Butte record., 1854-01-07
THE HORSES OF THE SAHARA.


Horses of the African sert, in which
he gives all the experiences of Add ell
Kader and other Arab chiefs. as we'll as
his own. The Journal des Deb0ts con-
tains Summary of this work, from which
the following passages are translated;
The horse Of the true breed hoor) has
lis position among the Arabs of the dcs-
ert Ike the date tree. According to his
age be bears different name, and is
even more famed for his exploits than for
his genealogy. The horse is of the true
race, which after long journey shakes
himself, paws the ground, aeighs when
feed of barley is offered to him, which
he begins to eat eagerl y after smelling 1t
three or four times. 1t is of the horse
of this kind that the Arabs say, "Give
him barley and abuse him" If a horse
nei.hs with JOY at the sight of en- oasis,
and seems to salute, with graceful move
ments of his head, the green trees and
flowing waters If he drinks without ben
ding his knee, and SO as to mark, by an
undulating line from the Group to the
head, the flexible curve of his body if
his most lis dilate continually; if his eyes
are always in movement if his ears rise
and fall alternately if, at the least noise
be quivers without changing place, he is
of noble blood. He can bear thirst,
hunger, and fatigue. GIVE him barley
and abuse him.
but If the Tel. the reGion of Grain is
closed against the horse Of the Sahara,
Ie is able to pass the whole year with
out barley and yet, to perform journeys
of thirty leagues day, without any her
nourishment thin dates and the Goa Sc
herbage Of the desert-the alta which
makes him travel, the guetof which makes
him fight, and the guetof which is even
better than bailey. 1t was thus that
Abd-el-Kader, driven from the Tell,
passed ike a fash Of lightning from one
extremity to the other Of the Mogherb,
without making a single halt, and often
at The head ofa thousand horsemen.
Abd-el- Kader, himself in his letter to
General Dumas, gives examples of the
powers of endurance of the desert horses
which would be inc edible, If he had not
proved them to be true at our expense.
He speaks, amongst Others, of gallop
Of FIVE or six hours a day, continued for
twenty -hve leagues seventy five miles, }
travefsed every day. This is not all,
adds the Emir: \ horse travelling every
day. and which eats as much ba ley as it
pleases, can continue this for thre or four
mouths, without resting single day.
As to the swiftn S OF the Barbary
horse, a fact is cited BY General Dumas
which will give an approximate idea oft
\ French gene al, suddenly arrested at
OraE, requL ed to see certain paper which
be had lett at Iiecen Is 30 leagues (l05
niles from Oran, and the route which
separates them Is cut up by mountains
md ravines. The arrested general con-
iidcd his birb 10 an Arab m IS niger,
who promised to retnrn on the following
day He arrived, in fact, at the same
hour The following day with the docu-
nents in question The horse had trav-
elled 20 leasues )2l0 miles, through a
difficult country, having halted only once
and been fed once.
As some mention is often made of the
greater OF smaller difference which ex-
lists between the b,rbary and Arab horse
let US speak, in pass ng, of tn manner
in which the breed Of horses is tlied i'll
the two counties. The nejdih he horse
of Arabia) is tried by being made to gal
lop seven leagues (2l miles) in certain
time, and then to eat measure of bar
ley. In Algeria the triil is the same in
result, but different in the manner. The
horse under trial must race with three
relays of fresh horses, over distances of
three leagues each, and arrive first at the
goal each time If he is successful, and
after that eats barley, his master is re-
puted fortunate man throughout the
whole Of Sahara. and the horses renown
Is without rival.
1t is curious to compare, in point of
view of the locomotion gained by means
Of the horse, the habits of the South
American hors. men with those of the
Alab Here we have, in place of the
desert of sand, the Sahara, the desert of
grass the Pampas are 500 leagues
across, and in these almost limitless
plains live, in an almost wild state, in,
numerable herds of horses The Qua
cho, in the midst of the wilderness, Sc
loo+s ~, bo-eo ,xb;cb ha determines N