THE FEAST WITH THE ANEZEH 



strange. Later I began to like it. These big 

 handsome men with well-kept beards and 

 sparkling sharp eyes, seemed to have nothing 

 to do, but when you had watched them for a 

 while you could see how alert they are. They 

 were anxious to see our firearms and knives and 

 jewelry. They commented, with astonish- 

 ment, on my knowledge of the technical points 

 of their own horses. My pronunciation of 

 words was often bad, but they knew that I had 

 a fair knowledge of the different breeds and 

 they brought up stranger after stranger that 

 they might enjoy the astonishment of the lat- 

 ter when I went over the families of the Kham- 

 seh, or five great families of the Arab horse. 

 When the sketch books were opened, and I be- 

 gan to draw pictures of horses and men, their 

 joy was almost childlike. 



Thompson and Moore had been exhibiting 

 their cameras, but after they had seen me draw 

 with just a plain pencil, they would have none 

 of the camera. They examined the pencil and 

 looked at its point. When they used it, they 

 said it only made marks, but when I took hold 

 of it it drew their horses, so it must be that I, 

 they argued, was better than the camera. 



Our saddles were strange to them, especial- 



[109] 



