248 
JOURNEY FROM 
days without a drop of water of any kind. It may therefore be rea- 
dily imagined that they were not in very excellent condition before 
half the journey had been accomplished, and indeed it w as distressing 
to see the w^asted carcasses which most of them presented on arriving 
in the neighbourhood of Bengazi ; but we may venture to say that 
few, if any, European horses, under similar circumstances, w^ould have 
survived the journey which they performed at all ; much less have 
displayed the activity and spirit which never left them, under so 
much fatigue and privation. 
We were often amused, in spite of his forlorn condition, with the 
spirit exerted on all occasions by an old white horse, which was rode 
by one of our servants ; he had belonged for many years to a soldier 
of the Bashaw, and his face w^as well known to all the Arabs of Ben- 
gazi, as a constant appendage to the army which came there occa- 
sionally to collect the tribute. This fine-spirited animal, before the 
journey was half over, had scarcely a leg to stand upon, yet he never 
for a moment forgot his military habits, and would arch his neck, 
and curvet, and throw himself back on his haunches at the slightest 
application of the spur. No fatigue or exhaustion could ever make 
him forget that he had once been a charger of some consideration : 
even in w^alking he would lift up his legs, and step out, wdth all the 
parade and importance of a horse trained at Astley’s or the Circus ; 
throwing his head about, at the same time, from one side to the 
other, as if he took a delight in displaying his long mane, and shew- 
ing himself off to advantage. 
It may weU be supposed that no exertions of our own were at 
