Tlir: ARABIAX HORSE. 27 



value, and never lie down to rest until lie had rubbed tliem both as bright 

 as a mu'ror. In the first skirmish in which the young man Avas engaged, 

 he was killed, and the mare fell into the hands of the enemy. When the 

 news reached the old man, he exclaimed, that ' life was no longer worth 

 preserving-, for he had lost both his son and his mare, and he grieved for 

 one as much as the other.' He immediately sickened and soon afterwards 

 died. 



The following anecdote of the attachment of an Arab to his mare hap- 

 often been told : — ' The whole stock of an Arab of the desert consisted of 

 a mare. The French consul offered to purchase her in order to send her 

 to his sovereign, Louis XIV. The Arab would have rejected the pro- 

 posal, but he was miserably poor ; he had scarcely a rag to cover him, and 

 his wife and his children were starving. The sum ofiered was great, — it 

 would provide him and his family with food for life. At length, and reluc- 

 tantly, he yielded. He brought the mare to the dwelling of the consul, dis- 

 mounted and stood leanmg upon her ; he looked now at the gold, and then 

 at his favourite. "To whom is it," said he, "I am going to yield thee 

 up ? To Europeans, who will tie thee close, — who will beat thee, — who 

 will render thee miserable. Return with me, my beanty, my jewel, and 

 i-ejoice the hearts of my childi'en." As he pronounced the last words, he 

 sprung iipon her back, and was presently out of sight.' 



One of our own countrymen, the enterprising traveller, !Major Denham, 

 affords us a pleasing instance of the attachment with wliich the docility 

 and sagacity of this animal may inspire the o^vaier. He thus relates the 

 death of his favourite Ai^abian, in one of the most desert spots of Central 

 Africa. His feelings needed no apology : we natui*ally honour the man 

 in whom true sensibility and undaunted courage, exerted for useful pur- 

 poses, were thus united : — 



' There are a few situations in a man's life in which losses of this nature 

 are felt most keenly ; and this was one of them. It was not grief, but it 

 was something very nearly approaching to it ; and though I felt ashamed 

 of the degree of derangement I suffered from it, yet it was several days 

 before I could get over the loss. Let it, however, be remembered, that 

 the poor animal had been my support and comfort, — nay, I may say, com- 

 panion, through many a dreary day and night ; — had endured both hunger 

 and thii'st in my service ; and was so docile, that he would stand still for 

 hours in the desert while I slept between his legs, his body affording me 

 the only shelter that could be obtained from the powerful influence of a 

 noon-day sun : he was yet the fleetest of the fleet, and ever foremost in 

 the chase.' 



Man, however, is an inconsistent being. The Arab who thus lives with 

 and loves his horses, regarding them as his most valuable treasure, some- 

 times treats them with a cruelty scarcely to be credited. The severest 

 treatment which the EngHsh race-horse endures is gentleness compared 

 Avith the trial of the young Arabian. Pi-obably the filly has never before 

 been mounted. Her OAvner springs on her back, and goads her over the 

 sands and rocks of the desert for fifty or sixty miles without one moment's 

 respite. She is then forced, steaming and panting, into water deep 

 enough for her to S"\vim. If, immediately after this, she will eat as if 

 nothing had occurred, her character is estabhshed, and she is acknoAvledged 

 to be a genuine descendant of the Kocldani breed. The Arab does not 

 think of the cruelty '.vhicli he thus inflicts ; he only follows an invariable 

 custom. 



We may not perhaps believe all that is told us of the speed and endurance 

 of the Arabian. It has been remarked, that there are on the deserts 

 which this horse traverses no mile-stones to mark the distance, or watches 



