144 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 



This word, which properly means a reed, is gene- 

 rally used to signify any staff thrown by the hand, 

 after the manner of the Roman pilum. Instead of a 

 staff, the Mamelukes make use of branches of the 

 palm tree, fresh stripped ; they are in form like the 

 stalk of an artichoke, are four feet long, and weigh 

 five or six pounds. Armed with these, the cavaliers 

 enter the lists, and, riding full speed, throw them at 

 each other from a considerable distance. The assail- 

 ant, as soon as he has thrown, turns his horse, and 

 his antagonist pursues and throws in his turn. The 

 horses, accustomed to this exercise, second their mas- 

 ters so well that they seem also to share in the plea- 

 sure. But the pleasure is attended with danger ; for 

 some can dart the djereed with so much force as fre- 

 quently to wound, and sometimes mortally. Ill-fated 

 was the man who could not escape the djereed of Ali 

 Bey!" 



Baumgarten, an early traveller in the East, gives the 

 following account of Mameluke exercises performed in 

 presence of the Sultan, who sat in a balcony of the 

 palace overlooking the field: " On the side of the 

 castle, there was a large and plain field, which had 

 been before prepared for this purpose; about the 

 middle of which, on one side, there were three arti- 

 ficial hillocks of sand, about fifty paces distant from 



