276 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 
down her soft nose, kissed each member of the group, 
till the sheikh was fain to rise and scold his mare 
away.” 
“ Alv’s tent,” writes Mr. Blunt, “was partly occu- 
pied by a filly and a bay foal, the latter not a week 
old, and very engaging. It was tied up, as the cus- 
tom is, by a rope round the neck, while its mother 
was away grazing, and neighed continually. It was 
very tame, however, and let me stroke it, and sniffed 
at my pockets, as if it knew that there might be 
some sugar there.” 
No wonder, then, that the Arabian foals are de- 
scribed as being gentle and familiar. They do not 
run away when they are approached at pasture; they 
are not to be intimidated by the flourishing of sticks 
or by the waving of garments. If they happen to be 
lying down when one comes near them, they continue 
iu that position, instead of scrambling to their feet in 
alarm; and they have an engaging habit of using 
their masters as rubbing-posts. All this is true, in 
general, of our trotting-bred American foals. The 
fact is that any colt, whatever its origin, if treated 
with uniform kindness, will become by the age of six 
or eight months as tame and fearless as the pets of 
the desert. 
The manner of rearing the Arabian colt is as fol- 
lows. It is weaned at the tender age of one month, 
instead of being allowed to run with its mother for 
four, five, or six months, according to our custom, 
but it is then fed on camel’s milk, which is very nv- 
tritious. So soon as it is weaned, the dam goes out to 
pasture, and the foal remains close by the tent, being 
tied by a cord around the neck, or around the hind 
