16 DEVELOPMENT OF THE MODERN HORSE 



of desert horses. Their pedigree traces through the mare rather 

 than the sire, as with us, and in many instances these horse gene- 

 alogies have been preserved for centuries. The foals are members 

 of the family from birth and their training very carefully attended 

 to. Their education begins when they are two years old and is 

 not considered finished until they are thoroughly manageable, not 

 only under ordinary conditions, but respond readily to bit and spur 

 in difficult and dangerous country under fire. Their training also 

 involves a thorough seasoning and conditioning until they can safely 

 take journeys of thirty to fifty leagues in a day. Almost incredible 

 distances are said to be traversed by these horses under extraordi- 

 nary circumstances, illustrative of which the following is recited : A 

 man of the tribe of Arbaa was the owner of a beautiful mare, 

 " gray stone of the river," known throughout the Sahara, named 

 Mordjana. In a quarrel with the Turks at Berouaguia, twenty- 

 seven leagues south of Algiers, it became his lot to sacrifice his 

 treasured steed for the peace of his tribe. To save his valued 

 mare he called his son aside and charged him at night-fall to steal 

 her away and ride to the southward through the desert to a place 

 of safety. Having fed the mare the lad at earliest night-fall sad- 

 dled and rode away with his arms, at a pace making pursuit futile, 

 until, the night two-thirds gone, he laid down to sleep under a 

 dwarf palm. After an hour's sleep he awoke, his steed having 

 eaten the leaves from the shrub, and continued the flight. At 

 dawn he reached Souagui, thirty-one leagues from the starting 

 point. Urging on the mare, he watered at Sid Bouzid, twenty-five 

 leagues furthur, and offered up the evening prayer at Leghouat, 

 twenty-four leagues beyond, having ridden eighty leagues (240 

 miles) in the twenty-four hours. Numerous similar accounts of the 

 wonderful endurance of these horses are related, which time forbids 

 us to recount. 



These oriental horses are not large, standing about fourteen or 



"Have used ^our Qall Cure for years and find it the best. 



o^. Hughes, Salinas, Cal, " 



