THIRSTY ANIMALS 1 37 



dislike to drinking very cold water. It is commonly 

 said that horses like pond- water and ' dirty ' water. What 

 they really like is water with the chill off ; cold spring- 

 water disagrees with them. Moreover, they are mighty 

 particular as to the taste of their drinking-water. 

 Some years ago one of several horses refused to drink 

 his water, and was at once pronounced to be ' ill.' 

 This caused inquiry, and it transpired that one of the 

 children had washed a guinea-fig in this horse's bucket. 

 The horse would not drink the guinea-pig's bath- water. 

 In the same way cows, though less select in their choice 

 of drinking-water than is desirable for those who con- 

 sume their milk, dislike touching water from tubs from 

 which a dog has drunk, and will refuse it altogether if 

 a dog has bathed in it. The Turks always allow their 

 horses to drink as much as they please, and when they 

 please, and the Osmanli were always accustomed to 

 make long journeys on horseback. But the more 

 intelligent Arabs, than whom no race except the 

 English has paid more attention to the subject, give 

 their horses little water- a practice they follow them- 

 selves. A paste of flour, dates, a little water and 

 camel's milk, is among many tribes the staple food for 

 the desert horse. But we may say of him and his master, 

 ' The wilderness and the barren land are his dwelling ; 

 he scorneth the multitude of the city/ He is a born 

 ' abstainer,' even from excess in water-drinking. 



