not mount their horses till they are four
years old, the Arabs mount theirs at an
early age.

Know that the Arabs say that horses, like
men, can learn quickly only in their childhood.
These are their proverbs on that
subject: " The lessons of infancy are engraved
on stone; the lessons of mature age
disappear like birds' nests." They also say,
"The young branch rises up straight again
without great difficulty; but the timber tree
never rises up again."

In the first year, the Arabs teach the horse
to be led with the réseun, a sort of bridle.
They call him then djeda, and begin to bridle
him and to tie him up. When he is become
teni—that is to say, in his second year—they
ride him for a mile, then two, then a parasange ;
and when he is turned of eighteen
months old, they are not afraid of fatiguing
him. When he is become rebâa telata—that
is to say, when he enters his third year—they
tie him up, cease to ride him, cover him with
a good djelale (horse-cloth), and make him
fat. On this subject they say: " In the first
year (djeda) tie him up for fear any accident
should happen to him. In the second year
(teni) ride him till his back bends. In the
third year (rebâa telata) tie him up again.
Then, if he does not suit you, sell him."

If a horse is not ridden before the third
year, it is certain that he will be good-for-nothing
but for running, at most, which there
is no occasion for him to learn; it is his
original faculty. The Arabs thus express
the thought: El djouad idjri be aaselouh;
"The djouad runs according to his breeding."
(The noble horse has no need to be taught
to run.)

V. You ask me why, if the offspring
partakes more of the qualities of the male
than of the female parent, the mares,  notwithstanding,
sell for higher prices than the
horses.

The reason is this; he who purchases a
mare hopes that all the while he is making use
of her, he will obtain from her a numerous
progeny; but he who buys a horse, derives
from it no other benefit than its services for
the saddle, as the Arabs never take money
for the use of their horses, but lend them
gratuitously.

VI. You ask whether the Arabs of the
Desert keep registers to record the descent
of their horses?

Know that the people of the Algerian
Desert do not trouble themselves about such
registers, any more than the people of Teli.
The notoriety of the facts is quite sufficient;
for the genealogy of the blood-horses is as
universally known as that of their masters.
I have heard say that some families had these
written genealogies, but I am unable to quote
them. But books of the kind are in the
East, as I have mentioned in the little
treatise which I am shortly about to address
to you.

VII. You ask which of the Algerian tribes
are the most celebrated for the purity of race
of their horses.

Know that the horses of the Hamyan are
the best horses of the Desert, without exception.
They have none but excellent horses,
because they never employ them either for
tillage or for carrying burdens. They use
them only for travelling and for battle.
These are the horses which are best able to
endure hunger, thirst, and fatigue. The
horses of the Arbâa and of the Oulad-Nayl,
come next after those of the Hamyan. In
the Teli, the best horses in respect to purity
of race, stature, and beauty of form, are those
of the people of Chelif, particularly those
of the Oulad-Sidi-Ben-Abd-Allah (Sidi-el-Aaribi),
near the Mina, and also those of the
Oulad-Sidi-Hassan, a branch of the Oulad-Sidi-Dahhou,
who inhabit the mountains of
Mascara. The most rapid in the Hippodrome,
and also of beautiful shape, are of
the tribe of Flitas, of the Oulad-Cherif
and the Oulad-Lekreud. The best to travel
over stony ground, without being shod,
are those of the tribe of Assassena, in the
Yakoubia. This saying is attributed to
Moulaye Ismaïl, the celebrated Sultan of
Morocco; " May my horse have been brought
up in the Mâz, and led to water in the Biaz!"
The Mâz is a place in the country of the
Assassena, and the Biaz is the brook, known
by the name of Toufet, which runs through
their territory. The horses of the Ouled-Khaled
are also renowned for the same
qualities. Sidi-Amed-Ben-Youssef has said
on the subject of this tribe, " Long tresses
and long djelais will be seen amongst you till
the day of resurrection," praising thus at the
same time both their women and their
horses.

VIII. You tell me that people have assured
you that the horses of Algeria are not
Arabian horses, but Barbs.

This is an opinion which falls back again
upon its authors. The people of Barbary are
of Arab origin. A celebrated author has
said; " The people of Barbary inhabit the
Mogheb; they are all sons of Kaïs-Ben-Ghilan.
It is also asserted that they are
descended from the two great Hémiatrites
tribes, the Senahdja and the Kettama, who
came into the country at the time of the
invasion of Ifrikech-el-Malik."

According to these two opinions, the people
of Barbary are really Arabs. Moreover,
historians have established the kindred of the
majority of the tribes of Barbary, and their
descent from the Senahdja and the Kettama.
The arrival of these tribes is anterior to
Islamism; the number of emigrated Arabs
in the Mogheb is incalculable. When the
Obeîdin (the Fatémites) were masters of
Egypt, immense tribes passed into Africa, and
amongst others the Rîahh. They spread from
Kaïrouan to Merrakech (Marocco). It is
from these tribes that are descended, in