Part 3

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. Notwithstanding a conviction based on a lengthened experience and a grave study of the subject, we have made it our duty to take up and discuss an opinion put forth with an air of authority. We were willing to accept as umpire in this dispute, a man whose intelligence, whose habits, whose whole life, render him a supreme judge in all matters relating to horse-flesh—the Emir Abd-el-Kader. We addressed to that genuine horseman a letter in which we frankly expressed the objections which each of our assertions had encountered. His reply to this letter is given below. It will be seen from this curious document that the Emir does not confine himself to the confirmation of the proposition we advanced, but develops by reflections or by facts the whole of our opinions. According to his statement, the Barbary horse, so far from degenerating from the Arab, is, on the contrary, superior to him. The Berbers, he says, formerly inhabited Palestine, where they reared the animal that has become the type of a perfect war horse. Having emigrated to Africa through the vicissitudes of their life of adventure, they paid the utmost attention to the guest of their tents, the instrument of their hunting expeditions, their comrade in the fight. Their horses thus preserved such eminent qualities, that an Asiatic sovereign engaged in a perilous war, sent for them from the Berbers. The reader will appreciate the value of this historical dissertation which, from whatever point of view it be examined, does not the less possess an interest that cannot be contested. It is quite certain that the Barbary horse is indebted to the climate in which he flourishes, to the education which he receives, to the food that is given to him, to the privations that are familiar to him, for a vigour that enables him to equal, if not to surpass the most vaunted steeds of Persia and Upper Egypt. Supported by the following letter, we hold ourselves justified in repeating that all the horses of Asia and Africa may be blended together under one common denomination. We oppose to the European horse, one identical horse—the horse of the Orient—which, thanks to our conquest of Algeria, we believe will be daily called upon to render to our country services more and more valuable and more and more valued.

This is the letter from the Emir Abd-el-Kader, which he forwarded to me from Broussa:

Praise to the one God! His reign alone is eternal!

May the profoundest peace and the most perfect divine beneficence be extended to the person of General Daumas,—of him who ardently seeks for the solution of the most obscure questions! May Allah conduct and protect him!

To proceed: You have asked us our opinion on Barbary horses, their character, and their origin. To give you satisfaction I am again turning my attention to these subjects, and can do nothing better to-day than send you some extracts taken from the poetical works of the famous Aâmrou-el-Kaïs, who lived a short time before the coming of the Prophet. They refer to the superiority of the horses of the Berbers, and I think you will there find proofs against those who maintain that those admirable animals are of an inferior stamp. The poet remarks, while addressing himself to Cæsar, Emperor of Constantinople, in a long piece of versification:

"And I answer thee, if ever I am reinstated as King, we will ride a race where you shall see the horseman lean forward over his saddle to increase the speed of his courser;

"A race across a space trampled down on all sides, where no higher marks are distinguishable to direct the traveller, than the hump of an aged Nabathæan camel loaded with years and uttering plaintive moanings.

"We shall be borne, I tell thee, on a horse accustomed to nocturnal journeys, a steed of the Barbary race; with slender flanks like a wolf of Gada; a steed that rushes along on his rapid course, and whose flanks are running with sweat.

"When, slackening the bridle, the rider urges him on still faster by striking him with the reins on either side, he quickens his rapid course, bending his head to his flanks and champing the bit.

"And when I say: 'Let us rest;' the horseman stops as by enchantment and begins to sing, remaining in the saddle on this vigorous horse, the muscles of whose thighs are long drawn out and whose tendons are lean and well apart."

Aâmrou-el-Kaïs was one of the ancient Kings of Arabia, who took infinite pains to procure Barbary horses wherewith to combat his enemies. He was doubtful of success if obliged to trust himself to the qualities of Arab horses. It is not possible, in my opinion, to give a more invincible proof of the superiority of the Barb. After testimony like this any one who should dispute it would be quite unable to adduce an allegation of the slightest value.

The Berbers, as stated by El-Massoudi, are descended from the Beni-Ghassan, while other writers affirm that they come from the Beni-Lekhm and the Djouzam. Their native country was Palestine, whence they were expelled by one of the Kings of Persia. They then emigrated to Egypt, but the souvereign of that country refusing them permission to settle here, they crossed the Nile and spread over the regions to the westward of the other side of the river.

Maleck-ben-el-Merahel says that the Berbers form a very numerous population composed of Hymiar, Modher, Copts, Amalkas, and Kanéan, who became amalgamated in the province of Sham (Syria) and took the name of Berbers. Their immigration into the Maghreb, according to this historian with whom El-Massoudi, El-Souheili, and El-Zabari also agree, was owing to their marching under Ifrikesh to the conquest of the African peninsula.

Ibn-el-Kelbi asserts that opinions are divided as to the real name of the chief under whose guidance the Berbers emigrated from Syria towards the Maghreb. Some will have it that it was under the Prophet David, others name Youssha-ben-Enoun, others again Ifrikesh, and yet others certain Kings of the Zobor.

El-Massoudi adds that they did not emigrate until after the death of Goliath and that they established themselves in the province of Barka and in the Maghreb, after having vanquished the Frendj (Franks). They then invaded Sicily, Sardinia, the Balearic Isles, and Spain. Still later it was stipulated between them and the Frendj that the latter should occupy the towns, while the former should fix themselves in the deserts which extend from Alexandria to the Ocean.

Ibn-Abd-el-Berr affirms that the establishment of the Berbers extended from the extremity of Egypt, that is, from the regions situated behind Barka to the Green Sea, and from the sea of Andalusia to the end of the deserts which border on Soudan. On this frontier line a tribe bearing the name of Berbers still exists between the Habeuch (Abyssinians) and the Zendy (Zanzibar). The author of the _Kamous_ (an Arabic Dictionary) makes mention of them, but they are a very insignificant tribe, whose trivial and obscure history records not a single important event.

The essential point here is the extract from the poet Aâmrou-el-Kaïs on the subject of Barbary horses. As for the Berbers themselves, every thing proves that they have been known from time immemorial and that they came from the East to settle in the Maghreb, where we find them at the present day.

Peace be with you, at the end as at the beginning of this letter on the part of your friend.

ABD-EL-KADER-BEN-MAHHIDDIN.

May Allah cover him with His blessings!

Broussa, the 1st of Safer, 1269-1854.

Since the above was written, I have received a proof confirmatory of my opinion as to the excellence of the Barbary horse and its perfect equality with other horses of oriental extraction. It is this:

Paris,—185—

MY DEAR GENERAL,

I forward you a copy of the official report of the races which came off at Alexandria in Egypt on the 25th July, 1836. I give you full permission to introduce it in your work as a useful argument in support of your thesis on the excellence of the Barb. I have already related to you how these races took place in consequence of a conversation I had with Mehemet-Ali, in the course of which the Viceroy of Egypt bantered me on the arrival of a horse which my brother Jules had sent me from Tunis.

Accept, etc., etc.

FERD. DE LESSEPS.

DISTANCE RUN: 4-1/2 KILOMÈTRES (NEARLY 2-4/5 MILES) IN A STRAIGHT LINE.

=1st Heat.=

Nejdi horse, dappled-gray, 4-1/2 yrs, the property of Subi-Bey, ridden by the owner.

Nejdi horse, bred in Cairo, bay, 9 yrs, the property of M. Jules Pastré, ridden by the owner.

Anézé horse, from Syria, iron gray, 3-1/2 yrs, the property of M. Méreinier, ridden by M. J. Dufey.

Nejdi horse, bred in Cairo, the property of H. E. Moharrem-Bey, son in law of Mehemet-Ali, and ridden by Terata-Tutemy-i-Bashi of the Pasha.

* * * * *

The horse ridden by M. Jules Pastré was the first in.

=2nd Heat.=

Barbary horse, from Tunis, bay, 4 yrs, the property of M. Ferd. de Lesseps, ridden by the owner.

Nejdi horse, white, 6-1/2 yrs, the property of M. Etienne Rolland, ridden by M. J. Dufey.

Nejdi horse, bay, 5 yrs, the property of Subi-Bey, ridden by the owner.

Nejdi horse, bred in Cairo, 7 yrs, the property of H. E. Moharrem-Bey, ridden by Cerkès-Osman-Sakallé.

* * * * *

The Barb ridden by M. de Lesseps was the winner.

=3rd Heat.=

Nejdi horse, bred in Cairo, gray, 6 yrs, the property of Hussein-Effendi, ridden by the owner.

Nejdi horse, dappled-gray, 5-1/2 yrs, the property of Dr Gaetani-Bey, ridden by M. Ferd. de Lesseps.

Nejdi horse, bred in Cairo, iron gray, 6 yrs, the property of M. W. Peel, ridden by the owner.

Samian horse, bay, 9 yrs, the property of Ibrahim-Effendi-Bimbashi, ridden by the owner.

* * * * *

The Egyptian horse ridden by Hussein-Effendi was the winner.

=4th Heat.=

Nejdi horse, bred in Cairo, bay, 8 yrs, the property of M. Henricy, ridden by M. Escalon.

Egyptian horse, from Atfeh, bay, 8 yrs, the property of M. Samuel Muir Junior, ridden by M. Sanders.

Nejdi horse, bred in Cairo, bay, 8 yrs, the property of Turki-Bashi, ridden by the owner.

Nejdi horse, gray, 4 yrs, the property of M. Roquerbe, ridden by M. Bartolomeo.

* * * * *

Won by the Nejdi horse ridden by M. Bartolomeo.

=Recapitulation of the Winners.=

1st Heat, Cairo horse, the property of M. Pastré, ridden by the owner.

2nd Heat, Barbary horse, the property of M. Ferd. de Lesseps, ridden by the owner.

3rd Heat, Cairo horse, the property of Hussein-Effendi, ridden by the owner.

4th Heat, Nejdi horse, the property of M. Roquerbe, ridden by M. Bartolomeo.

* * * * *

According to previous agreement the four winning horses having gone over the same ground, were to contend against one another in a fifth heat. They came in in the following order:

1st. Barbary horse, the property of M. Ferd. de Lesseps, ridden by the owner.

2nd. Cairo horse, the property of M. Jules Pastré, ridden by the owner.

3rd. Nejdi horse, the property of M. Roquerbe, ridden by M. Bartolomeo.

4th. Nejdi horse, the property of Hussein-Effendi, ridden by the owner.

Certified the accuracy of the above report.

_Signed_: FERD. DE LESSEPS.

To finish with the Barb and to give, over and above the other qualities he possesses, an exact idea of his strength and spirit, I cannot do better than state the weight carried in most of our expeditions by the horse of a chasseur d'Afrique.

WEIGHT CARRIED BY THE HORSE OF A CHASSEUR D'AFRIQUE SETTING OUT ON AN EXPEDITION.

Kilogr.[3] Hectogr. Décagr.

Horseman armed and in full uniform 82 — — Equipments and pistol 24 — — Bread for two days 1 5 — Biscuit for three days 1 6 5 Coffee for five days — 6 — Sugar for five days — 6 — Bacon for five days 1 — — Rice for five days — 3 — Salt — — 8 Pressed hay for five days 25 — — Barley for five days 20 — — Three packets of cartridges 1 3 — Four horse-shoes 1 6 — ---------- -------- ------- TOTAL (350 lbs) 159 6 3

159 kilogrammes, or 19 more than the horse of a carabineer, and 26 more than the horse of a cuirassier in France. This weight, of course, decreases as the column proceeds on its march.

Delivered the 31st February 1847, by Colonel Duringer, at the moment of departure of a column.

Now, a horse that, in a country often rough and difficult, marches, gallops, ascends, descends, endures unparalleled privations, and goes through a campaign with spirit, with such a weight on his back, is he, or is he not, a war horse?

THE HORSES OF THE SAHARA.

To a pastoral and a nomadic people, roaming our vast grazing grounds, and whose numbers bear no proportion to the extent of their territories, the horse is a necessity of life. With his horse, the Arab trades and travels, looks after his numerous flocks, distinguishes himself in battle, at weddings, and at the festivals of his marabouts. He makes love, he makes war: space is nothing to him. Thus, the Arabs of the Sahara still give themselves up with ardour to the rearing of horses. They know full well the value of blood, they pay great attention to crossing the breed, and try every means to improve the species. The state of anarchy in which they have lived in these latter times has naturally modified some of their habits, but it has effected no change in this condition of their existence—the breeding, perfecting and training of horses.

The love of the horse has passed into the Arab blood. That noble animal is the friend and comrade of the chief of the tent. He is one of the servants of the family. His habits, his requirements are made an object of study. He is the burden of their songs, the favourite topic of conversation. Day by day in the gatherings outside the _douar_, where age alone enjoys the privilege of speech, and which are marked by the decorous behaviour of the listeners, seated in a circle on the sand or on the turf, the young men add to their practical knowledge the counsels and traditions of their seniors. Religion, war, the chase, love, and horses, inexhaustible subjects of observation, make regular schools of these open air meetings, in which warriors are formed and develop their intelligence in collecting a mass of facts, precepts, proverbs, and sententious sayings, the application of which will only too frequently occur in the course of the perilous life they have to lead. It is thus they acquire that knowledge of horse-flesh which we are so astonished to meet with in the humblest horseman of a desert tribe. He can neither read nor write, and yet every phrase in his conversation rests upon the authority of the learned commentators of the Koran, or of the Prophet himself. "Our lord Mohammed declared"—"Sidi-Ahmed-ben-Youssef says in addition"—"Si-ben-Dyab relates"—And you may take him on trust, this learned ignoramus, for all these texts, all these anecdotes, which for the most part are only to be found in books, he for his part derives from the _tholbas_ or from his chiefs, who, unconsciously come, as it were, to a mutual understanding, to develop or maintain among the people the love of the horse, useful precepts, sound doctrines, and the best rules of hygiene. The whole is sometimes tainted, no doubt, with gross prejudices and ridiculous superstitions. It is a picture with much shading. But let us not be too severe: it is not so very long since very nearly the same absurdities were proclaimed in France as indisputable truths.

I was talking one day with a marabout of the tribe of the Oulad-Sidi-Schik about the horses of his country, and pretended to question some of the opinions he had expressed. "You cannot understand that, you Christians," he exclaimed, abruptly rising to his feet, "but horses are our riches, our joys, our life, our religion. Has not the Prophet said: 'The good things of this life, even to the day of the last judgment, shall be suspended from the hairs which are between the eyes of your horses?'"

"I have read the Koran," I replied, "but have never met with those words."

"You will not find them in the Koran, which is the voice of Allah, but in the conversations of our lord Mohammed (_Hadite sidna Mohammed_)."

"And you believe in them?" I retorted.

"Before taking my leave of you, I will show you what may happen to those who have faith." And my companion gravely recited the following history:

"A poor man confiding in the words of the Prophet which I have just repeated to you, came one day upon a dead mare. So he cut off her head and buried it under the threshold of his door, saying to himself: 'I shall become rich if it please Allah' (_An-sha-Allah_). Days, however, followed each other, but no riches came, and yet the Believer never doubted. The Sultan of the country being on his way to visit a holy spot, happened by accident to pass before the lowly abode of the poor Arab. It was situated at the end of a small plain bordered by large trees and watered by a pretty rivulet. The scene pleasing him, he halted his brilliant escort, and dismounted to rest himself in the shade. Just as he was about to give the signal to continue the journey his steed, which a slave was employed to look after, impatient to devour space, began to neigh and to paw the ground, and presently broke loose. All the efforts of the _saïs_ (grooms) to catch him again were for a long time in vain and every one was in despair, when they beheld him stop suddenly of himself at the threshold of an old hut which he smelt at while throwing up the ground with his forefeet. An Arab, until that moment an unmoved spectator, went up to him without frightening him, as if he had been known to him, caressed him with hand and voice, laid hold of him by the mane, the bridle being in a thousand pieces, and without any difficulty led him quietly up to the astonished Sultan.

"How have you contrived," demanded his greatness, "thus to tame one of the most fiery steeds of Arabia?"

"You will no longer be surprised, my lord," replied the man of faith, "when you learn that, having been taught that all the good things of this world unto the day of judgment shall be suspended from the hairs which are between the eyes of our horses, I buried under the door-way of my house the head of a mare I found lying dead. The rest has come to pass through the blessing of Allah."

"The Sultan instantly caused the ground to be dug up at the spot indicated, and when he had thus verified the statement of the Arab, he hastened to recompense one who had not hesitated to give an entire faith to the words of the Prophet. The poor man received the present of a fine horse, superb garments, and riches enough to place him beyond the reach of want for the rest of his days."

"You now know," continued the marabout, "what may happen to those who believe," and without waiting for my reply he saluted me with the eyes after the manner of the Arabs, and withdrew.

This legend is popular in the Sahara, and the words of the Prophet on which it is founded are there an article of faith. Whether the Prophet uttered them or not, they do not the less surely answer the end proposed to himself by their imputed author. The Arab loves honours, power, riches. To tell him that all that was attached to the long hairs of his horse was to endear it to him, to bind it to him by the bond of a common interest. The genius of the Prophet doubtless went much farther. He fully understood that the mission of conquest which he had bequeathed to his people could only be accomplished by hardy horsemen, and that the love of the horse must be developed in them simultaneously with faith in Islam. These injunctions, which all tend towards the same end, are clothed in various forms. The marabout and the thaleb strung them together as sayings and legends, the noble (_djieud_) as traditions, and the common people as proverbs. Subsequently, proverbs, traditions, and legends, assumed a religious character which has for ever accredited them to the great family of Mussulmans: for it is the will of the Prophet that his own people, to the exclusion of all infidels, should reserve to themselves these powerful instruments of war, which in the hands of the Christians might become so fatal to the Mussulman religion. This inner motive, which the common people of the tent may not have seen, through the symbolical veil behind which it was concealed, has not escaped the perception of the Arab chiefs. The Emir Abd-el-Kader, when at the height of his power, inflicted death without mercy on every Believer convicted of having sold a horse to a Christian. In Morocco the exportation of these animals is hampered with such heavy duties that the permission to take them out of the kingdom is altogether illusory. At Tunis the same reluctance yields only to the imperious necessities of policy, and in like manner at Tripoli, in Egypt, at Constantinople, in short in all Mussulman States.[4]

If you speak of horses to a _djieud_, the noble of the tent, who still plumes himself on his ancestors having fought with ours in Palestine, he will tell you:

The mounting of horses, The letting slip greyhounds from the leash, And the clinking of ear-rings, Draw the maggots out of your head.

If your interlocutor is one of those horsemen (_mekhazeni_) whose bronzed face, pepper-and-salt beard, and prominent exostosis[5] on the tibia announce that he has gone through many adventures, he will say to you:

Horses for a quarrel, Camels for the desert, And oxen for poverty.

Or he will remind you that when the Prophet was engaged in expeditions, in order to induce the Arabs to tend their horses properly, he always gave two-thirds of the prize to whomsoever had accompanied him on the best horse.

The voluptuous Thaleb, man of God for the world who lives in contemplative idleness, without any other occupation than that of writing talismans and making amulets for all men and women who want them, will repeat to you with his eyes on the ground:

The paradise of earth is to be found on horseback, In the study of books,

Or on the bosom of a woman,

he will add if no prudish ears are at hand.

Again, if you question one of those aged patriarchs who are renowned for their wisdom, their experience, and their hospitality, he will answer you:

"Sidi-Aomar, the companion of the Prophet, hath said: 'Love horses, tend them well, for they are worthy of your tenderness. Treat them like your own children, nourish them like friends of the family, clothe them with care! For the love of Allah, do not neglect to do this, or you will repent of it _in this house and in the next_.'"

Finally, if you have the good fortune to encounter in your journey one of those wandering story-tellers (_me-dahh_, _fessehh_) who pass their lives in travelling about from tribe to tribe, to amuse the abundant leisure of these warrior-shepherds, supported by a player on the flute (_kuesob_), and accompanying himself on a tabour (_bendaïr_), he will chaunt to you with a hollow but not unmusical voice: