TUBKiSH HORSE.] M D E R N V ETERIN AR Y PR ACT I C E. [tuekisu iiorsk. 



was fallen from the saddle, stand stock still, 

 without wagging a foot, till he got up again. 

 Another time I saw a groom standing at a 

 distance, in the midst of a whole ring of 

 horses ; and I saw some horses, when tlieir 

 master was at dinner with me in an upper 

 room, prick up their ears to hear his voice ; 

 and when they did so, they neighed for joy." 



There can be no doubt that the law of 

 kindness, constantly operating upon the horse, 

 has the best possible influence on the dis- 

 position of the animal, and inspires him with 

 sentiments of a correspondingly amiable de- 

 scription. The Turks have him so docile 

 and tractable, that they do not hesitate to 

 play at ball, with a goif-stick, on his back. 

 This game is played both in Turkey and 

 Syria, and proves the perfect state of training 

 to which the horse has been brought, as the 

 smallest touch of the bridle makes it wheel, 

 gallop at full speed, or suddenly stop, as the 

 will of the rider commands. 



In Syria, and other parts of western Asia, 

 the horse is fed upon chopped straw and 

 barley ; and of this provender a certain quantity 

 is given morning and evening, none being sup- 

 plied in the interim. " In the spring season, 

 the horses are fed, from forty to fifty days, on 

 green barley, cut as soon as the corn begins 

 to ear. This is termed lying down to grass ; 

 during which time the animals remain con- 

 stantly exposed in the open air ; and for the 

 first eight or ten days are neither curried, 

 mounted, nor led about. After this they are 



* Of the various tribes inhabiting Syria, some are 

 indiscriminately found everywhere, whilst others are con- 

 fined to particular sites. The Greeks proper people 

 certain villages, and form a class of labourers for the 

 country, and drudges for the towns. In many respects 

 they resemble the Irish, and are, like them, " the hewers 

 of wood and the drawers of water.'' The Maronites form 

 a corps of the nation which occupies almost exclusively 

 the territory comprised between Nahr-el-Kelb and Nahr- 

 el-Bared, a region extending from the summit of the 

 mountains on the east, to the Mediterranean on the 

 west. The bordeiing tribes, the Druses, occupy the 

 space from Nahr-el-Kelb to Sour, the ancient Tyre. The 

 country of the Metualis comprehends the valley of Becka, 

 as far as Sour. But this tribe is now dispersed, and 

 likely to become extinct. As for the Ausarichs, they 

 are scattered over the mountains of Autakieh, chiefly in 

 the paslialic of Tripoli. The wandering or pastoral 

 tribes abound principally in the plain of Antioch ; the 

 Kurds, in the mountains situated between Alexandretta 

 end the Euphrates ; and the Bedouin Arabs, on all the 



dressed as usual, and rode out gently ; but are 

 never much worked during the grass season. 

 Some feed the horses witli cut barley in the 

 stable-yards; but the general practice is to 

 confine them to a certain circuit by means of 

 a long tether, in the barley-field. This grazing 

 is considered of great service to the health of 

 the horse, and imparts a beautiful gloss to 

 his coat." 



Everywhere in Asia Minor, as well as in 

 Arabia, Persia, and neighbouring countries, 

 we meet with anecdotes which indicate, to an 

 extraordinary extent, the affection which the 

 natives bear for the horse. Burchardt relates 

 a story which, whilst it places the speed and 

 endurance of one in an eminent point of view, 

 at the same time, shows how even an enemy 

 will express his admiration of an animal ridden 

 by his foe. " A troop of Druses* on horseback, 

 attacked, in the summer of 1815, a party of 

 Beoouins, and pursued them to their encamp- 

 ment ; the Bedouins were then assisted by a 

 superior force ; and becoming the assailants in 

 their turn, killed all the Druses except one, 

 who fled. He was pursued by some of the 

 best mounted Bedouins; but his mare, although 

 fatigued, could not be overtaken. Before his 

 pursuers gave up the chase, they called to 

 him, and begged to be permitted to kiss his 

 excellent mare, promising him safe-conduct 

 for her sake. He might have taken them at 

 their word ; for the pledge of an Arab, in such 

 circumstances, might have been relied on; he, 

 however, refused. They immediately left the 



frontier of Syria adjacent to their deserts, and in the 

 plains of Palestine. The nation is divided into two 

 classes; the people, and the Cheiks or nobles. They live 

 in the mountains, villages, hamlets, and isolated houses. 

 The country is essentially agricultural ; each inhabitant 

 has the :ight over his own farm or pasturage ; the Cheiks 

 are only distinguished from the other natives by a variety 

 in their dress. In other respects they have the same 

 rights and privileges. Among the Maronites there are 

 neither mendicants nor robbers, as among the Arabs; 

 and both by day and night the traveller may pursue his 

 course unmolested. They are monogamous ; and, like 

 the Persians, choose their wives without seeing them. 

 Although Christians, they preserve the Arabic custom of 

 the tahori : and the next of kin of the man assassinated, 

 has the right of taking his revenge. According to a recent 

 census, the Maronite population is estimated at 120.000 

 souls, of whom the men bearing arms amount to 30,000 — 

 a considerable population for a district measuring some 

 150 square miles, and abounding in rocks, and all tbo 

 beauties of natural scenery. 



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