196 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 



in the ownership of which he paid 400. This sub- 

 division of ownership is very curious. Sir John Mal- 

 colm was informed that the property in a brood mare 

 was sometimes divided amongst ten or twelve Arabs. 



In the Desert a mare of high breed is seldom sold 

 without the seller reserving the half, or two-thirds of 

 her. If he sells half, the buyer takes the mare, and 

 is obliged to let the seller take the mare's next filly, 

 or the buyer may keep the filly and return the mare. 

 If the Arab has sold but one-third of the mare, the 

 purchaser takes her home, but must give the seller 

 the fillies of two years, or else one of them and the 

 mare. The fillies of all subsequent years belong to 

 the buyer, as well as all the male colts produced on 

 the first or any following year. It thus happens that 

 most of the Arab mares are the joint property of two 

 or three persons, or even of half-a-dozen, if the price 

 of the mare be very high. A mare is sometimes sold 

 on the remarkable condition, that all the booty ob- 

 tained by the man who rides her shall be shared 

 between him and the seller. 



It is not among the Arabs alone we find horses, like 

 ships, shared among several owners : the same thing 

 prevails in some parts of Ireland. An amusing instance 

 is mentioned in Lord George Hill's " Facts from 

 Gwendore :" " In an adjacent island, belonging to 



