with to 

 foreigners at any price. In a recent article in the 

 ' Edinburgh Eeview/ entitled " English Horses," the 

 writer not only asserts that in India the Arab is confess- 

 edly inferior to the English racer, but thinks it probable 

 that, owing to the intercourse between Arabia and 

 India, and the high prices for horses at Calcutta and 

 Bombay, the very best horses that Arabia produces are 

 to be procured in India. 



But, in opposition to this, we repeat that religion 

 and policy require of the Arab chiefs that they shall ex- 

 clude infidels from the possession of their noble breeds 

 of horses. When at the height of his power, Abd-el- 

 Kader inflicted death without mercy on every believer 

 convicted of having sold a horse to a Christian. In 

 Morocco the exportation of this animal, so valuable as 

 an instrument of war, is hampered with such restric- 

 tions that the permission to take it out of the country 

 is altogether illusory. At Tunis the same reluctance 

 only yields to the imperious necessities of policy ; and 

 in like manner at Tripoli, in Egypt, at Constantinople 

 in short, in all Mussulman states. 



General Daumas asserts " I know for a fact that, in 

 certain Mussulman countries, in the list of obligatory 

 presents for a Christian personage, the donor wrote 

 down, ' a jade for the Christian.' " 



