330 THE AKAB HOUSE OF AFRICA. 



We used to fancy that Mohammed had a low idea of 

 the fair sex, but, with our Emir to instruct us, we 

 now know better. The messenger of God has said, 

 " The greatest of blessings is an intelligent woman or 

 a prolific mare. 3 ' But the Prophet was so hippolatrous 

 that we suspect he valued houris in proportion to their 

 being lovers of horses. 



It is in the early education of the colt, and in soon 

 accustoming him to fatigue, that the Arabs specially 

 differ from us. " Every horse inured to fatigue brings 

 good fortune ." At the age of eighteen to twenty months 

 the colt is mounted by a child, who takes him to water, 

 goes in search of grass, or leads him to pasture. The 

 boy and the colt are thus simultaneously educated ; 

 the one to be a horseman, the other to fear nothing, 

 and obey the will of his owner. 



The colt is also now accustomed to be shackled with 

 clogs, of which mode of shackling General Daumas 

 highly approves : 



" With it one never hears of a horse breaking loose 

 a misadventure that causes such confusion in a biv- 

 ouac, drives horsemen to despair, and is the source of a 

 thousand accidents. The Arabs are loud in their abuse 

 of our mode of tying up horses with a longe. They 

 affirm that, in addition to the accidents it may occasion, 

 it has the great inconvenience of not allowing the ani- 

 mal to lie down ; whereas with clogs a horse protrudes 

 his head and neck, and when he wants to sleep, places 

 himself exactly in the position of a greyhound basking 

 in the sun. Besides, a great many stable vices disap- 

 pear when they are used : the animal can neither en- 

 tangle itself in the halter, nor slip it, nor get into the 

 manger, nor lie down beneath it, nor scratch the earth 

 with its foot, nor rub against the manger, nor contract 

 any bad habits of the kind : an indisputable advantage 

 so far." 



At the age of from twenty -four to twenty -seven 

 months the colt is cautiously saddled and bridled the 



