INFLUENCE OF SIRE AND DAM. Ill 



distance between the pasturages, which are only to be found in the 

 neighborhood of wells. The mare is like the serpent, their pow- 

 ers increase in hot weather and in arid countries. Serpents which 

 live in cold or watery countries have little venom or courage, so 

 that their bite is seldom mortal, whereas those that live in hot 

 countries are more irritable, and the virulence of their poison is 

 increased. Whilst the horse can less easily bear the heat of the 

 sun, the mare, doubtless from constitutional causes, finds her ener- 

 gies increase with the greatest heat. The third reason is that the 

 mare requires less care and less nourishment. The owner can lead 

 and turn her out to graze with the sheep and camels, and he is not 

 obliged to have a person constantly watching her; whereas a horse 

 cannot do without being highly fed, and he cannot be turned out 

 without an attendant for obvious reasons. These are the true rea- 

 sons of an Arab's preference for mares. It does not arise from 

 the foal inheriting the qualities of the dam rather than those of the 

 sire ; it does not proceed from its being better at all times and 

 under all circumstances to ride a mare rather than a horse ; but it 

 is based upon material interests, and on the necessities enforced by 

 the description of life which Arabs lead. It- must, however, be 

 admitted that a horse is more noble than a mare. He is stronger, 

 more courageous, and faster. That a horse is stronger than a mare 

 is thus proved. If both were struck by the same mortal wound 

 a mare would fall at once, but a horse would seldom drop until he 

 had carried his rider into safety. I saw a mare struck by a ball 

 on the leg ; the bone was broken ; unable to bear the pain she fell 

 immediately. A horse was hit in the same manner j the broken 

 limb hung only by the skin ; he continued his course, supporting 

 himself on his sound leg, until he bore his rider from the battle- 

 field and then fell. The Arabs prefer mares to horses for the rea- 

 sons I have given, and those reasons are sufficient to show why 

 amongst us the value attached to the possession of a mare is greater 

 than that they attach to the possession of a horse, even though the 

 breeding of each were the same ; for whilst on the one hand the 

 foal takes more after the sire than the dam, on the other the pro- 

 prietor of a horse cannot gain in many years as much as the pro- 

 prietor of a mare can gain in one year if she throw a foal. 

 However, when a horse has displayed any extraordinary qualities, 

 it often happens that he will not be parted with, probably pro- 

 ducing to his master in the way of booty or otherwise as much as 

 the most valuable mare. I saw amongst the Annazas, a tribe ex- 

 tending from Bagdad to Syria, horses so beyond all price that it 

 was almost impossible to purchase them, and certainly impossible 

 to pay ready money for them. These animals, of a fabulous value, 

 are sold only to the highest personages, or to rich merchants who 

 pay for them by thirty or forty instalments, or by a perpetual rent 



