THE HORSE. 443 



cured of the habit of biting by having a leg of mutton 

 presented to them newly taken from the fire ; the pain 

 which the animal feels in seizing the hot meat with its 

 teeth teaches it in a few lessons more gentleness of tem- 

 per. The Arab steed, like its master, is accustomed to 

 the inclemency of all weathers. During the whole year 

 they are kept in the open air, being seldom taken into a 

 tent even in the rainy season. The Bedouins never 

 rub or clean their horses ; but take care to walk them 

 gently whenever they return after a ride. They gene- 

 rally rest in a standing position, and have been known 

 to remain on their legs for years in succession without 

 lying down. Yet with so little attention to health they 

 are seldom ill. The most prevalent diseases are the gripes, 

 farcy, warbles, surfeit, jaundice, strangles, mange, broken 

 wind, and watery swellings upon the stomach. Burning 

 is the most general remedy. To cure the strangles they 

 rub the tumours with a paste made of barley, chaff, and 

 butter ; at the same time the smoke of a linen rag dyed 

 with indigo is inhaled up the animal's nostrils, which oc- 

 casions a copious discharge. In cases of surfeit they bleed 

 the horse's feet, and wrap the skin of a sheep newly killed 

 round its body. They have no use for farriers, except for 

 making shoes, which are of a soft flexible iron, hammered 

 cold, and very small, that the swiftness may not be impeded. 

 They give different names both to fillies and colts every 

 year until the age of four.* In general they do not allow 

 their mares to breed until they have completed their fifth 

 year; but the poorer class sometimes wait no longer 

 than the fourth, as they are eager for the profits arising 

 from the sale of the foals. The colts are usually ridden 

 after the completion of the second year, and from the 

 time they are first mounted the saddle is but rarely taken 

 off their backs. In winter a coarse sackcloth is thrown 

 over them, and in summer they stand exposed to the mid- 

 day sun. Their saddles are of wood, covered with Spa- 



* So extremely accurate are the Arabs in every thing relating to 

 their horses, that they have invented appropriate names for distin- 

 guishing the several competitors in a race, according to their re- 

 spective merits. Instead of saying the first, second, third, &c. as 

 we do, they call the foremost the outrunner of the outrunners : 

 the next the back-presser ; the third the tranquillizer ; and 

 this distinction they continue as tar as the eleventh. 



