THE REBEL SHEIK. 
309 
favorite horse with great constancy and devotion : the Sheik 
of Baalbek had a beautiful horse, and the probability is that 
he was even more attached to it than he was to his beautiful 
wife. Nor is it (to reduce every thing to the pure ore of 
truth) at all unlikely that he had two or three more wives, 
equally charming, hidden away in some dark corner of the 
ruins. The reason why my suspicions were aroused on this 
subject was, that he took a great deal of pride in introducing 
us to his horse, while not the slightest intimation escaped him 
that such a thing as a wife was any where about the premises. 
It was my first sight of a genuine horse of the desert. I 
had seen in Zanzibar, and even in Washington, horses called 
Arabians, and probably they were of Arab blood; but there is 
just as much difference between the ordinary Arab horse and 
the true Bedouin breed (so seldom found except in the deserts) 
as there is between a cart-horse and a racer. This was cer¬ 
tainly one of the most beautiful animals of its kind. The 
delicacy of the features, the fine flashing eye, the small sharp 
ears, the proudly arched neck, the clean and symmetrical 
limbs, were all indicative of the purest Arabian blood. What 
struck me most was the fierce pawing of the ground, the 
perpetual chafing, the restless and constant swaying to and 
fro of the head, all so fraught with a high spirit yet unbroken 
by the cruelty of man; so like the motions of a caged beast, 
that frets and sways unceasingly in its barred prison, and 
ever pants for liberty, till the fire within burns away, and it 
dies untamed and savage to the last. Yet with all this 
chafing, this eloquent appeal for a return to desert-life, he 
seemed to know and love his master well: a word, a touch, 
a motion of the hand, even a glance of that flashing eye, 
thrilled through him, and caused him to snuff the air, and 
quiver as if burning with some ungovernable impulse. 
The ordinary Syrian horse possesses many fine qualities, 
though of course it can bear no comparison with the pure 
Arab. For powers of endurance, sureness of foot, spirit, and 
gentleness under proper management, it is difficult to find 
his equal. At Beirut almost every variety can be found at 
reasonable prices. 
