The Horses of the Sahara and the Manners of the Desert

To teach the foal to suck, a fig or a date soaked in milk slightly salted is put into his mouth. As soon as he has taken a liking to it and begins to suck it, he is placed under...

Coats of a dark colour do not need so many precautions. When it is very hot or very cold, the horses are brought inside the tent. In the Sahara the nights are always cool; in su...

By way of horse-cloths the Arabs make use of pieces of felt fastened to the saddle, to allow of the operation of saddling being quickly performed. They are seven in number, and...

Having first raised a few difficulties for form's sake, the chiefs finish by saying in reply to the marabouts:—"Well! we will make peace for the sake of Allah, and for your sake...

The division of the plunder, as may be imagined, is never carried out without many remonstrances, for the prevention or repression of which the _mekadim_ were instituted. Someti...

If _lerouy_ hunting be the glory of the pedestrian, ostrich hunting is the glory of the horseman. In the season of the sirocco, when a sort of burning sleep seems to weigh down...

In 1841 the column commanded by Marshal Bugeaud marched to Taguedempt to destroy the fort erected there at great expense by the Emir Abd-el-Kader. We were encamped on the Ouad-K...

Paternal love is a strong passion in the male ostrich. He never deserts his young, and fears no danger, be it what it may, whether from dogs, hyænas, or man himself. The female,...

"Without answering a word I kissed my father's hand, took my evening repast, and quitted Berouaguïa,[27] happy in being able to prove my filial affection, and laughing in my sle...

Having arrived at this point, the bird may be taken out to hunt. The owner mounts his horse and takes her with him, hooded, and perched upon his head or his shoulders. As soon a...

Ben-Youssouf, having one day given in exchange for a mare of the desert twenty she-camels with their young replied to his father who had keenly rebuked him: "And why are you ang...

But if the murderer be the master of a great tent, and sufficiently influential to induce the tribe to exercise forbearance towards him, and therefore refuses to pay any blood m...

For a brief space resignation soothes their despair. Not a cry, not a sob, troubles these prayers offered in common, these professions of the faith of the deceased, which the pi...

"In exchange for the seven reeds planted at the end of the course and carried off by the first seven as they arrived, we have received magnificent presents, such as it is seemly...

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:

There are several modes of hunting the lion. When one makes his appearance in the midst of a tribe, his presence is indicated by a multitude of signs of all kinds. The earth sha...

In summer the Saharenes proceed to the Tell to lay in their provision of grain. They are surrounded by unfriendly strangers, and sometimes by enemies. They do not, therefore, ca...

We have often heard it said that the horse of our African possessions, to whose rare qualities we have endeavoured to do justice, was very inferior to the true Arabian. Notwiths...

My horse is the lord of horses! He is blue as the pigeon beneath the shade, And his black hairs are like waves; He bears hunger and thirst; he outstrips the eyesight; And, true...

We pitch our tents in circular groups; The earth is covered with them, as is the firmament with stars. They of old time have said, who are no more, but our fathers have repeated...

It is not an easy task to use the spurs properly. Horsemen who possess that talent are cited even among the Arabs. Some are only able to urge on their steed by constantly tickli...

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 p...

In preparing for a _khriana_, each one provides himself with a pistol which he secretes under his burnous, a knife, a thick cudgel with a cord at one end, and a poniard. If a ro...

A stranger presenting himself before a _douar_, stands some little way off, and pronounces these words: _Dif rebi_—"a guest sent by Allah." The effect is magical. Whatever may b...

Among the Arabs, everything concurs to give power to the development of the natural man. Nervous, hardy, sober, though occasionally displaying a vigorous appetite, their eyesigh...