602 



J^ARMERS' REGISTER— ARABIAN HORSES. 



N. B. The earth from which you have extract- 

 ed the salt petre,ancl all the vvasliings of your ves- 

 sels, if you lay it by liiinly spread, in your house 

 will turn to profit, as it continues to be peculiarly 

 proper to attract and absord tiie nitre lloatinp; in 

 the air; add also the earlliy matter which settles 

 in the refining: And should you be in want of 

 house room, you may spread it upon tiie earth, co- 

 vered in the manner that (odder stacks are; It will 

 produce salt-pelre full as well as a tobacco-house, 

 taking care tliat the north-end be always open, and 

 that it be defended as much as possible from rain. 



OPINIONS OF THE ARABS, CONCERSTING THEIR 

 HORSES OF THE MOST APPROVEn STOCK. 



From the Memoirs of Si)- Ja'mes Campbell, (lately re-puhlished 

 in Waldic''s Circulating Libraiy.) 



The route of the caravan lay at first through 

 tlie great desert of Syria, and then through the 

 country of Ilamah, the most celebrated in the 

 world for its breed of horses; and this was a cir- 

 cumstance peculiarly agreeable to me, as I was 

 desirous of all things to carry home with me a 

 horse of that unequalled race. The purity of the 

 breed is ascertained and preserved in this country 

 with greater precision and facility, in consequence 

 of the horses and mares, to the number of one hun- 

 dred and upwards, being uniformly licld in com- 

 mon property, by a particular fiimily or tribe. 

 The line of succession is p-reserved with all the 

 care and all the accuracy perhaps of a Welsh 

 pedigree; and in the genealogical tree of the horse 

 which I ultimately purchased, its descent was pro- 

 fessedly traced to the famous black mare of Ma- 

 homed, and I had a certificate of the fact, sub- 

 scribed by five or six sheiks, who have an obvious 

 interest in keeping up the value of their breed of 

 horses by this exactness in their pedigree. 



It is on the mares, however, that the chief value 

 is placed, and through them it is that purity of 

 blood is most depended on. The sister of the 

 horse which I brought home with me, was for sale 

 at the time I made the purchase. I examined her 

 with the greatest care, and could not defect the 

 semblance of a fault in any one of her points. Like 

 all the others of the race, slie was under 15 hands 

 hiffh ; and the price put upon her l)y the tribe to 

 which she belonged v. as 10,000 piastres, equal to 

 2,500/. of our money. The value of the mare is 

 always much greater than that of a horse of equal 

 symmetry, from the idea of her greater influence 

 in preserving the purity of the race. The price I 

 paid for the horse, own brother to this mare, was 

 800 Venitian sequins, equal to about 400/. sterling; 

 and I incline to think it was not far out of propor- 

 tion, according to their ideas, to the price of the 

 other. 



While I was yet in the district where these 

 horses are bred, an agent arrived from the King of 

 Prussia, commissioned to make purchases for his 

 majesty. He agreed with me in admiring the 

 mare, and declared that she was the handsomest 

 animal he had ever seen. He was even willing to 

 give the 10,000 piastres for her, but the tribe had 

 come to the resolution of preserving her as a brood 

 mare, and refused that sum when offered. It is 

 to be observed, however, that there are two distinct 

 races in the country, the noble and the common. 

 Among the latter, many beautiful horses are often 

 to be foundj but they never possess those qualities 



in perfection for which the noble race of Arabia 

 is so peculiarly distinguished — fleetness, wind, and 

 bot(on:i. 



Here, too, I must observe, that the horses 

 brought from Barbary are not to be compared in 

 any good quality with the noble breed of Hamah. 

 Many of the Barbs have radical faults, and some 

 of them are very ugly, goose-run>ped, cat-hammed, 

 and narrow chested. The difference of the breeds 

 v/as long unknown in this country, but now it is 

 better understood, and a Bai'b I believe is seldona 

 bred from. 



I shall here mention a circumstance on the au- 

 thority of persons in that country whose good faith 

 and respectability I had no reason to doubt, as il- 

 lustrating in rather a striking point of view the 

 marked distinction between the different races of 

 this noble aniriial, which are reared in the same 

 district. 



An Arab.Avho had pitched his tent in a solitary 

 spot of the desert, had occasion to leave his family, 

 with his stock of the common breetl of horses and 

 mares, for a single nigiit. On his return lo the place 

 in the morning, he found that his family and his 

 whole property had been carried of? in the night. 

 He was mounted on a horse of the noble breed, and 

 of the highest qualities, and having a rifle with 

 him, he set out alone in pursuit of the robbers. On 

 coming up with them he found that their numbers 

 were considerable, but he had reason lo believe 

 that they were not possessed of fire-arms, which 

 proved to be the fact. 



Approaching near enough to bring them withii> 

 the range of his gun, he fired and wounded one or 

 more of them, and waving his hand he dared them 

 to follow him. This they attempted, but found it 

 fruitless. He then returned to the attack, and 

 again succeeded in singling out one or two of 

 them with his rifle. Onte more they pursued him 

 with the fleetest of their horses, but to overtake 

 him was impossible. Thus he hung u|)on -theix 

 rear, wounding and killing several of them, until 

 he at length compelled them to restore the booty. 



The accoutrements of the Arab horsemen are 

 sim[)le in their construction, and well suited to his 

 wants. The saddle is generally large, ami always 

 easy to ride en. The straps are made of untanned 

 leather, and are fiistenel without buckles. A ring 

 is attached to the end of the girth, and another to 

 the corresponding part of the saddle. Through 

 these rings a strap is repeatedly passed, and drawn 

 together with such force as to bring them near to 

 each other, after which, the strap is fastened by 

 tw isting the ends round the part thus tightened. 

 The saddle thus fixed is never displaced, and, in- 

 deed, seldom taken off, except for the temporary 

 purpose of grooming, when it is again immediately 

 replaced, although there be no intention of riding. 

 Cruppers are seldom used, because they are. not 

 necessary to keep the saddle in its place, and be- 

 cause they never carry any thing behind it. The 

 shoes are a thin fiat piece of iron, with a hole in 

 the middle to keep the foot cool, something in the 

 form of our common bar shoe, but extremely 

 light, and even flexible, so as to yield wilh the foot 

 when pressed uj)on a stone. The numerous dis- 

 eases to which our horses are liable are scarcely 

 known in these countries. 



Sometimes, indeed, I have seen a lame horse, 

 but upon inquiry, the cause was generally to be 

 traced to some accident, either in a skirmish, or 



