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THE
HORSES OF THE SAHARA
AND THE
MANNERS OF THE DESERT.
THE HORSES
OF THE SAHARA,
AND THE
MANNERS OF THE DESERT.
BY
E. DAUMAS,
GENERAL OF DIVISION COMMANDING AT BORDEAUX,
SENATOR, ETC., ETC.,
WITH COMMENTARIES
BY THE EMIR ABD-EL-KADER.
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH
BY JAMES HUTTON.
(THE ONLY AUTHORISED TRANSLATION)
LONDON:
WM. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, S.W.
1863.
PUBLISHERS' NOTICE.
In this English version of General Daumas' justly eulogised work on the
Horses of the Sahara and the Manners of the Desert, two or three entire
chapters, besides many isolated passages, have been omitted, which
treated either of veterinary science or of matters little suited to the
taste of general readers in this country. Part the second, which was so
strangely overlooked by the critics of the last French edition, will be
found extremely interesting to all who love the chace and can appreciate
a life of adventure. The description of the sports and pastimes, the
manners and customs of the aristocracy of the African Desert, is
especially worthy of perusal; nor will the quaint remarks of the once
famous Emir Abd-el-Kader fail to command very general respect and
sympathy.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PART THE FIRST.
THE HORSES OF THE SAHARA.
INTRODUCTION 3
Sources of information.
_Remarks by the Emir Abd-el-Kader_ 5
Treatises on the horse.—Anecdote of Abou-Obeïda.
ON THE ORIGIN OF THE ARAB HORSE 7
Curious letter from the Emir Abd-el-Kader.—Four great
epochs.—Creation of the horse.—Change of coats.—Moral
qualities of the thoroughbred.
THE BARB 26
Oneness of the race.—Letter from Abd-el-Kader.—Letter
from M. Lesseps on the Alexandria races.—Weight carried
by African horses.
THE HORSES OF THE SAHARA 33
Traditional love of the horse.—Arab proverbs.—A
popular chaunt.
_Remarks by the Emir Abd-el-Kader_ 44
Superiority of the horses of the Sahara.
BREEDS 47
Incontestable purity of the Saharene Barb.—Endurance
of the Arab horse.—The noble horse.
_Remarks by the Emir Abd-el-Kader_ 59
Two varieties of the horse.
THE SIRE AND THE DAM 65
Treatment of the mare and foal.
_Remarks by the Emir Abd-el-Kader_ 73
Influence of the sire.—Purity of race.
REARING AND BREAKING-IN 75
Early training.—Elementary exercises.—Names.
_Remarks by the Emir Abd-el-Kader_ 107
Names of the Prophet's horses.
DIET 112
Camel's and ewe's milk.—Dates.—Green food.
_Remarks by the Emir Abd-el-Kader_ 118
Repose and fat injurious to a horse.
GROOMING, HYGIENE, PROPORTIONS 121
Selection of food and water.—How to foretell
the size and character of a horse.
_Remarks by the Emir Abd-el-Kader_ 127
Ingenious measurements.
COATS 130
Variety of colours.—Anecdote.—White
spots.—Anecdote.—Tufts.
_Remarks by the Emir Abd-el-Kader_ 136
Favourite coats.—Objectionable coats.
ON CHOOSING AND PURCHASING HORSES 139
Serious objections.—Mode of sale.—The
Arab horse-dealer.
_Remarks by the Emir Abd-el-Kader_ 148
Genealogical tables.—Poetic and anecdotic illustrations.
SHOEING 150
Farriers, their privileges and tools.—Cold shoeing.
THE HARNESS 159
The Arab saddle.—Advantages of the Arab system.
MAXIMS OF THE ARAB CAVALIER 166
Temperance.—Endurance.—Making the horse a study.
_Remarks by the Emir Abd-el-Kader_ 171
Horse-racing among the Arabs.
ABD-EL-KADER ON THE ARAB HORSE 178
Examples of endurance.—Reasons for early training.—High
price of mares.—Genealogical registers.—Identity of the
Arab and the Barb.—General instructions.—Draught horses.
THE WAR HORSE 185
His form and qualities.
PART THE SECOND.
THE MANNERS OF THE DESERT.
THE EMIR ABD-EL-KADER ON THE HORSE 189
The Arab horse derives his character from his Arab master.
THE SAHARA, BY ABD-EL-KADER 191
A poem of the Emir.
THE RAZZIA 196
Three kinds of razzia: the _Tehha_, the _Khrotefa_,
the _Terbigue_.—Episodes.—Popular chaunt.—The
combat.—Circumstantial details.
THE KHRIANA, OR THEFT 206
Horse, camel, and sheep stealing.—Superstitions.—Ludicrous details.
WAR BETWEEN DESERT TRIBES 214
Motives for hostilities.—Proclamation of war.—Summoning
allies.—Departure.—A war chaunt.—Amorous intrigues.—Thefts.
—Scouts.—Preliminaries of peace.—Saharene diplomacy.—Conclusion of
peace.—Hostilities.—The eve of battle.—Challenges.—War cries.—The
battle.—Defeat.—Victory.—Anecdotes.
_Remarks by the Emir Abd-el Kader_ 234
Lamentations of an Arab warrior.
USAGES OF WAR 236
Distribution of the plunder.—The chief.—Loan of a
horse.—Female spectators of the battle.—Apologue.—The
marabouts.
_Remarks by the Emir Abd-el-Kader_ 241
The horse of noble race.—Victors and the vanquished.
OSTRICH HUNTING 243
On horseback.—Details of the excursion.—From an
ambush.—Habits of the ostrich.—Laying and hatching.
GAZELLE HUNTING 259
On horseback.—Habits of the gazelle.
THE GREYHOUND 264
Respect shown to it.—Characteristic details.
HAWKING 270
Training and rearing.—A hawking expedition.
_Remarks by the Emir Abd-el-Kader_ 272
Four kinds of falcon.—Training.—Hawking.
THE CHACE, BY ABD-EL-KADER 281
Varieties of sport.—The gazelle.—The hyæna.—The
panther.—The lion.—Different modes of hunting.
THE CAMEL 305
Management of the camel.—Diet.—Usefulness.
THE SHEEP 309
Immense flocks.—Their usefulness in the Sahara.
LIFE IN THE DESERT 313
The villager.—The master of the tent.—Sobriety.—Runners.
—Inventory of a wealthy Arab's fortune.—His occupations.
—Armourers.—Legislation.—Women's employments.—Hospitality.
—Mendicants.—Sorcerers.—Magic.—Religion.
THE ARAB ARISTOCRACY 329
The thorny shrub and the date-tree.—The sherifs.—The
marabouts and the _djouad_.—A great tent.—The
_vendetta_.—Examples.—Blood money.—_Lex talionis._
—Birth, education, and marriage.—Polygamy.—An Arab
interior.—Amusements.—Death and funeral rites.
PART FIRST
THE HORSES OF THE SAHARA
INTRODUCTION.
The horsemen of Numidia were famous even in the time of the Romans. The
Arab horsemen are in no way inferior to their predecessors. The horse
has continued down to these our days to be the chief instrument of war
among those martial tribes. A dissertation on the horses of Algeria,
which still retain the typical characteristics of both the Barb and the
Arab stock, is not only of interest for the lovers of horse-flesh, but
also for those who are responsible for the maintenance of our power in
Algeria. The greatest merit of a study of this kind is its perfect
accuracy as to facts. I will therefore mention the sources whence I have
derived my information.
In the course of the sixteen years which I have passed in Africa, I have
been intrusted with missions or have exercised functions which brought
me into constant intercourse with the Arabs, a people hitherto so little
known, but whom we are bound to study if we would learn how to govern
them.
From 1837 to 1839 I was the French Consul at Mascara accredited to the
Emir Abd-el-Kader; after that, head of the Arab Office in the province
of Oran, in which at that time General Lamoricière held the chief
military command; and finally Central Director of the Arab Office of
Algeria under the government of Marshal the Duke of Isly. These
different posts brought me into close contact with the native chiefs and
the first families of the country. I acquired their language and it was
through their assistance that I was enabled to publish, one after the
other, my books on the Algerian Sahara, the Great Desert, Great Kabylia,
and on the Manners and Customs of Algeria, works which may perchance
have rendered some service to French interests by throwing light upon
important questions of war, commerce and government.
The study of the Arab horse, which had long been the subject of my most
careful researches, seemed to me to form the natural complement of my
previous labours. Indeed, this question, full of uncertainty and
contradictions, was as it still is, of the most thrilling interest. In
the event of a European war must we always have recourse to foreign
countries, or cannot Algeria come to our aid in supplying remounts for
our light cavalry? Such was the national question I set before myself,
and the reply to which I founded on patient and minute inquiries
throughout my long residence in Algeria.
Besides, according to some authorities, the Arabs are the first horsemen
in the world, while according to others they butcher their horses. The
former give them credit for whatever is good in the systems pursued by
ourselves or our neighbours; while the latter insist that they know
nothing whatever about riding, or about the veterinary art, or about
breeding. How much of truth is there in all this? What is the real value
of Arab horses? What is the nature of the service they are capable of
rendering? This I was determined to find out, not by hearsay, but
through the evidence of my own eyes—not from books, but from men. What I
am now about to place before the reader is consequently the result both
of my own personal observations, and also of conversations with Arabs of
every grade of life, from the tented chief down to the simple horseman,
who, as he himself would say in his picturesque idiom, has no other
profession than to "live by his spurs." In other words, I made my
inquiries of those who had large possessions, and of those who had very
little; of those who bred horses, and of those who only knew how to ride
them: in short, of every body. Thus the opinions which I am about to
commit to paper do not emanate from the head of a single individual—they
are gathered separately from the members of a powerful tribe. My only
merit is that of having collected and arranged many documents widely
scattered and difficult to obtain.
In fact, a Christian has need to employ both tact and patience to
extract from Mussulmans information insignificant perhaps in itself, but
which a gloomy fanaticism makes them regard as of great importance, or
as perilous to their religion. Nevertheless, I have one reservation to
make. I am not at all prepared to say: "This is right," or "That is
wrong." I say simply: "Right or wrong, this is what the Arabs do."
REMARKS OF THE EMIR ABD-EL-KADER.
Learned Mussulmans have written upon horses a great number of books in
which they discourse at considerable length upon their qualities, their
colours, upon all that is esteemed beneficial or injurious, their
maladies and the right mode of treatment. One of them, Abou-Obeïda, a
contemporary of the son of Haroun-al-Raschid, composed no fewer than
fifty volumes on the horse. This Abou-Obeïda met with a little
misadventure, which shows that it is not the author of the most
ponderous and numerous volumes who imparts the soundest information, and
that not the worst plan is to consult men themselves.
"How many books hast thou written upon the horse?" asked one day of a
celebrated Arab poet the vizir of Mamoun, son of Haroun-al-Raschid.
"Only one." Then turning to Abou-Obeïda he put to him the same question.
"Fifty," replied he. "Rise, then," said the vizir, "go up to that horse
and repeat the name of every part of his frame, taking care to point out
the position of each." "I am not a veterinary surgeon," answered
Abou-Obeïda. "And thou?" said the vizir to the poet.
"Upon that"—it is the poet himself who relates the anecdote—"I rose from
my seat, and taking the animal by the forelock, I began to name one part
after the other, placing my hand upon each to indicate its position, and
at the same time recited all the poetic allusions, all the sayings and
proverbs of the Arabs referring to it. When I had finished, the vizir
said to me: "Take the horse." I took it, and if ever I wished to annoy
Abou-Obeïda, I rode this animal on my way to visit him."
ON THE ORIGIN OF THE ARAB HORSE.
In all times the horse has been regarded by peoples and Governments as
one of the most potent elements of their strength and prosperity. At the
present day there is no question relating either to rural economy or to
the art of war, more canvassed than that touching the amelioration of
the charger. The highest authorities of the State, learned societies,
agriculturists, the army, every body, in short, is taken up with it in
France, and yet we are very far from being agreed upon it. For my own
part, I have never wearied of studying that noble animal, from taste
quite as much as from patriotism or professional necessity. I have
consulted the most esteemed authors and men of great erudition, but I
confess that it is among the Arabs I have met with the most just and
practical appreciations of the subject. To obtain the best possible
information, I have frequently applied to the Emir Abd-el-Kader, that
illustrious chief who, by reason of his exalted position in Mussulman
society, his science, and his skill as a horseman, was of all men the
most competent to remove the misgivings which still troubled me. The
following is the last letter that he wrote to me in reply to certain
questions I had proposed to him as to the origin of the Arab horse. It
seems to me to contain some very remarkable suggestions, even from a
zoological point of view. In any case it is sufficiently curious to
justify my expectation that it will prove acceptable to all who, whether
at home or abroad, feel an interest in the equine race.
LETTER OF THE EMIR ABD-EL-KADER.
Praise be to the one God!
To him who remains ever the same amidst the revolutions of this world:
To our friend, General Daumas.
Peace be with you, through the mercy and blessing of Allah, on the part
of the writer of this letter, on that of his mother, his children, their
mother, of all the members of his family and of all his associates.
To proceed: I have read your questions, I address to you my answers.
You ask me for information as to the origin of the Arab horse. You are
like unto a fissure in a land dried up by the sun, and which no amount
of rain, however abundant, will ever be able to satisfy.
Nevertheless, to quench, if possible, your thirst (for knowledge) I will
this time go back to the very head of the fountain. The stream is there
always the freshest and most pure.
Know then that among us it is admitted that Allah created the horse out
of the wind, as he created Adam out of mud.
This cannot be questioned. Several prophets—peace be with them!—have
proclaimed what follows:
When Allah willed to create the horse, He said to the south wind:
"I will that a creature should proceed from thee—condense thyself!"—and
the wind condensed itself. Then came the Angel Gabriel, and he took a
handful of this matter and presented it to Allah, who formed of it a
dark bay or a dark chestnut horse, (_koummite_—red mingled with black)
saying:
"I have called thee horse (_frass_); I have created thee Arab, and I
have bestowed upon thee the colour _koummite_. I have attached good
fortune to the hair that falls between thy eyes. Thou shalt be the lord
(_sid_) of all other animals. Men shall follow thee wheresoever thou
goest. Good for pursuit as for flight, thou shalt fly without wings.
Upon thy back shall riches repose, and through thy means shall wealth
come."
Then He signed him with the sign of glory and of good fortune (_ghora_,
a star in the middle of the forehead).
Do you now wish to know if Allah created the horse before man, or if He
created man before the horse? Listen:
Allah created the horse before man, and the proof is that man being the
superior creature, Allah would naturally give unto him all that he would
require before creating himself.
The wisdom of Allah points out that He made all that is upon the earth
for Adam and his posterity.
Here is another testimony to that:
When Allah had created Adam, He called him by his name and said unto
him:
"Choose between the horse and _Borak_."[1]
Adam answered: "The fairest of the two is the horse," and Allah replied:
"It is well; thou hast chosen thy glory and the eternal glory of thy
children; so long as they shall exist, my blessing shall be upon them,
for I have created nothing that is more dear to me than man and the
horse."
Likewise Allah created the horse before the mare. My proof is that the
male is more noble than the female, and he is, besides more vigourous
and potent. Though they are both of the very same species, the one is
more impassioned than the other, and the Divine Power is wont to create
the stronger of the two the first. What the horse most yearns after is
the combat and the race. He is also preferable to the mare for the
purposes of war because he is more fleet and patient of fatigue, and
because he shares his rider's emotions of hatred or tenderness. It is
not so with the mare. Let a horse and a mare receive exactly the same
sort of wound, and one that is sure to be fatal, the horse will bear up
against it until he has succeeded in carrying his master far from the
field of battle; while the mare, on the contrary, will sink at once upon
the spot, without any force of resistance. There is not a doubt on the
subject—it is a fact known by proof among the Arabs. I have seen
frequent instances of it in our combats, and have experienced it myself.
This being granted, let us pass on to another point. Did Allah create
the Arab horse before the foreign horse, or did he create the foreign
horse before the Arab?
As a consequence of my former argument every thing leads us to believe
that He created the Arab before all others, because he is without
dispute the most noble. Besides, the foreign horse is only a species of
a genus, and the Almighty has in no case created the species before the
genus.
Now whence come the Arab horses of the present day?
It is related by many historians that after the time of Adam, the
horse—like all other animals, such as the gazelle, the ostrich, the
buffalo, and the ass—lived in a wild state. According to these writers
the first man who, after Adam, mounted the horse was Ishmael, the father
of the Arabs. He was the son of our lord Abraham, beloved of Allah.
Allah taught him to call the horses, and when he did so, they all came
galloping up to him. He then took possession of the finest and most
spirited, and broke them in.
But after a while many of the animals trained and employed by Ishmael
lost something of their purity. One single stock was preserved in all
its nobleness by Solomon, the son of David, and it is that which is
called _Zad-el-Rakeb_ (the gift, the support of the horseman), whence
all real Arabs derive their origin in this manner.
There is a tradition that some Arabs of the Azed tribe went up to
Jerusalem the Noble to congratulate Solomon on his marriage with the
Queen of Saba. Having fulfilled their mission they addressed him as
follows:
"O Prophet of Allah! our country is far distant, and our provisions are
exhausted: thou art a great king; bestow upon us wherewithal to take us
home."
Solomon thereupon gave orders to bring from his stables a magnificent
stallion descended from the Ishmael stock, and then dismissed them with
these words:
"Behold the provisions which I bestow upon you for your journey. When
hunger assails you, gather fuel, light a fire, place your best rider on
this horse and arm him with a stout lance. Hardly will you have
collected your wood and kindled a flame, when you will see him return
with the produce of a successful chase. Go and may Allah cover you with
his blessing."
The Azed took their departure. At their first halt they did as Solomon
had prescribed, and neither zebra, nor gazelle, nor ostrich could escape
them. Thus enlightened as to the value of the animal presented to them
by the son of David, these Arabs on their return home devoted him to
foal-getting, and carefully selecting the dams, at length obtained the
breed to which out of gratitude they gave the name of _Zad-el-Rakeb_.
This is the stock whose high renown spread at a later period through the
whole world.[2]
In fact it was propagated both in the East and the West in the train of
the Arabs who subsequently penetrated to the limits of the habitable
globe. Long previous to Islam, Hamir-Aben-Melouk and his descendants
reigned for a hundred years over the West. It was he who founded Medina
and Saklia.
Shedad-Eben-Aâd made himself master of the whole country to the borders
of Moghreb, and built cities and constructed sea ports.
Afrikes, who gave his name to Africa, extended his conquests as far as
Tandja (Tangiers), while his son Shamar overran the East as far as
China, forced his way into the city of Sad, and destroyed it. On that
account that place has ever since been called Shamar-Kenda,—because
_kenda_ in Persian signifies "he has destroyed",—which the Arabs have
corrupted into Samar-Kand.
Since the introduction of Islamism, new Mussulman invasions extended the
fame of Arab horses to Italy, Spain, and even to France, where, without
doubt, they have left traces of their blood. But the event which more
than any other filled Africa with Arab horses, was the invasion of
Sidi-Okba, and still later the successive invasions of the fifth, and
sixth centuries after the Hijra. Under Sidi-Okba the Arabs merely
encamped in Africa, whereas in the fifth and sixth centuries they
arrived as colonists with the intention of settling there with their
wives and families, their horses and mares. It was these latter
invasions which established Arab tribes on the soil of Algeria,
particularly the Mehall, the Djendel, the Oulad-Mahdi, the Douaouda,
etc., who spread themselves in all directions and founded the true
nobility of the country. These same invasions transplanted the Arab
horse into the Soudan, and justify our asserting the oneness of the
Arab stock, whether in Algeria or in the East.
Thus, the history of the Arab horse may be divided into four great
epochs: 1st from Adam to Ishmael; 2nd from Ishmael to Solomon; 3rd from
Solomon to Mohammed; 4th from Mohammed to our own times.
It is to be clearly understood, however, that the race of the principal
epoch, that of Solomon, having been forcibly divided into several
branches, different varieties have been formed partly from the change of
climate, and partly from the greater or less degree of care bestowed
upon them, precisely as is the case with mankind. The colour of the coat
has also varied under the influence of the same circumstances.
Experience has satisfied the Arabs that in districts where the ground is
stony, the usual colour is gray, and in those where the ground is chalky
(_Ard Beda_), white is the prevalent hue. I have myself frequently
verified these observations.
There remains now only one question to settle with you. You ask by what
outward signs the Arabs recognize a horse to be noble, a drinker of air.
Here is my answer:
The horse of pure descent is distinguished among us by the thinness of
its lips and of the interior cartilage of the nose, by the dilation of
its nostrils, by the leanness of the flesh encircling the veins of the
head, by the graceful manner the neck is attached, by the softness of
its coat, its mane, and the hairs of its tail, by its breadth of chest,
the largeness of its joints, and the leanness of the extremities.
According, however, to the traditions of our ancestors the thoroughbred
is still better known by its moral characteristics than its physical
peculiarities. The outward signs will enable you to guess at the race,
but it is by the moral qualities alone you will receive full
confirmation of the extreme care displayed in coupling the sires and
dams, and of the pains taken to prohibit all misalliances.
Thoroughbred horses have no vice. A horse is the most beautiful of all
animals, but his moral qualities, as we think, must correspond with his
physical, or he will be regarded as degenerate. The Arabs are so
convinced of this that if a horse, or a mare, have given indisputable
proof of extraordinary speed, of remarkable endurance of hunger and
thirst, of rare intelligence, or of grateful affection for the hand that
feeds them, they will make every imaginable sacrifice to get their
progeny, under the persuasion that the points by which they were
themselves distinguished will reappear in their offspring.
We allow, then, that a horse is really noble when in addition to a fine
configuration, he unites courage with fire, and bears himself proudly in
midst of battle and danger.
Such a horse will love his master, and as a rule will suffer no other
person to mount him.
He will not yield to the wants of nature so long as his master is on his
back.
He will refuse to touch what another horse has left.
He will take pleasure in troubling with his feet whatever limpid water
he may meet with.
By the senses of hearing, of sight, and of smell, as well as by his
address and intelligence, he will know how to save his master from the
thousand accidents that may befall him in war or at the chase.
Finally, sharing the emotions of pain or pleasure experienced by his
rider, he will aid him in the combat by combating also, and every
where without hesitation will make common cause with him
(_ikatel-ma-Rakebhou_). Such are the tokens which evidence purity of
race.
We possess numerous works on the characteristics of the horse, whence it
appears that, after man, he is the most noble, the most patient, the
most useful of created beings. He is content with little, and if
considered simply with regard to strength, he is still superior to other
animals. An ox of great strength will carry a hundred-weight, but if you
place it on his back he will move only with an effort and be quite
incapable of running. On the other hand, the horse carries a full grown
man, a robust cavalier, with standard, arms, and ammunition, besides
food for both, and will go at speed for a whole day and more, without
eating or drinking. It is by his means that the Arab holds whatever he
possesses, rushes on his enemy, tracks him down or flees from him, and
defends his family and his freedom. Let him be enriched with the
possession of all that sweetens life, his horse alone is his protector.
Do you now understand the boundless affection the Arabs feel for their
horses! It is only equalled by the services rendered by the latter. To
their horses they owe their joys, their triumphs, and therefore are they
prefered to gold and precious stones. In the days of paganism they loved
the animal from motives of interest and merely because it procured them
glory and wealth; but when the Prophet spoke of it in terms of the
highest praise, this instinctive love was transfigured into a religious
duty; some of the first words he uttered on the subject of horses are
those ascribed to him by tradition, on the occasion of the arrival of
several tribes from Yemen with a view to accept his doctrines and to
present him, in token of submission, with five magnificent mares
belonging to the five different races of which Arabia then boasted. It
is said that Mohammed went forth from his tent to receive the noble
animals that had been sent to him, and caressing them with his hand,
expressed himself in these words:
"Blessed be ye, O Daughters of the wind!"
Afterward the Messenger of Allah (_Rassoul Allah_) said in addition:
"Whosoever keeps and trains a horse for the cause of Allah is counted
among those who give alms day and night, publicly or in secret. He shall
have his reward. All his sins shall be remitted to him and never shall
fear dishonour his heart."
Now I pray unto Allah to grant you a happiness that shall never pass
away. Cherish your friendship for me. The wise men among the Arabs have
said:
Riches may be lost:
Honours are but a shadow that fades away:
But true friends are a treasure that remains.
He who hath written these lines with a hand which shall one day be
withered in death, is your friend, the pauper in the presence of Allah.
SID-EL-HADJ, ABD-EL-KADER, BEN-MAHHYEDDIN.
Damascus, end of Deul-Kada 1274 (end of August 1857).
* * * * *
P. S. For the better understanding of our correspondence, permit me to
instruct you on one point. The word _ferass_ is not exclusively applied
to the female of the horse, as is customary in Algeria—it indicates the
male as well as the female. If a mare be particularly alluded to, it is
necessary to say a female _ferass_; and in like manner if the allusion
be to a horse, a male _ferass_ is the proper phrase. Such is the way
with the true Arabs (_Arabes-es-sahh_); strictly speaking, the mare is
called _hadjra_ and the horse _hossan_.
The reader of this curious document will doubtless have remarked the
singular admixture of legendary anecdotes with snatches of natural
history sometimes true, sometimes fabulous after the manner of Pliny and
Aristotle, and all of it under the dominion of a religious sentiment. It
is history as written by Orientals and likewise by the Western Arabs;
for both the one and the other, until now outlawed as it were from
progress by their forced or voluntary exclusion from the intellectual
movement going on in Europe, are still, so far as science and literature
are concerned, no farther advanced than their ancestors of Bagdad or
Granada.
Now, it is a remarkable fact that the more learned an Arab may be, the
more are his writings imbued with that fancifulness which, for a reader
accustomed to the preciseness of our European style, needs to be cleared
of its poetical mysteriousness and constructed afresh, before it can be
reduced to the character of a document possessed of any historical or
scientific worth in the sense we usually give to those words. Thus, at
first sight, the letter we have just perused is nothing more than a
fragment detached from an Oriental tale. There are, nevertheless,
lurking within it incontestable truths, and from beneath the
exaggerations and symbols of tradition may be gathered information of a
kind not wisely to be despised. Here especially is it the letter that
killeth while the spirit giveth life—let us then seek for the spirit
beneath the letter.
God created the horse out of the wind, symbol of fleetness, which, in
the eyes of an Arab, is the first quality of a courser. The poets of
Greece were inspired by the same idea. It was the wind that impregnated
the mares of Thessaly, the swiftest of ancient times; and it may be that
those mares were introduced into Greece from Syria, or Arabia, together
with the fabulous pedigree assigned to them by the poets of both
countries. If this were the case, and here history is in accord with
tradition, the Arabian horses must have been, what they still are on
their native soil, the fleetest and best in the world.
The Arabs, who neither understand nor practice our system of fighting in
compact and serried masses, at times immovable, but who charge without
any semblance of order and see nothing disgraceful in a headlong flight,
are naturally disposed to love and to vaunt above all others the drinker
of air. "The air-drinker," say they, "is the first in the combat to rush
at the enemy; and the first after victory to fly at the booty, and in
case of defeat the first to escape from danger."
A poet has said: "There are things which an intelligent King should
never neglect. The first is a horse, that by its swiftness shall be able
to rescue him from the enemy he has failed to overcome."
The favourite steed of the Prophet was named _Ouskoub_, "the torrent,"
from the word _sakab_, "quickly flowing water." The intervention of the
Angel Gabriel in the creation of the horse commends that animal to the
good offices of the true Believers, for the Angel Gabriel is the
constant medium of communication between the Deity and the Prophets,
especially Mohammed. Now it was by means and with the assistance of the
horse alone that the Mussulman tribes succeeded in accomplishing that
immense system of emigration, that propaganda war, as far as China to
the eastward, and westward to the Ocean, which was in the mind of
Mohammed to impose upon them. It was indispensable, therefore, that the
horse should be looked upon in the light of a sacred animal, a
providential instrument of war, created by the Deity for a special
purpose, and of a nobler essence than that with which He fashioned the
other animals. To produce the horse in a manner beyond the common law of
creation, to envelop his origin in a symbolism that wanders abroad from
natural history to lose itself in mysterious legends, to place him thus
beneath the safeguard of religious reverence, evinced, as the result has
proved, a thorough knowledge of the spirit of the people upon whom
Mohammed purposed and was about to operate.
The Koran in speaking of horses calls them _El-Kheir_, "the especial
treasure," and from this simple word the commentators of the Sura,
_sad_, have arrived at the conclusion that "an Arab ought to love horses
as a part of his own heart, and to sacrifice for their keep the very
food of his own children." A volume might be composed of phrases
detached from the sacred book, or from the _hadites_ of the Prophet (his
conversations as handed down by tradition), and of the commentaries upon
them, which under the form of maxims and precepts, prescribe to
Mussulmans, as a religious duty, the love of horses. I shall quote only
a few of them.
"Blessings, good fortune, and a rich booty shall be attached to the
forelock of horses until the day of the resurrection." "Whoso keeps a
horse for the holy war in the way of the Most High, increases the number
of his good works. The hunger and thirst of such a steed, the water he
drinks, the food he eats, every one of his hairs, each step he takes,
and every function of nature, shall all weigh in the balance at the day
of the last judgment."
"The horse prays thrice a day. In the morning he says: 'O Allah! make me
beloved of my master.' At noon: 'Do well by my master, that he may do
well by me.' In the evening: 'Grant that he may enter into paradise upon
my back!'"
It was doubtless under the impression of these last words that
El-Doumayry wrote in his history of animals, _Hayat-el-hayouan_: "The
horse is the animal that by his intelligence approaches nearest to man."
While on this subject I cannot help remarking that the Arabs, when they
advanced this proposition, were well acquainted with the animals which
pass with us as being the most intelligent such as the elephant, the
dog, etc. How is it then? May it not be that the Arabs, by living on
such intimate terms with the horse, have succeeded in developing
faculties the very existence of which is unknown to us, who accord to
that animal only the instinct of memory? With them, in fact, the horse
is a friend of the family. With us, on the contrary, it is no more than
an article of luxury or an instrument of labour, which we are ever ready
to change through interest or caprice; as witness the common saying:
"One does not marry one's horse!" But the Arab does marry his horse. Be
this as it may, the maxims quoted above all tend to the same end, to
identify man with the horse. Let it not be supposed, however, that that
is all. It was necessary that the horse should be the companion of the
Believer alone, to the exclusion of all infidels,—a dogma the political
hearing of which will be readily appreciated. Allah hath said: "The
horse shall be cherished by all my servants, but he shall be the despair
of all those who do not follow my laws, and none will I place on his
back save those who know me and who worship me."
It is needless to add that the Mussulman princes have availed themselves
of this dogma to prohibit in the name of Allah the sale of Arab horses
to Christians, under pain of sin and damnation. These commands, though
of divine origin have, I am well aware, been disobeyed in some
countries. The Arab loves money, it is true; but for all that we may
rest assured that for the most part the animals sold to us are of an
inferior order, and that the horses or mares whose noble and precious
qualities have been ascertained by proof, whether as regards speed or as
breeders, are never parted with to foreigners for any price. Even if the
owner were willing to let them go, the whole tribe in the name of their
common interest would oppose it. This is the real truth, and probably
explains the disrepute into which Arabians appear to have fallen in
Europe. One seldom there meets with any except such as the Arabs have no
desire to keep. But enough on that head: let us now turn to another
topic.
The Emir Abd-el-Kader asserts that the horse was created _koummite_, red
mixed with black, that is to say, dark bay or dark chesnut. Desengaged
from the cloudiness of fancy, this assertion will at least go far to
prove that these colours have in all ages been esteemed by the Arabs as
the index to superior qualities. It is a fixed idea with this observing
people. It is constantly turning up. The Prophet said:
"If after having collected all the horses of the Arabs I were to make
them race against one another, it is the _euchegueur meglouk_, the dark
chesnut, that would outstrip the rest." Moussa, the celebrated conqueror
of Africa and Spain, is reported to have said: "Of all the horses of all
my armies the one that has best borne the fatigues and privations of war
is the true bay, _hameur somm_."
And the Prophet further remarked: "If thou hast a dark chesnut, conduct
him to the combat, and if thou hast only a sorry chesnut, conduct him
all the same to the combat."
From all this it is abundantly apparent that legendary traditions and
experience are in perfect harmony in according a decided superiority to
coats of deep and decided hues. Coats of a light pale colour are held in
no esteem whatever. The horse's coat, therefore, must be an index to his
character. The long experience of Mohammed the Prophet and of Moussa the
Conqueror must have placed them in a position to speak with full
knowledge of the subject, and their opinion confirmed by that of all the
Arabs, the best horsemen in the world and the most interested in
studying the animal, upon whom indeed depend their honour and their
life, is certainly entitled to be regarded with some respect. It is
beyond all question that the _koummite_—red mingled with black, chesnut
or bay—is preferred by the Arabs to all others. If I might be allowed to
quote my own personal experience, I should have no hesitation in saying
that, if there be any prejudice in the matter, I share it with them.
Besides, must it necessarily be a prejudice because it may seem to be
one? No one will deny that all the individuals of the same species are,
in their wild state, identical in colour and endowed with common
instinctive qualities inherent in the race. These colours and these
qualities undergo no alteration or admixture except in a state of
servitude and under its influences, so that if any of these individuals,
by a return to their natural condition more easily proved than
explained, happen to recover the colour of their first ancestors, they
will be equally distinguished by more broadly defined natural qualities.
The canine race may be taken as an illustration. Whence it follows that
a certain number of domesticated individuals being given, their coats
alike and with dominant qualities, it may be fairly concluded that this
coat and these qualities were those of the race in its wild state. In
the case, then, of the Arab horse, if it be true that those whose coat
is red shaded with black are endowed with superior speed, are we not
justified in inferring that such was the uniform colour, such the
natural qualities, of the sires of the race? I submit with all humility
these observations to men of science.
Abd-el-Kader assures us, moreover, that it is ascertained by the Arabs
that horses change colour according to the soil on which they are bred.
Is it not possible, in fact, that under the influence of an atmosphere
more or less light, of water more or less fresh, of a nurture more or
less rich according as the soil on which it is raised is more or less
impregnated with certain elements, the skin of the horse may be sensibly
affected? Every one knows that with any coat, the colour changes in tone
and shade according to the locality where the animal lives, the state of
its health, the quality of the water it drinks, and of the food it eats,
and the care that is bestowed upon it. There is perchance in all this a
lesson in natural history not to be despised, for if the circumstances
in which a horse lives act upon his skin, they must inevitably act also
in the long run upon his form and qualities.
This point being dismissed, the last proposition in the letter of the
Emir Abd-el-Kader is that which classes the history of Arab horses in
four epochs: 1st, from Adam to Ishmael; 2nd, from Ishmael to Solomon;
3rd, from Solomon to Mohammed; 4th, from Mohammed to our own times.
This is the history of the Arabs themselves, so completely have they
identified themselves with the horse, their necessary and indispensable
companion. Between Adam and Abraham the Arabs did not exist—it was the
age of a pastoral population. No wars, at least of a serious character,
no pillaging. The horse appears in it only on the day of creation. He
has no part to play except as a head of cattle among the flocks and
herds, peacefully employed in domestic service. But on the second epoch
with Ishmael, his part changes altogether. Ishmael is a bastard,
disinherited, abandoned in the desert. His life is to be a struggle. He
must be at open war with all mankind because he must live somehow upon
the soil to which he has been banished, without taking into
consideration the fact that this necessity of fighting in order to live,
at the same time gratifies the resentment he entertains towards his
brothers, heirs, to his prejudice, of the paternal fields. We read in
the Bible, that when Hagar, in Arabic _Hadjira_, fled into the
wilderness an angel appeared to her and said:
"I will multiply thy seed exceedingly that it shall not be numbered for
multitude.
"Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his
name Ishmael; and he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every
man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the
presence of all his brethren."
Ishmael is the personification of the Arab people. He calls the horses
to him, selects the best, and trains them for racing, for the chase, and
for war. It is by their aid that he will live upon the plunder of the
rich caravans that may venture upon his territory, and will make forays
from the land of hunger and thirst into the land of abundance. The horse
has made him King of the desert, and in return he makes a friend, a
companion of his horse. Between them there is only one interest.
Nevertheless, the Arabs, hard pressed to the eastward by the powerful
armies of the Kings of Abyssinia, to the northward by the people of
Jehovah,—one-half of them absorbed and decimated in these great
struggles; and the other half shut in within their arid peninsula and
divided by intestine dissensions—the Arabs degenerated, and with them
their horses suffered deterioration. It was at Jerusalem the Noble, and
according to the legend in the stud of Solomon, that the true type of
the race was exclusively preserved. Travellers, perhaps conductors of
the caravans which in those days used to arrive in Jerusalem in great
numbers, receive as a gift certain horses, of whose value and fine
qualities they are ignorant. But under the influence of peace commerce
again discovers the long disused road from Central Asia to the seaports
of Syria, and the Arabs interested in making common cause with one
another reform themselves by mutual alliances between tribes. The horse,
on his part, follows this new phase of their fortunes.
At a later period, a fresh degeneracy arises in consequence of the
immigration into Arabia of foreigners, Jews and Christians, and from
quarrels among the Arabs themselves. Some few noble and powerful tribes,
such as the Koreishites, for example, the most powerful and the most
noble of all, had preserved a traditional love of the horse as
inseparable from their original dignity. But in order that Mohammed's
task should have any chance of accomplishment, it was necessary to
extend to all and to popularise this exceptional passion of a few, and
equally essential was it to condense into one national unity the
disunited elements of which the tribes of Arabia then consisted. We have
seen with what persistance the Prophet reverts to this necessity, in the
Koran, in his conversations, and in his teachings, and how he made the
careful tendance of horses an obligation of Mussulman life, and an
article of faith in the Believer. In this manner, from the Hidjra to our
own times, the condition of the Arab horses has unavoidably gone on
improving. Has he not said: "Whoso feeds and tends a horse for the
triumph of religion, makes a magnificent loan to Allah"?
I have only one more word to say on the portrait of the thoroughbred
horse sketched by Abd-el-Kader. The Emir takes it at one view, and as
inseparable one from the other, both the physical and moral qualities.
In his opinion physical qualities alone will never constitute a perfect
horse. He must also by his intelligence and by his affection for the
master who feeds, who tends, who rides him, unite with him as an
integral part. To demand such qualities from a horse is simply placing
him, in the intellectual order, immediately after man, just as,
according to the legend, he has been placed in the order of creation.
The Europeans are, I am aware, far from entertaining such a high opinion
of the animal, but may we not err in the opposite degree?
THE BARB.