32 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
close to an elephant, and so gentle and docile that he eats 
bread out of my hand, and has almost as much attachment 
and coaxing ways as a dog. This seems the general cha- 
racter of the Arab Horses, to judge from what I have seen 
in this country. It is not the fiery dashing animal I had 
supposed, but with more rationality about him, and more 
apparent confidence in the rider, than the majority of Eng- 
lish Horses.’ 
“The kindness with which he is treated from a foal, 
gives him an affection for his master, a wish to please, a 
pride in exerting every energy in obedience to his com- 
mands, and, consequently, an apparent sagacity which is 
seldom seen in other breeds. The mare and her foal inha- 
bit the same tent with the Bedouin and his children. The 
neck of the mare is often the pillow of the rider, and, more 
frequently, of the children, who are rolling about upon her 
and the foal: yet no accident ever occurs, and the animal 
acquires that friendship and love for man which occasional 
ill-treatment will not cause him for a moment to forget. 
“When the Arab falls from his mare, and is unable to 
rise, she will immediately stand still and neigh until 
assistance arrives. If he lies down to sleep, as fatigue 
sometimes compels him, in the midst of the desert, she 
stands watchful over him, and neighs and rouses him if 
either man or beast approaches. An old Arab had a valua- 
ble mare that had carried him for fifteen years in many a 
hard-fought battle, and many a rapid, weary march; at 
length, eighty years old, and unable longer to ride her, he 
gave her, and a scimitar that had been his father’s, to his 
eldest son, and told him to appreciate their value, and 
never lie down to rest until he had rubbed them both as 
bright as a looking-glass. In the’first skirmish in which 
the young man was engaged, he was killed, and the mare 
fell into the hands of the enemy. When the news reached 
the old man, he exclaimed that ‘ life was no longer worth 
preserving, for he had lost both his son and his mare, and 
he grieved for one as much as the other;’ and he immedi- 
ately sickened and died. 
“Man, however, is an inconsistent being. The Arab 
who thus lives with and loves his Horses, regarding them 
as his most Valuable treasure, sometimes treats them with 
a cruelty scarcely to be believed, and not at all to be justi- 
fied. The severest treatment which the English Race 
Horse endures, is gentleness compared with the trial of 
the young Arabian. Probably the filly has never before 
been mounted; she is led out; her owner springs on her 
back, and goads her over the sand and rocks of the desert, 
at full speed, for fifty or sixty miles, without one moment’s 
respite. She is then forced, steaming and panting, into 
water deep enough for her to swim. If, immediately after 
this, she will eat as if nothing had occurred, her character 
is established, and she is acknowledged to be a genuine 
descendant of the Kochlani breed. The Arab is not con- 
scious of the cruelty which he thus inflicts. It is an inva- 
luable custom, and custom will induce us to inflict many a 
pang on those whom, after all, we love. 
“ The following anecdote of the attachment of an Arab 
to his mare, has often been told, but it comes home to the 
bosom of every one possessed of common feeling: — ‘The 
whole stock of an Arab of the desert consisted of a mare. 
The French consul offered to purchase her in order to send 
her to his sovereign, Louis XIV. The Arab would have 
rejected the proposal at once with indignation and scorn; 
but he was miserably poor. He had no means of supply- 
ing his most urgent wants, or procuring the barest necessa- 
ries of life. Still he hesitated; — he had scarcely a rag to 
cover him — and his wife and his children were starving. 
The sum offered was great, — it would provide him and his 
family with food for life. At length, and reluctantly, he 
consented. He brought the mare to the dwelling of the 
consul, — he dismounted,-— he stood leaning upon her; — * 
he looked now at his gold, and then at his favourite; he 
sighed — he wept. ‘ To whom is it,’ said he, ‘ I am going 
to yield thee up? To Europeans, who will tie thee close, — 
who will beat thee, — who will render thee miserable. 
Return with me my beauty, my jewel, and rejoice the 
hearts of my children.’ As he pronounced the last words, 
he sprung upon her back, and was out of sight in a mo- 
ment. ’ 
“The next anecdote is scarcely less touching, and not 
so well known. Ibrahim, a poor but worthy Arab, una- 
ble to pay a sum of money which he owed, was compelled 
to allow a merchant of Rama to become partner with him 
in a valuable mare. When the time came, he could not 
redeem his pledge to this man, and the mare was sold. 
Her pedigree could be traced on the side of sire and dam 
for full five hundred years. The price was three hundred 
pounds, an enormous sum in that country. Ibrahim went 
frequently to Rama to inquire after the mare: he would 
embrace her, — wipe her eyes with his handkerchief, — rub 
her with his shirt sleeves, — and give her a thousand bene- 
dictions during whole hours that he remained talking to 
her. ‘My eyes,’ would he say to her, ‘my soul! my 
heart! must I be so unfortunate as to have thee sold to so 
many masters, and not keep thee myself? I am poor, my 
antelope! I brought thee up in my dwelling as my child. 
I did never beat nor chide thee; I caressed thee in the 
proudest manner. God preserve thee, my beloved! thou 
art beautiful, thou art sweet, thou art lovely ! God defend 
thee from envious eyes!’ 
“Sir John Malcolm gives two anecdotes to the same 
purpose, but of a more amusing nature. 
