THE HORSE IN ASIA AND AFRICA. 
21 
upon which the people of those countries appear ever to have 
proceeded to prevent these sort of mesalliances , and thus pre- 
serve, unsullied, the purity of their breeds. 
English amateurs have not hesitated to give enormous 
prices for Arabian horses. They have succeeded in pur- 
chasing some good mares, which is the most difficult matter ; 
since, through^ scrupulosity or policy, the chiefs especially 
object to the exportation of mares, and particularly into 
Christian countries. Such is the origin of English horses 
so vaunted over Europe ; though it may be remarked that 
their speed, a primitive quality of this breed, could not, 
in the temperature of Great Britain, be maintained but by 
the most vigilant precautions and the most constant care. 
The Arabs have a practice of clipping ( tondre ) their horses 5 
tails, up to the age pretty well of three years, with the 
view of making the hair grow thicker and longer. And when 
clipped, the young animals carry their tails straighter 
and more erect, which is regarded among their best bred 
stock as a sign of vigour. It is possible this may have led 
English persons to contrive a means (nicking ?) of making 
horses carry their tails well, and thus convey the idea of their 
possessing vigour and energy. 
Let us now inquire how they manage in Asia and Africa 
to produce horses, not only graceful but really useful. Chiefs 
who travel about, prefer for their use mares to horses. And 
so, when they have to take a long and laboursome journey, 
they ride mares not in foal, or from which the foals may be 
taken away, the others travelling with the family and their 
herds. This preference arises from their individual superiority 
in point of work ; and partly from the circumstance of mares, 
when they are all, as it w r ere, harnessed together for the 
night, resting quietly; besides that any neigh they may 
utter is simple and weak, a great advantage for men with 
whom war is carried on between their chiefs. Their paces 
may not be so brilliant as those of horses, but the natives 
contend that with no less activity, mares exhibit more grace 
in going, have better wind, and are more tractable. Besides 
which, they endure heat, hunger, and thirst, better than 
horses ; since mares have been known, in cases of emer- 
gency, to perform a journey of 100 leagues without hardly 
drawing bit, or even experiencing any inconvenience 
During the crusades (in 1 192) Richard Coeur-de-Lion fell 
ill, and sent to ask for the physician of the Sultan Saladin for 
advice ; to whose messenger, setting out for Richard’s camp, 
El- Hakim boastingly said, 66 Thou art the first of thy sect, 
Nazareen, that hast ever pressed the flank of a courser of 
