The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-25 00:00:00

THURSDAY

reputation of Great Britain abroad, and give us a
thoroughly liberal Reform Bill at home. Henceforth,
let Lord Palmerston be the rallying point of the
friends of freedom hero and on the Continent. Lord
Palmerston, from this hour, will be the man of the
people.

ABD-EL - KAISER'S ACCOUNT OF THE
AHAB HORSE, WITH HIS NOTICE OF
THE TRIBES OF ALGERIA, 6.c.
"GLORY TO THE ONE GOD. HIS REIGN ALONE IS
ETERNAL."

Greeting to him who, in his excellent qualities,
equals all the men of his time, who seeks only what is
good, whose heart is pure, and whose speech is ad-
mirable, the wise, the intelligent Lord General Dau-
mas—from your friend Sid-el-liadj Abd-el-Kader,
son of Mahhi-Eddin.
Behold the reply to your inquiries.
1. How many days can the Arab horse travel
without repose or injury ?
Know that a horse, sound in all his limbs, fed on
barley, which his belly demands, can do whatever his
rider wishes him to do. With reason the Arabs say—
" A lef ou annef"—Give barley and abuse."
But, without abusing the horse, you can make
him travel sixteen parasangs* every day; that is the
distance between Mascara and Kondiat Aghelizsn,
on the Oued Mina. A horse making this journey
every day, and fed on barley to the utmost of his
appetite, can continue unfatigued for three or even
tour mouths on the road, without resting one single
day.

2. What distance can the horse traverse in a day ?
I cannot tell you with precision; but that distance
ought to approach fifty parasangs—from Tlemsen to
Mascara, for example. We have seen a vast number
of horses do the journey in one day. However, the
horse which has accomplished that distance must be
spared next day, and would not be able to do at
all so much without a twenty-four hours' interval.
Most of our horses used to go from Oran to
Mascara in one day ; and for several days together
they could repeat the journey. We have left Saida
at eight o'clock in the morning (au dohha), to sur-
prise the Arbaa, who were encamped at Ain Toukria
(among the Oulad-Disd, near Taza), and we reached
them at break of day (fedjer). You know the
country, and you can undekstand the distance we had
to accomplish.
3. What examples are there of the abstemiousness
of the Arab horse, and what proofs of his power to
bear hunger and thirst?
. Know, that when we were established at the mouth
of the Melouia, we made razzias in the Djebel-Ar-
nour, following the road of the Sahara, pressing our
horses to the gallop for five or six hours together in
one breath on the days of attack, and accomplishing
our excursion thither and back in twenty or twenty-
five days at the most. During this interval our horses
had no barley to eat, except what they could carry
along with their riders; that is, about eight ordinary
meals. Our horses found no straw, but only some
alfa or chilli, or, in spring, a little grass.
Nevertheless, on our return home, we performed
the games on horseback, the day of our arrival, and
struck the dust with some of our horses. Many which
could not exhibit this exercise were yet in a condi-
tion for the campaign, Our horses used to reman
without drinking for one or two days. Once they
had nothing to drink for three. The horses of the
Sahara do much more than this. They remain for
about three months without eating a grain of barley !
they know not straw except on the days when they
come to purchase grains in the Tell ; and they eat,
for the most part, only alfa, chilli, and occasionally
guetef.
The A rabs say—
" Alfa enables the horse to travel—
Chilh makes him fight—
And guetof is better than barley."
Certain years pass without the horses of the Sa-
hara having a grain of barley to eat during the whole
year, when the tribes have not been received in the
Tell. Sometimes, then, they give dates to their
horses ; this nourishment fattens them ; they are then
marched out, and enter on expedition.
4. Why, as the French dp not ride their horses
until after they have passed the age of four, do the
Arabs mount theirs extremely young ?
Know that the Arabs say that horses and man can
be well taught only in the tenderest age. This is
their proverb on the subject:—
" The lessons of infancy are graven on stone."
" The lessons of riper years disappear like the nests
of birds."
They also say, " The young branch recovers its
pasture without much difficulty, but the thick wood
never recovers from a warp."
In the very first year, the Arabs begin to instruct
the young horse to go with the reseun, a sort of ca-
vesson ; then they call him djeda, beginning to break
and bridle him. As soon as he becomes teni, tbat is
when he enters his second year, they ride him one
mile, then two, then a parasang ; and when he has
completed his eighteenth month, they are no longer
afraid of fatiguing him.
When he has become tebora telata, that is when he
enters his third year, they cease to ride him ; they
fasten him, cover him with a good djelale (cloth), and
fatten him. On this head they say—" In the first
' .
year tie him for fear of accident. In the second year,
ride him till his back curves. In the third year, tie
him again; and if be has not become what you wish,
sell him."
If a horse be not ridden before his third year, it is
certain that he will never be good for anything but
speed, which he does not require to learn, it is his na-
tural faculty. The Arabs express the idea thus—
,' El djouad idjri be daseloult. —"The cljouad runs
according to his blood." The noble horse needs not
to learn swiftness.
5. Why, if the stallions impart more qualities to
the breed, should the mares nevertheless be dearer ?
This is the reason :—He who buys a mare, hopes
that, while using her as a steed, he will at the same
time rear a numerous brood from her; whereas, he
who buys a horse only ens/bits him for riding, no
money being taken by the rArabs for commercial
purposes.
6. Do the Arabs keep registers to establish the
genealogy of their horses ?
Know that the Arabs of the Sahara trouble them-
selves as little with registers aslittle as do these of
the Tell, Notoriety suffices. For the pedigree of
their blood horses is as well known as that of the
riders. I have heard that sonic families keep regis-
ters, but I cannot quote them; These books are used
in the East, as I mention in the little treatise which
I am about to address to you.
7 What tribes of Algeria are the most renowned
for their horses ?
Know that the best horses of the Sahara are those
of the Ilacnyan, withort exception. They possess
none but excellent horses, because they never employ
them either for tillage or with the pack-saddle, but
solely for expedition and war. These are the steeds
which best bear hunger, thirst, and fatigue. Next
to the horses of the Hainyan come those of the Arbaa
and of the Ouled-Nayl.
In the Tell, the best horsis for nobleness and
blood, for figure, form, and heouty, are those of the
people of the Chelif,
especially those of Oulad Sidi-
Ben-Abd-Allah (Sidi el Aaribi), near the Mind; and
again those of the Oulad Sidi Hassan, a fraction of
the Oulad Sidi Dahhon, who inhabit the mountain of
Mascara. The swiftest on the race-course (fine also
in shape) are those of the tribe Flits, of the Oulad
Sheriff, and of the Puled Sekreud. The best for a
march over stony ground, without being shod, are
those of the Assassena tribe in Yakoubia. A saying
is attributed to Moulay Ismail, the celebrated Sultan
of Morocco—" Let my steed have been reared in
Mez and watered in the Biaz."
Diaz is a place in the country of the Assassena, and
the Biaz is the stream known by the name of the
Foufet, which flows in their territory. The horses of
the Oulad-Khaled are also renowned for the same
qualities. Sidi Ahmed Ben Yawed has said, with
reference to that tribe, " long
tresses and flowing
manes will be seen amongst you' till the day of the
resurrection," thus panegyrisingtheir women and
their horses.
8. You say to me that you are fold that the horses
of Algeria are not Arabian but Berberien—that is,
barbs.
This is an opinion which recoils upon its holders.
The Berbers are genuine Arabs.A celebrated author has
said—" The Berbers inhabit Moghebbo; they are all
sons of Kaiss Ben Ghilan." It is averred, moreover,
that they spring from the two great Hemiarite tribes,
the Senandja and the Kettama, who entered with the
invader Ifrikech-el-Malik.
According to these facts, the Berbers are certainly
Arabs, and historians establish the filiation of most
of the Berber tribes, and their descent from the Se-
nandja and the Kettama. The coming of these tribes
was anterior to Islamism. Since the Mussulmau in-
vasion, the number of Arabian immigrants is incal-
culable. When the Obeidin (the Fatimites) were
masters of Egypt, immense tribes passed into
Africa, and among others, the Riahh. They spread
themselves from Kalroun to Merrakeh (Morocco).
It is from these tribes that the Douaouda, the "Slid,
the Madid, the Oulad-Madi, the Oulad-Jacob-
Zerara, the Djendel, the Attaf, the Minis, the
Braze, the Sheba, the Flita, the Medjahar, the
Mehal, the Beni Amer, the Hayman, and many others
spring. Doubt there is none but that the Arabian
horse came with his Arabian rider. In the days of
Ifrikech-Ben-Kaif, the empire of the Arabs was om-
nipotent. It extended itself towards the west as far as
Morocco ; as in the days of Chamar the Hemisrite, it
extended itself in the east as far as China. Tie ac-
count of this is given by Ben Konteiba, in his book
entitled "El Marif."
It is very true that, if all the horses of Algeria are
of Arabian blood, many of them are fallen from their
nobleness, because they are only too often employed in

* A para,alig is about three miles, as will be sees in
this very letter of Abd-21.Kacier's, under the head of the
4th question.