THE HORSE. 399 



feminine, are specified with great exactness ; so that an 

 Arabian horse offered for sale is usually provided with his 

 title of nobility. The pedigree is often put into a small 

 piece of leather, covered with waxed cloth, and suspended 

 round the animal's neck. Burckhardt has given one of these 

 curious documents, which he translated from the original in 

 the handwriting of the Bedouins. It is as follows : — 



'' GOD. 

 " Enoch. 



" In the name of the most merciful God, the Lord of all 

 creatures, peace and pravers be with our Lord Mohammed 

 and his family and his followers until the day of judgment ; 

 and peace be with all those who read this writing, and 

 understand its meaning. 



" The present deed relates to the grayish-brown colt, with 

 four white feet and a white mark on the forehead, of the 

 tnie breed of Saldavyc, called Oheyan, whose skin is as 

 bright and unsullied as milk, resembling those horses of which 

 the Prophet said, ' True riches are a noble and pure breed 

 of horses;' and of which God said, ' The war-horses, those 

 which rushed on the enemy with full blowing nostrils, — those 

 which plunge into the battle early in the morning.' And God 

 spoke the truth in his incomparable book. This Saklawye 

 gi-ay colt was bought by Khoshrun, the son of Emheyt, of 

 the tribe of Zebaa, an Aeneze Arab. The sire of this colt 

 is the excellent bay horse called Merdjan, of the breed of 

 Koheylan ; its dam is the famous white Saklawye mare 

 known by the name of Djeroua. According to what we have 

 seen, we attest here, upon our hopes of felicity and upon our 

 girdles, Sheiks of Wisdom and Possessors of Horses ! 

 this gray colt, above mentioned, is more noble even than his 

 sire and dam. And this we attest, according to our best 

 knowledge, by this valid and perfect deed. Thanks be to 

 God, the Lord of all creatures ! — "Written on the 16th of 

 Saphar, in the year 1223 (A. D. 1808). Witness," &c. 



This purity of blood and descent the Bedouins are extremely 

 careful to preserve uncontaminated. During twenty days, at 

 a certain season, the mare must be watched to secure her 

 from the approaches of any common horse, which she is not 

 allowed to see, even at a distance ; for the Arabs are be- 

 lievers in the effects of imagination on the progeny of their 

 cattle. Wliea tjie foal is produced- the same witnesses mu&i 



