The Horses of the Sahara and the Manners of the Desert

Part 1

Third Edition, in One Vol. 8vo, bound in cloth, price 18s. 6d.

THE

ILLUSTRATED HORSE-DOCTOR;

BEING AN ACCURATE AND DETAILED ACCOUNT,

Accompanied by more than 400 Pictorial Representations,

CHARACTERISTIC OF

THE VARIOUS DISEASES TO WHICH THE EQUINE RACE ARE SUBJECTED;

TOGETHER WITH THE LATEST MODE OF TREATMENT,

AND

ALL THE REQUISITE PRESCRIPTIONS

WRITTEN IN PLAIN ENGLISH

By EDWARD MAYHEW, M.R.C.V.S.

"A Book which should be in the possession of all who keep Horses."

ALSO BY THE SAME AUTHOR:

Immediately will be published, in One 8vo Volume, a companion to the above, entitled:

THE

ILLUSTRATED STABLE ECONOMY

with upwards of 400 engravings.

LONDON:

Wm. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, S.W.

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.

Part 2

(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.

Part 3

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.

Part 4

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.

Part 5

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.

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