422 UNGULATA. 



assailants in their turn, killed all the Druses except one, who fled. He 

 was pursued by some of the best mounted Bedouins, but his mare, 

 although fatigued, could not be overtaken. Before his pursuers gave up 

 the chase they called to him, and begged to be permitted to kiss his 

 excellent mare, promising him safe conduct for her sake. He might 

 have taken them at their word, for the pledge of an Arab, in such cir- 

 cumstances, might have been relied on ; he, however, refused. They 

 immediately left the pursuit, and, blessing the noble beast, cried out to 

 the fugitive, ' Go and wash the feet of your mare, and drink off the water.' 

 This expression is often used by the Bedouins to show the regard they 

 have for their mares." 



A writer of eminence observes : " Taking the comparative excellence 

 of the different races, Nejed, between the desert of Syria and Yemen, 

 and now in the possession of the Wahabis, is generally reckoned to pro- 

 duce the grandest, noblest horses. Hejaz (extending along the Red Sea, 

 from Mount Sinai to Yemen, and including in it Medina and Mecca) the 

 handsomest ; Yemen (on the coast of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, 

 and the most fertile part of Arabia) the most durable ; Syria the richest 

 in color ; Mesopotamia the most quiet ; Egypt the swiftest ; Barbary 

 the most prolific ; and Persia and Koordistan the most warlike." 



THE BARB. 



By the Barb is meant the breed of horse found in the north of Africa, 

 from the coast to the Desert of Sahara. The common horse of the 

 country is a miserable creature, but the tribes of the desert possess 

 some horses of superior breed, torm, and power. Their general points 

 are those of the Arab. Abd-el-Kader refutes the notion that there is any 

 difference between the Barb and the Arab. " The people of Barbary," 

 he writes, " are of Arab origin, who entered the country before Islam, 

 and no one doubts that the Arabian horses have spread in the same way 

 as the Arab families." The Arabs of Africa, contrary to the habits of 

 the Arabs of Arabia, always ride stallions. Abd-el-Kader, in his reply to 

 the questions of General Daumas respecting the horse of the Sahara, 

 says that an Arab horse ought to be able to travel sixty miles a day, 

 without fatigue, for three or four months, without resting a single day. 

 A horse, if necessary, ought to accomplish one hundred and eighty-seven 

 ooiles in a day. " We have seen," he adds, " a great number of horses per- 



