CAVALRY LEAPING DRILL IN ALGERIA 



ually measured, is quoted as very great going — to pay no 

 heed to manifest exaggerations. This distance is in truth 

 excellent, but far from great ; it has been more than dou- 

 bled up on at home. One cannot, as a rule, measure the 

 ground covered by the horse on the desert, for lack of 

 statistics or of any sort of reliable testimony. 



It may be assumed, I suppose, that every one is permit- 

 ted to prevaricate (is that the proper word?) when nar- 

 rating successful tramps after fish ; but it is a curious fact 

 that the larger the game the smaller the prevarication is 

 apt to be. Horse talk is wont to be interlarded with 

 occasional suspicious statements, or at least with state- 

 ments which will bear a bit of checking off. The Arab is 

 no exception to the rule ; he is quite untrustworthy when 

 telling of his steed's performances. There is only one 

 thing in which he is uniformly truthful, and that is pedi- 

 gree. This is because he cannot hide it ; it is a matter of 

 public notoriety in his tribe, and though he may cheat a 

 stranger, it is futile for him to seek to impose on an Arab. 

 In this pedigree matter he is forced to be more reliable 



15 



