The two different aspects by which the strength and resources of the
Empire of Morocco may be viewed or estimated.--Native appellation of
Morocco.--Geographical limits of this country.--Historical review of the
inhabitants of North Africa, and the manner in which this region was
successively peopled and conquered.--The distinct varieties of the human
race, as found in Morocco.--Nature of the soil and climate of this
country.--Derem, or the Atlas chain of mountains.--Natural
products.--The Shebbel, or Barbary salmon; different characters of
exports of the Northern and Southern provinces.--The Elæonderron
Argan.--Various trees and plants.--Mines.--The Sherb-Errech, or
Desert-horse.
The empire of Morocco may be considered under two aspects, as to its
extent, and as to its influence. It may be greatly circumscribed or
expanded to an almost indefinite extent, according to the feelings, or
imagination, of the writer, or speaker. A resident here gave me a meagre
_tableau_, something like this,
The city of Morocco 50,000 souls.
" Fez 40,000 "
" Mequinez 25,000 "
-------
115,000 "
The maritime cities contain little more than 100,000 inhabitants, making
altogether about 220,000. Over the provinces of the south, Sous and
Wadnoun, the Sultan has no real power; so the south is cut off as an
integral portion of the empire. Over the Rif, or the northern Berber
provinces, the Sultan exercises a precarious sovereignty, every man's
gun or knife is there his law and authority. Fez contains a disaffected
population, teeming some years since with the adherents of Abd-el-Kader.
Then the Atlas is full of quasi-independent Berber tribes, who detest
equally the Arabs and the Moorish government; finally, Tafilett and the
provinces on the eastern side of the Atlas, are too remote to feel the
influence of the central government.
As to military force, the Emperor's standing army does not amount to
more than 20 or 30,000 Nigritian troops, and all cavalry. The irregular
and contingent cavalry and infantry can never be depended upon, even
under such a chief as Abd-el-Kader was. They must always be fed, but
they will not, at any summons, leave the cultivation of their fields, or
their wives and children defenceless.
As to the commerce of the Empire, with fifty ships visiting Mogador and
other maritime cities, the amount, per annum, does not exceed forty
millions of francs, or about a million and a half sterling including
imports and exports. Such is the view of the Empire on the depreciating
side.
Another resident of this country gives the opposite or more favourable
view.
The Sultan is the head of the orthodox religion of the Mussulmen of the
West, and more firmly established on his throne than the Sultan of the
Ottomans. His influence, as a sovereign Shereef, spreads throughout
Western Barbary and Central Africa, wherever there is a Mussulman to be
found. In the event of an enemy appearing in the shape of a Christian,
or Infidel, all would unite, including the most disjointed and hostile
tribes against the common foe of Islamism.
The Sultan, upon an emergency or insurrection in his own empire, by the
politic distribution of titles of _Marabout_ (often used as a species of
degree of D.D.) and other honours attached to the Shereefian Parasol,
can likewise easily excite one chief against another, and consolidate
his power over their intestine divisions. His Moorish Majesty, at any
rate, has always actual possession in his favour; and, whether he really
governs the whole Empire or not, or to the extent which he has presumed
to mark out its boundaries, he can always proclaim to his disjointed
provinces that he does so govern it and exercise authority; and, in
general, he does succeed in making both his own people and foreign
nations believe in his pretensions, and acknowledge his power.
The truth lies, perhaps, between these extremes. The Shereefs once
pretended to exercise authority over all Western Sahara as far as
Timbuctoo, that is to say, all that region of the great desert lying
west of the Touaricks.
The account of the expedition of the Shereef Mohammed, who penetrated as
far as Wadnoun, and which took place more than three centuries ago, as
related by Marmol, leaves no doubt of the ancient ambition of the
sovereign of Morocco. And although this pretension has now been given
up, they still claim sovereignty over the oases of Touat, a month's
journey in the Sahara. Formerly, indeed, the authority of the Maroquine
Sultans over Touat and the south appears to have been more real and
effective.
Diego de Torres relates that, in his time, the Shereefs maintained a
force of ten thousand cavalry in the provinces of Draha, Tafilett and
Jaguriri, and Monsieur Mouette counts Touat as one of the provinces of
the Empire. The Sheikh Haj Kasem, in the itinerary which he dictated to
Monsieur Delaporte, says that, about forty years ago, Agobli and
Taoudeni depended on Morocco. This, however, is what the people of
Ghadames told me, whilst they admitted that the oases neither did
contain a single officer of the Emperor, nor did the people pay his
Shereefian Highness the smallest impost. The Sultan's authority is now
indeed purely nominal, and the French look forward to the time when
these fine and centrally placed oases will form "une dependance de
l'Algérie."
The only countries in the South which now pay a regular impost to the
Emperor, are Tafilett, limited to the valley of Fez, Wad-Draha as far as
the lake Ed-Debaia, and Sous. The countries of Sidi, Hashem, and Wadnoun
nominally acknowledge the Emperor, and occasionally send a present; but
the most mountainous, between Sous and Wad-Draha, which has been called
Guezoula or Gouzoula, and is said to be peopled by a Berber race, sprang
from the ancient Gelulir, is entirely independent. In the north and west
are also many quasi-independent tribes, but still the Emperor keeps up a
sort of authority over them; and, if nothing more, is content simply
with being called their Sultan.
Maroquine Moors call their country El-Gharb, "The West," and sometimes
Mogrel-el-Aksa, that is "The far West:" [8] the name seems to have
originated something in the same way among the Saracenic conquerors, as
the "Far West" with the Anglo-Americans, arising from an apprehensive
feeling of indefinite extent of unexplored country. Among the Moors
generally, Morocco is now often called, "Blad Muley Abd Errahman", or
"Country of the Sultan Muley Abd Errahman." The northwestern portion of
Morocco was first conquered; Morocco Proper, Sous and Tafilett were
added with the progress of conquest. But scarcely a century has elapsed
since their union under one common Sultan, whilst the diverse population
of the four States are solely kept together by the interests and
feelings of a common religion.
The Maroquine Empire, with its present limits, is bounded on the north
by the Mediterranean Sea and the Straits of Gibraltar, on the west by
the Atlantic Ocean and the Canary and Madeira Islands, on the south by
the deserts of Noun Draha and the Sahara, on the east by Algeria, the
Atlas, and Tafilett, on the borders of Sahara beyond their eastern
slopes. The greatest length from north to south is about five hundred
miles, with a breadth from east to west varying considerably at an
average of two hundred, containing an available or really _dependent_
territory of some 137,400 square miles, or nearly as large as Spain; and
the whole is situate between the 28° and 40° N. Latitude. Monsieur
Benou, in his "Description Géographique de l'Empire de Maroc" says
Morocco "comprend une superficie d'environ 5,775 myriamètres carrés, un
peu plus grande, par conséquant, que celle de la France, qui équivaut à
5,300." This then is the available and immediate territory of Morocco,
not comprising distant dependencies, where the Shereefs exercise a
precarious or nominal sovereignty.
Previously to particularizing the population of Morocco, I shall take
the liberty of introducing some general observations on the whole of the
inhabitants of North Africa, and the manner in which this country was
successively peopled and conquered. Greek and Roman classics contain
only meagre and confused notions of the aborigines of North Africa,
although they have left us a mass of details on the Punic wars, and the
struggles which ensued between the Romans and the ancient Libyans,
before the domination of the Latin Republic could be firmly established.
Herodotus cites the names of a number of people who inhabited North
Africa, mostly confining himself to repeat the fables or the more
interesting facts, of which they were the object.
The nomenclature of Strabo is neither so extensive, nor does it contain
more precise or correct information. He mentions the celebrated oasis of
Ammonium and the nation of the Nasamones. Farther west, behind Carthage
and the Numidians, he also notices the Getulians, and after them the
Garamantes, a people who appear to have colonized both the oasis of
Ghadames and the oases of Fezzan. Ptolemy makes the whole of the
Mauritania, including Algeria and Morocco, to be bounded on the south by
tribes, called Gaetuliae and Melanogaeluti, on the south the latter
evidently having contracted alliance of blood with the negroes.
According to Sallust, who supports himself upon the authority of
Heimpsal, the Carthaginian historian, "North Africa was first occupied
by Libyans and Getulians, who were a barbarous people, a heterogeneous
mass, or agglomeration of people of different races, without any form of
religion or government, nourishing themselves on herbs, or devouring the
raw flesh of animals killed in the chase; for first amongst these were
found Blacks, probably some from the interior of Africa, and belonging
to the great negro family; then whites, issue of the Semitic stock, who
apparently constituted, even at that early period, the dominant race or
caste. Later, but at an epoch absolutely unknown, a new horde of
Asiatics," says Sallust, "of Medes, Persians, and Armenians, invaded the
countries of the Atlas, and, led on by Hercules, pushed their conquests
as far as Spain." [9]
The Persians, mixing themselves with the former inhabitants of the
coast, formed the tribes called Numides, or Numidians (which embrace the
provinces of Tunis and Constantina), whilst the Medes and the Armenians,
allying themselves with the Libyans, nearer to Spain, it is pretended,
gave existence to a race of Moors, the term Medes being changed into
that of Moors. [10]
As to the Getulians confined in the valleys of the Atlas, they resisted
all alliance with the new immigrants, and formed the principal nucleus
of those tribes who have ever remained in North Africa, rebels to a
foreign civilization, or rather determined champions of national
freedom, and whom, imitating the Romans and Arabs, we are pleased to
call Barbarians or Berbers (Barbari Brâber [11]), and whence is derived
the name of the Barbary States. But the Romans likewise called the
aboriginal tribes of North Africa, Moors, or Mauri, and some contend
that Moors and Berbers are but two different names for the aboriginal
tribes, the former being of Greek and the latter of African origin. The
Romans might, however, confound the African term berber with barbari,
which latter they applied, like the Greeks, to all strangers and
foreigners. The revolutions of Africa cast a new tribe of emigrants upon
the North African coast, who, if we are to believe the Byzantine
historian, Procopius, of the sixth century, were no other than
Canaanites, expelled from Palestine by the victorious arms of Joshua,
when he established the Israelites in that country. Procopius affirms
that, in his time, there was a column standing at Tigisis, on which was
this inscription:--"We are those who fled from the robber Joshua, son of
Nun." [12] Now whether Tigisis was in Algeria, or was modern Tangier, as
some suppose, it is certain there are several traditions among the
Berber tribes of Morocco, which relate that their ancestors were driven
out of Palestine. Also, the Berber historian, Ebn-Khal-Doun, who
flourished in the fourteenth century, makes all the Berbers descend from
one Bar, the son of Mayigh, son of Canaan. However, what may be the
truths of these traditions of Sallust or Procopius, there is no
difficulty in believing that North Africa was peopled by fugitive and
roving tribes, and that the first settlers should be exposed to be
plundered by succeeding hordes; for such has been the history of the
migrations of all the tribes of the human race.
But the most ancient historical fact on which we can depend is, the
invasion, or more properly, the successive invasions of North Africa by
the Phoenicians. Their definite establishment on these shores took place
towards the foundation of Carthage, about 820 years before our era. Yet
we know little of their intercourse or relations with the aboriginal
tribes. When the Romans, a century and a half before Christ, received,
or wrested, the rule of Africa from the Phoenicians, or Carthaginians,
they found before them an indigenous people, whom they indifferently
called Moors, Berbers, or Barbarians. A part of these people were called
also Nudides, which is perhaps considered the same term as nomades.
Some ages later, the Romans, too weak to resist a vigorous invasion of
other conquerors, were subjugated by the Vandals, who, during a century,
held possession of North Africa; but, after this time, the Romans again
raised their heads, and completely expelled or extirpated the Vandals,
so that, as before, there were found only two people or races in Africa:
the Romans and the Moors, or aborigines.
Towards the middle of the seventh century after Christ, and a few years
after the death of Mahomet, the Romans, in the decline of their power,
had to meet the shock of the victorious arms of the Arabians, who poured
in upon them triumphant from the East; but, too weak to resist this new
tide of invasion, they opposed to them the aborigines, which latter were
soon obliged to continue alone the struggle.
The Arabian historians, who recount these wars, speak of _Roumi_ or
Romans (of the Byzantine empire) and the Brâber--evidently the
aboriginal tribes--who promptly submitted to the Arabs to rid themselves
of the yoke of the Romans; but, after the retreat of their ancient
masters, they revolted and remained a long time in arms against their
new conquerors--a rule of action which all subjugated nations have been
wont to follow. Were we English now to attempt to expel the French from
Algeria, we, undoubtedly, should be joined by the Arabs; but who would,
most probably, soon also revolt against us, were we to attempt to
consolidate our dominion over them.
In the first years of the eighth century, and at the end of the first
century of the Hegira, the conquering Arabs passed over to Spain, and,
inasmuch as they came from Mauritania, the people of Spain gave them the
name of Moors (that of the aborigines of North Africa), although they
had, perhaps, nothing in common with them, if we except their Asiatic
origin. Another and most singular name was also given to these Arab
warriors in France and other parts of Europe--that of Saracens--whose
etymology is extremely obscure. [13] From this time the Spaniards have
always given the names of Moors (_los Moros_), not only to the Arabs of
Spain, but to all the Arabs; and, confounding farther these two
denominations, they have bestowed the name of _Moros_ upon the Arabs of
Morocco and those in the environs of Senegal.
The Arabs who invaded Northern Africa about 650, were all natives of
Asia, belonging to various provinces of Arabia, and were divided into
Ismaelites, Amalekites, Koushites, &c. They were all warriors; and it is
considered a title of nobility to have belonged to their first irruption
of the enthusiastic sons of the Prophet.
A second invasion took place towards the end of the ninth century--an
epoch full of wars--during which, the Caliph Kaïm transported the seat
of his government from Kairwan to Cairo, ending in the complete
submission of Morocco to the power of Yousef Ben Tashfin. One cannnot
now distinguish which tribe of Arabs belong to the first or the second
invasion, but all who can shew the slightest proof, claim to belong to
the first, as ranking among a band of noble and triumphant warriors.
After eight centuries of rule, the Arabs being expelled from Spain, took
refuge in Barbary, but instead of finding the hospitality and protection
of their brethren, the greater part of them were pillaged or massacred.
The remnant of these wretched fugitives settled along the coast; and it
is to their industry and intelligence that we owe the increase, or the
foundation of many of the maritime cities. Here, considered as strangers
and enemies by the natives, whom they detested, the new colonists sought
for, and formed relations with Turks and renegades of all nations,
whilst they kept themselves separate from the Arabs and Berbers. This,
then, is the _bonâ-fide_ origin of the people whom we now generally call
Moors. History furnishes us with a striking example of how the expelled
Arabs of Spain united with various adventurers against the Berber and
North African Arabs. In the year 1500, a thousand Andalusian cavaliers,
who had emigrated to Algiers, formed an alliance with the Barbarossas
and their fleet of pirates; and, after expelling the native prince,
built the modern city of Algiers. And such was the origin of the
Algerine Corsairs.
The general result of these observations would, therefore, lead us to
consider the Moors of the Romans, as the Berbers or aborigines of North
Africa, and the Moors of the Spaniards, as pure Arabians; and if,
indeed, these Arabian cavaliers marshalled with them Berbers, as
auxiliaries, for the conquest of Spain, this fact does not militate
against the broad assumption.
The so-called Moors of Senegal and the Sahara, as well as those of
Morocco, are chiefly a mixture of Berbers, Arabs and Negroes; but the
present Moors located in the northern coast of Africa, are rather the
descendants from the various conquering nations, and especially from
renegades and Christian slaves.
The term Moors is not known to the natives themselves. The people speak
definitely enough of Arabs and of various Berber tribes. The population
of the towns and cities are called generally after the names of these
towns and cities, whilst Tuniseen and Tripoline is applied to all the
inhabitants of the great towns of Tunis and Tripoli. Europeans resident
in Barbary, as a general rule, call all the inhabitants of towns--Moors,
and the peasants or people residents in tents--Arabs. But, in Tripoli, I
found whole villages inhabited by Arabs, and these I thought might be
distinguished as town Arabs. Then the mountains of Tripoli are covered
with Arab villages, and some few considerable towns are inhabited by
people who are _bonâ-fide_ Arabs. Finally, the capitals of North Africa
are filled with every class of people found in the country.
The question is then where shall we draw the line of distinction in the
case of nationalities? or can we, with any degree of precision, define
the limits which distinguish the various races in North Africa? With
regard to the Blacks or negro tribes, there can be no great difficulty.
The Jews are also easily distinguished from the rest of the people as
well by their national features as by their dress and habits or customs
of living. But, when we come to the Berbers, Arabs, Moors and Turks, we
can only distinguish them in their usual and ordinary occupations and
manners of life. Whenever they are intermixed, or whenever they change
their position, that is to say, whenever the Arab or Berber comes to
dwell in a town, or a Moor or a Turk goes to reside in the country,
adopting the Arab or Berber dress and mode of living, it is no longer
possible to distinguish the one from the other, or mark the limitation
of races.
And since it is seen that the aborigines of Northern Africa consisted,
with the exception of the Negro tribes, of the Asiatics of the Caucasian
race or variety, many of whom, like the Phoenicians, have peopled
various cities and provinces of Europe, it is therefore not astonishing
we should find all the large towns and cities of North Africa, where the
human being becomes _policed_, refined and civilized sooner than in
remote and thinly-inhabited districts, teeming with a population, which
at once challenges an European type, and a corresponding origin with the
great European family of nations.
North Africa is wonderfully homogeneous in the matter of religion. The
people, indeed, have but one religion. Even the extraneous Judaism is
the same in its Deism--depression of the female--circumcision and many
of the religious customs, festivals and traditions. And this has a
surprising effect in assimilating the opposite character and sharpest
peculiarities of various races of otherwise distinct and independant
origin.
The population of Morocco presents five distant races and classes of
people; Berbers, Arabs, Moors, Jews and Negroes. Turks are not found in
Morocco, and do not come so far west; but sons of Turks by Moorish women
in Kouroglies are included among the Moors, that have emigrated from
Algeria. Maroquine Berbers, include the varieties of the Amayeegh [14]
and the Shelouh, who mostly are located in the mountains, while the
Arabs are settled on the plains.
The Moors are the inhabitants of towns and cities, consisting of a
mixture of nearly all races, a great proportion of them being of the
descendants of the Moors expelled from Spain. All these races have been,
and will still be, farther noticed in the progress of the work. The
proximate amount of this population is six millions. The greater number
of the towns and cities are situate on the coast, excepting the three or
four capitals, or imperial cities. The other towns of the interior
should be considered rather as forts to awe neighbouring tribes, or as
market villages (_souks_), where the people collect together for the
disposal and exchange of their produce. Numerous tribes, located in the
Atlas, escape the notice of the imposts of imperial authority. Their
varieties and amount of population are equally unknown. In the immense
group of Gibel Thelge (snowy mountains), some of the tribes are said to
have their faces shaved, like Christians, and to wear boots. We can
understand why a people inhabiting a cold region of rain and mists and
perpetual snow should wear boots; but as to their shaving like
Christians, this is rather vague. But it is not impossible the Atlas
contains the descendants of some European refugees.
The nature of the soil and climate of Morocco are not unlike those of
Spain and Portugal; and though Morocco does not materially differ from
other parts of Barbary, its greater extent of coast on the Atlantic,
along which the tradewind of the north coast blows nine months out of
twelve, and its loftier ridges of the Atlas, so temper its varied
surface of hill and plain and vast declivities that, together with the
absence of those marshy districts which in hot climates engender fatal
disease, this country may be pronounced, excepting perhaps Tunis, the
most healthy in all Africa.
In the northern provinces, the climate is nearly the same as that of
Spain; in the southern there is less rain and more of the desert heat,
but this is compensated for by the greater fertility in the production
of valuable staple articles of commerce. Nevertheless, Morocco has its
extremes of heat and cold, like all the North African coast.
The most striking object of this portion of the crust of the globe, is
the vast Atlas chain of mountains [15], which traverses Morocco from
north-east to south-west, whose present ascertained culminating point,
Miltsin, is upwards of 15,000 feet above the level of the sea, or equal
to the highest peaks of the Pyrenees. The Maroquine portion of the Atlas
contains its highest peaks, which stretch from the east of Tripoli to
the Atlantic Ocean, at Santa Cruz; and we find no mountains of equal
height, except in the tenth degree of North latitude, or 18,000 miles
south, or 30,000 south, south-east. The Rif coast has a mountainous
chain of some considerable height, but the Atlantic coast offers chiefly
ridges of hills. The coasts of Morocco are not much indented, and
consequently have few ports, and these offer poor protection from the
ocean.
The general surface of Morocco presents a large ridge or lock, with two
immense declivities, one sloping N.W. to the ocean, with various rivers
and streams descending from this enormous back-bone of the Atlas, and
the other fulling towards the Sahara, S.E., feeding the streams and
affluents of Wad Draha, and other rivers, which are lost in the sands of
the Desert. This shape of the country prevents the formation of those
vast _Sebhahas_, or salt lakes, so frequent in Algeria and the south of
Tunis. We are acquainted only with two lakes of fresh or sweet
water--that of Debaia, traversed by Wad Draha,--and that of
Gibel-Akhder, which Leo compares to Lake Bolsena. The height of the
mountains, and the uniformity of their slopes, produce large and
numerous rivers; indeed, the most considerable of all North Africa.
These rivers of the North are shortest, but have the largest volume of
water; those of the South are larger, but are nearly dry the greater
part of the year. None of them are navigable far inland. Some abound
with fish, particularly the Shebbel, or Barbary salmon. It is neither so
rich nor so large as our salmon, and is whitefleshed; it tastes
something like herring, but is of a finer and more delicate flavour.
They are abundant in the market of Mogudor. The Shebbel, converted by
the Spaniards Sabalo, is found in the Guadalquivir.
The products of the soil are nearly the same as in other parts of
Barbary. On the plains, or in the open country, the great cultivation is
wheat and barley; in suburban districts, vegetables and fruits are
propagated. In a commercial point of view, the North exports cattle,
grain, bark, leeches, and skins; and the South exports gums, almonds,
ostrich-feathers, wax, wool, and skins, as principle staple produce.
When the rains cease or fail, the cultivation is kept up by irrigation,
and an excellent variety of fruits and esculent vegetables are produced;
indeed, nearly all the vegetables and fruit-trees of Southern Europe are
here abundantly and successfully cultivated, besides those peculiar to
an African clime and soil. In the south, grows a tree peculiar to this
country, the Eloeondenron Argan, so called from its Arabic name Argan.
This tree produces fruit resembling the olive, whose egg-shaped, brown,
smooth and very hard stone, encloses a flat almond, of a white colour,
and of a very disagreeable taste, which, when crushed, produces a rancid
oil, used commonly as a substitute for olive-oil. The tree itself is
bushy and large, and sometimes grows of the size to a wide-spreading
oak. Not far from Mogador are several Argan forests. The level country
of the north is covered with forests of dwarfish oak; some bear sweet,
and others bitter acorns, and also the cork-tree, whose bark is a
considerable object of commerce. In the Atlas, has been found the
magnificent cedar of Lebanon. This tree has also been met with in
Algeria, but only on the mountains, some forty thousand feet above the
level of the sea.
In the South there is, of course, growing in all its Saharan vigour, the
noble date-palm, and by its side, squats the palmetto, or dwarf-palm (in
Arabic _dauma_). Of trees and plants, the usual tinzah, and snouber or
pine of Aleppo, are used for preparing the fine leathers of Morocco.
Many plants are also deleteriously employed for exciting intoxication,
or inflaming the passions.
Morocco has its mines of gold, silver, lead, iron, tin, sulphur,
mineral, salt, and antimony; but nearly all are neglected, or unworked.
Government will not encourage the industry of the people, for fear of
exciting the cupidity of foreigners. A Frenchman, a short time ago,
reported a silver mine in the south, and Government immediately bribed
him to make another statement that there was no such mine. At Elala and
Stouka, in the province of Sous, are several rich silver mines. Gold is
found in the Atlas and the Lower Sous. But this country is especially
rich in copper mines. A great number of ancient and modern authors speak
of these mines, which are situate in the mountainous country comprised
between Aghadir, Morocco, Talda, Tamkrout, and Akka. The mines most
worked, are those of Tedsi and Afran. At the foot of the Atlas, near
Taroudant, is a great quantity of sulphur. In the neighbourhood of
Morocco, saltpetre is found. In the province of Abda is an extensive
salt lake, and salt has been exported from this country to Timbuctoo. Of
precious stones, some fine specimens of amethyst have been discovered.
There are scarcely any animals peculiar to Morocco, or which are not
found in other parts of North Africa. Davidson mentions some curious
facts relative to the desert horse; "_sherb-errech_, wind-bibber, or
drinker of the wind," a variety of this animal, which is not to be met
with in the Saharan regions of Tunis, or Tripoli.
This horse is fed only on camel's milk, and is principally used for
hunting ostriches, which are run down by it, and then captured. [16] The
_sherb-errech_ will continue running three or four days together without
any food. It is a slight and spare-formed animal, mostly in wretched
condition, with ugly thick legs, and devoid of beauty as a horse.