ARABIAN HORSES. 275 
temper and ferocity which characterize some strains 
of the English thoroughbred come from the Arab 
blood in their ancestry. Hence he infers that Ara- 
bian horses are bad-tempered. His conjecture is very 
likely correct, but his inference is a vicious one. It 
is not improbable that a generation or two of the old- 
fashioned English groom, with his rough “Come up, 
horse!”? and dig in the ribs or kick in the belly, 
added to the use of whips and spurs and severe bits, 
would sour the temper and awake the resentment of 
so highly bred and finely organized an animal as one 
of Arabian descent. But in the desert viciousness in 
the horse is absolutely unknown. The Arab rides, 
without saddle or stirrups, on a small pad fastened in 
place by a surcingle. As for bridle and bit, he has 
none. The horse is guided by a halter, the rope of 
which the rider holds in his hand, and he is con- 
trolled by the voice. “I have never seen either vio- 
lent plunging, rearing, or indeed any serious attempt 
made to throw the rider. Whether a Bedouin would 
be able to sit a bare-backed, unbroken four-year-old 
colt as the Gauchos of South America do is exceed- 
ingly doubtful.” 
The Arabian mare has no more fear of her master 
than a dog would have with us, and she is on terms 
of almost canine intimacy with the whole family. 
An old traveller in the desert describes an incident 
on a wet evening at the sheikh’s tent: “Evening 
clouds gathered... The mare returned of herself 
through the falling weather, and came and stood at 
our coffee fire, in half-human wise, to dry her soaked 
skin and warm herself as one among us. She ap- 
proached the sitters about the hearth, and, putting 
