cH. xs.] Betcyeji!s Mare. 



10' 



coltisli. His action was less good, tliougli it is 

 difficult to judge from tlie extremely bad riding 

 of the man who brought him. Horses, in the 

 desert, are always ill-broken compared to the mares, 

 for they are seldom used for riding purposes. But 

 our chief delight Avas to follow, when IJeteyen 

 ibn Mershid, sheykh of the Gomussa, rode up to 

 Mohammed Dukhi's tent to pay a visit. He had 

 just purchased from one of his people the " bridle- 

 half" of a three-year-old mare, an Abeyeh Sherrak, 

 xmd was riding her home when he heard that we 

 were at Mohammed Dukhi's tent. The mare is so 

 much more remarkable than the man, that I must 

 describe her first. She is a dark bay, standing- 

 fifteen hands or over. Her head, the first point an 

 Arab looks to, is a good one, though I have seen 

 finer, but it is perfectly set on, and the mitbakh, 

 or join of the head and neck, would give distinction 

 to any profile. Her neck is light and well arched, 

 the wither high, the shoulder well sloped, and the 

 quarters so fine and powerful that it is impossible 

 she should be otherwise than a very fast mare. Her 

 length of limb above the hock is remarkable, as is 

 that of the pastern. She carries her tail high, as all 

 well-bred Arabians do, and there is a neatness and 

 finish about every movement, which remind one of 

 ii fawn or a gazelle. We are all agreed that she is 

 incomparably superior to anything we have seen 

 here or elsewhere, and would be worth a king's 

 ransom, if kings were still worth ransoming. 



