ABABiAN HOESE.] MODEEN VETEEINARY PRACTICE. [ahahiak nonsE. 



canopy of celestial signs within the walls, the 

 saddle with the name and family of the pos- 

 sessor. Then let them strike the bands with 

 a loud noise incessantly, and pray to God for 

 immunity for the tribe of Zoab, the inspired 

 tribe." 



At the birth of an Arabian colt it is never 

 permitted to fall to the ground, but is caught 

 in the arms of those who are waiting beside 

 the dam, washed, and as tenderly handled as 

 if it were destined to become a distinguished 

 member of the human family. At the end of 

 a month it is weaned, and then, for a hundred 

 days, it is nourished with camel's milk. After 

 this time it is allowed a little wheat, which is 

 increased by degrees, while the milk continues 

 to form the largest portion of its aliment. 

 This mode of feeding continues for another 

 hundred days, when the foal is sent forth to 

 pick a little of the herbage that may be 

 growing round the tent of its owner. Some 

 barley is also given; and, if the xlrab can 

 afford it, a little camel's milk in the evening. 

 All this while it, with its dam, inhabits the 

 same tent as the Bedouin and his family, who 

 are to be found, much more frequently, lying 

 with, or rolling upon the mare and her foal, 

 than upon their own natural parents. Tims 

 the animals grow kind and gentle. In the 

 constant habit of receiving good treatment, 

 their tempera are never ruffled ; and the 

 caresses which, from the moment of their 

 birth, are bestowed upon them, they continue 

 to return by every means in their power. This 

 characteristic of the Arab horse is thus re- 

 ferred to by Bishop Heber, who, in his Nar- 

 rative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces 

 of India, says that he was in the habit of riding 

 a little Arabian animal: — " My morning rides 

 are very pleasant. My horse is a nice, quiet, 

 good-tempered little Arab, who is so fearless, 

 that he goes, without starting, close to an 

 elephant ; and so gentle and docile, that he 

 eats bread out of my hand, and has almost as 

 much attachment and coaxing ways as a dog. 

 This seems the general character of Arab 

 horses, to judge from what I have seen in this 

 country. It is not the fiery, dashing animal 

 I had supposed, but with more rationality 

 about him, and more apparent confidence in 

 Lis rider than the majority of English horses." 

 A Ereuch authority, in giving his own per- 



sonal experience of tiie Arabs and their horses, 

 says, that Arabian horses in general como 

 from Nedgid, and are commonly called Nodji. 

 A more noble race is called Kohloni— divided 

 into five dillerout families, or noble Clierifs. 

 These five races, as we have already observed, 

 are the supposed descendants from the five 

 blessed mares of the prophet, and are named 

 Tonaisse, Gilphe, Manegine, Sedie, and Sc- 

 clawe. Besides these, there are a number of 

 other families too difficult to enumerate. It 

 must be owned that there are no certain signs 

 by which one can ascertain whether a horse is 

 a Nedgid or a Kohlan ; for " I have conversed," 

 says he, " with many intelligent Arabs, who 

 all assured me that they could not distinguish 

 them unless the origin of the dam was known 

 to them. For these reasons they kept their 

 mares unstained by tlie leap of an inferior 

 stallion, which is considered one of the prin- 

 cipal sins in the Koran ; and, as this is an 

 injunction imposed upon them by their re- 

 ligion, they preserve it rigidly. If by chance 

 the contrary should happen, the Bedouin does 

 not value the foal the least; and however 

 handsome and promising it may be, he will 

 part with it for a mere trifle. If a Kohlan 

 mare is stinted to a Nedgid stallion, the foal 

 is a Kohlan ; but if only to a Genesidek, the 

 foal also is only a Genesidek ; and a foal only 

 of a Nedgid mare by a Kohlan stallion, is 

 Nedgid. This being the case, among the latter, 

 many horses will be met with as handsome as 

 the first, although of an inferior race; but 

 even the Arabs cannot distinguish them with 

 out knowing the race of the dam." 



Although it is generally asserted that the 

 Arabs keep a stud-book, our French authority 

 denies this to be the case ; and he furtlier says 

 that they do not call together a number of 

 witnesses when the covering act is performed, 

 or when the foal is born: all this is false; 

 "for," he continues, "I have often had oppor- 

 tunities to observe a leap in the night, where 

 scarcely any, and but casual witnesses were 

 present." This, however, might casually be 

 the case; altliough, generally, where purity ot 

 breed is to be anxiously kept, veracious wit- 

 nesses might be called in to testify satisfac 

 torily to the birth. According to our au- 

 thority, the mode of proceeding among the 

 Arabs to procure a foal, is to choose the best 



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