214 KINDS OF ARABS 



fiesb. We are wont to associate an Arab witb tbe idea of 

 love for and gentle treatment of bis steed ; on tbe con- 

 trarv, it is less tban one in a bundred Arabs wbo treats bis 

 horse witb intelligence or witb kindness, and tberefore it 

 is less tban one in a bundred wbicb becomes anything but 

 a commonplace beast of burden. 



Tbere are two kinds of Arab tribes : first, those dwelling 

 in tbe cities, subsisting by the lower trades and living from 

 band to mouth in crowded filth, and those dwelling in 

 the lesser communities, such as small towns and villages, 

 earning a precarious livelihood by a crude sort of agricult- 

 ure or by raising dates or olives, and living in mud-walled 

 huts roofed witb thatch, sod, or tile ; second, tbe tent- 

 dwellers, who rove from place to place and are purely a 

 pastoral people, subsisting on the yield of their flocks and 

 herds and the breeding and sale of tbe camel, horse, and ass. 

 Among the first, when they have any, as is rare enough, 

 the horse has become a sumpter animal, a means of trans- 

 portation or an item in husbandry, and has, as a matter 

 of course, fallen from bis high estate. Among tbe latter 

 be has kept some of bis better qualities ; among some of 

 tbe wealthy he has retained all his attributes. It goes 

 without saying that in the cities it is tbe rich Avho own 

 the finest stock; on the desert this is not always true. 

 Unless ground into tbe very dust by poverty, many a man 

 wbo owns no other earthly possessions may have as fine a 

 mare as tbe noblest sheik ; and he will starve bis own flesh 

 and blood to keep her sleek and hearty. In fact, it is she 

 whose foal will annually fill tbe empty exchequer. 



An Arab, meaning a tent-dweller, for in an equine sense 

 tbe town-dweller is no Arab, loves first and above all bis 

 mare. No need to recite the oft-sung affection be will 

 lavish upon her, tbe care he will take of bis glossy favor- 

 ite, for whose preservation be will gladly pinch bis own 



