AEABIAN HORSE.] 



THE nOESE, AND 



[ABABIAN HOKSE. 



to it no more, and lick the bauds of iny four 

 children." 



Thus speaking, Abon bad, with bis teeth, 

 gnawed the goat's hair which bad served to 

 fasten the Arab horses, and the animal became 

 free. Seeing, however, his master manacled 

 and bound at bis feet, the faithful and intelli- 

 gent creature seized bis master bj the leathern 

 girdle round bis body, set off at a gallop, and 

 carried him to bis tent. Arriving there, and 

 letting him drop on the sand, at the feet of 

 bis wife and children, the horse expired from 

 fatigue. 



The whole tribe wept bis loss ; poets sang 

 bis merits ; and bis name is constantly in the 

 mouths of the Arabs who inhabit the country 

 about Jericho. 



If this is not a fiction, truth is certainly 

 much more strange than romance; but, in this 

 country, we have but a sliglit idea of tlie degree 

 of attachment and intelligence, which the habit 

 of living with the family, of being caressed by 

 the children, fed by the women, and encouraged 

 or cbided by the voice of the master, adds to 

 the natural instinct of the Arabian horse. 

 The breed of the animal has, naturally, a higher 

 intelligence than belong to the horses of our 

 island, arising, perhaps, more from the con- 

 stancy of their companionship or association 

 with man, than from any extraordinary endow- 

 ments which nature has bestowed upon them. 



The same author tells us, that when be was 

 at Jerusalem, there was a Bedouin, who, on 

 being pursued by the governor's guards, rushed 

 on bis mare from the top of the bills that 

 overlook Jericho. The animal scoured, at full 

 gallop, down a declivity, without stumbling, 

 leaving bis pursuers lost iu astonishment and 

 admiration. The poor mare, however, dropped 

 down dead on entering Jericho; and the 

 Bedouin, who would not quit ber, was taken, 

 weeping over the body of bis faithful companion. 

 "This mare," continues Chateaubriand, "has 

 a brother in the desert, who is so famous that 

 the Arabs always know where be is, what be 

 is doing, and bow be does." 



It is generally believed that many Arabs 

 preserve the pedigrees of their horses ; and that 

 there are five noble breeds, each of which they 

 deduce from one of the five favourite mares of 

 Mahomet. These five races, however, diverge 

 into innumerable ramifications ; and any mare 

 20 



of superior excellence may be the original of a 

 new breed, the descendants of which are called 

 after her. " On the birth of a colt of noble 

 breed, it is usual to assemble witnesses, to 

 write an account of its distinctive marks, with 

 the name of its sire and dam. These genea- 

 logical tables never ascend to the gt-and-dam, 

 because it is presumed that every Arab of bia 

 tribe knows, by tradition, the purity of the 

 whole breed. Nor is it always necessary to 

 have such a certificate ; for many horses and 

 mares are of such illustrious descent that 

 thousands might attest the purity of their 

 blood. The pedigree is often put into a small 

 piece of leather, covered with a waxed cloth, 

 and hung by a leather thong round the horse's 

 neck." 



In AVeston's Fragments of Oriental Litera- 

 ture, the following pedigree — much longer, 

 and, no doubt, far nobler than that alluded to 

 by the Laird of Cockpen, as belonging to bis 

 Scotch sweetheart — was found hanging round 

 the neck of an Arabian horse, bought by 

 Colonel Ainslie, during the Egyptian campaign 

 of the British against the French, at the com- 

 mencement of the present century : — 



" In the name of God, the merciful and 

 compassionate, and of Saed Mahomed, agent 

 of the High God, and of the companions of 

 Mohammed, and of Jerusalem. Praised be 

 the Lord, the Omnipotent Creator. 



" This is a high-bred horse, and its colt's- 

 tootb is here in a bag about bis neck, with his 

 pedigree, and of undoubted authority, such as 

 no infidel can refuse to believe. He is the 

 son of Eabbamy, out of the dam Labadah, and 

 equal in power to bis aire: of the tribe of 

 Zasbalab ; be is finely moulded, and made for 

 running like an ostrich. In the honours of 

 relationship, be reckons Zaluah, sire of Mahat, 

 sire of Kallac, and the unique Alket, sire of Ma- 

 nasseb, sire of Alsheb, father of the race down 

 to the famous horse, the sire of Lahalala ; and 

 to him be ever abundance of green meat, and 

 corn, and water of life, as a reward from the tribe 

 of Zasbalab; and may a thousand branches 

 shade his carcass from the hyaena of the tomb, 

 from the howling wolf of the desert ; and let 

 the tribe of Zasbalab present him with a festival 

 within an inclosure of walls ; and let thousands 

 assemble at the rising of the sun in troops 

 hastily, where the tribe holds up under e. 



