CHAPTER XXXVII. 
THE SYRIAN HORSES. 
While on the subject of horses, it may not be amiss to 
mention that we were extremely fortunate in that respect. 
No person who saw us mounted, and on our journey, would, 
for a moment, have supposed so, from the physical aspect of 
our animals ; but it was in remarkable points of character, 
rather than in the remarkable points which adorned their 
forms, that their chief merit consisted. Indeed, it would have 
been difficult to find four horses, either in Syria or any other 
part of the world, to compare with ours in general intelligence 
and reflective powers. That there was something akin to 
the noble faculty of thought, something of a much higher 
order than mere instinct, in every one of them, was beyond 
all question. As for Saladin, it is but simple justice to him 
to say, that he had a head that would have done honor to 
some of the Howadji whom I had met during my wanderings 
in the East. Not only did he carry an uncommon amount 
of brains in it, but he possessed, in an extraordinary degree, 
the faculty of doing himself credit by the manner in which he 
made use of them. His brains and his judgment went in 
partnership, as a general thing ; though, as all great mortals 
have their weak points, so I am forced to admit that Saladin 
had his. Strong in his passions, he sometimes suffered them 
to have unlimited sway over both his brains and his judg¬ 
ment, which is a weakness common to genius ; but if he was 
bitter in his resentments, he was also devoted in his attach¬ 
ments. There was no nonsense or affectation about him of 
any kind; he professed nothing that he did not accomplish, in 
a zealous, off-hand manner. An enemy to the back-bone, he 
was a friend to the very bottom of his stomach. God bless 
