328 ARAB RUNNERS 



a bundle of clover for the donkey, the bundles of his rider, 

 and sundry other things, and seems to care naught for dis- 

 tance or speed. He has no particular style of going, but 

 he gets there. He often breathes hard, but seems to mind 

 it not a whit. The farthest on a stretch I ever rode a 

 donkey at a sharp gait was to the Pyramids from Cairo, 

 eight good miles. This distance in an hour and a quarter 

 was child's play to the lad, who had wind enough to keep 

 after his donkey in both senses ; and on the way home 

 was yet more lively. I have often wondered whether 

 they live long or not ; you see them unnumbered years 

 old ; but were these old men ever real doiikey-hoi/s f It is 

 no sin to prevaricate to a dog of a Christian ; so that the 

 old man's assurance that he has worked at the trade for 

 anywhere from fifty' to eighty years goes for nothing. 



Another great footman is the sais, or outrunner. This 

 man is often the finest type of a running animal. He is 

 clad in purple and fine linen. His nether garments are of 

 light thin white goods, loose and gathered at the knee, 

 and so made as not to hamper his movements. He wears 

 a shirt often trimmed with the finest laces ; a sleeveless 

 zouave jacket of velvet, fairly glistening Avith gold em- 

 broidery, covers his body, and a gorgeous sash binds his 

 waist. He Avears a snug fancy fez-like embroidered cap, 

 or sometimes a light turban. In this gaj'^ and costly dress 

 he precedes his master's carriage, ostensibly to make room 

 through the crowd, really for show ; and on the road will 

 run at a seven or eight mile an hour gait as long as the 

 horses. Two sais running together is the proper thing 

 for a swell ; but the carriage to our eye is not always as 

 neatly turned as the sais. 



The Arabs are a light, lithe, strong, and nimble race, as 

 well as handsome beyond cavil. They have many fine 

 physical qualities. The Arab's feet are wont to be large. 



