A Baudet Stalliq^t. 



173 



master, him berry good ; better than his rider.' ' Go on fast' ' Yes, master ; a — a — a ' 

 (witli a dig, causing a wriggle) — [to ass] — ' Get on, Christian, son of a Christian, ridden by a 

 Christian ; ass, son of an ass, ridden by an ass ; kafir (infidel), son of a kafir, ridden by a kafir.' 

 And then, perhaps, he would amuse himself and the passers-by with a native roundelay : — 



' Christian, blessed dog, 

 . Ate the sweet thing, and left me. 

 Here he is, the Christian !' 



' That's: a very nice song ; what does it say ? ' ' All 'bout master and donkey, berry good, 

 me behind, with stick make'm go; master give me shilling me sing him again!' Then he 

 would, perhaps, give the donkey a spiteful dig under the tail, thereby eliciting a kick, while 

 at the same time he would express a wish (in Arabic) that the stick in his hand were a 

 khasou^ (or impaling post), dedicated to the especial elevation of the ass and his rider. So 

 we went on for a long time (the parts of conversation I have selected are the kw which 

 would bear printing in English), till at last, as Fortune would have it, I was recognised by a 

 Turkish friend of mine, who addressed me in Arabic. 



" I first got a good hold of my follower, which interrupted him in a most benevolent 

 expression of the kind manner in which he would like to treat all the members of my family, 

 enumerating each one in succession, from my great-grandfather and his respected lady down- 

 wards, and intermingling them in a most facetious manner with the ancestry of the animal I 

 bestrode. 'You would, would you, you son of a dog?' said I. 'And now that I have you in 

 my power, what shall I do with )'ou .'*' To this, of course, were added one or two of the 

 rather strong Turkish expressions which appear to be necessary to make his own language 

 intelligible to an Arab of Egypt. The change in the boy's face was so amusing that I could 

 scarcely forbear from laughing. My friend also came up and joined in the fun. The boy 

 was all prayers and entreaties. I gave him a few kicks, and having taken off my veil, and 

 giving him the umbrella to carry, we returned home. 



" On the way back both donkey and driver behaved remarkably well. After paying the boy 

 his just dues, and not a para more, which he received without a grumble, I administered a few 

 more kicks, and then gave him a shilling for the amusement he had afforded me." 



THE STALLION ASS FOR MULE BREEDING. 



The French have a race of strong dray-horse-like asses, used for breeding mules, called 

 bandets, which are supposed to have been originally imported from Spain, and to have been 

 brought into Spain by the Moors from Africa ; although the asses commonly found in Northern 

 Africa are small and light-limbed, while the baudet, perhaps so-named from the Spanish borrieo, 

 is the largest and strongest animal of its race. The baudet has a much larger head than 

 the ordinary domestic ass ; teeth so hard that it is almost impossible to guess his age after he 

 casts his milk teeth ; ears of extravagant length and size, garnished with a mass of long hair, 

 called, in the language of Poitou, cadencttes. The neck and shoulders are much more 

 muscular than those of the common ass, but exactly of the same shape. Length is considered 

 a point of great importance in a baudet for begetting large mules. The breast is broad and the 

 belly ample ; the muscles of the arms and thighs long and flat ; the joints as strong and large 

 as those of a good cart-horse. 



