The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1894-04-27

|
active, hardy people, living a life as
natural as that of fox or deer. They
despise luxury and display, drink nc
intoxicating liquors, and eat sparingly
| They are short, slight men, but mus.
GUAR, wiry, and capable of great endur-
ance. Their horses are like them. The
Arabian is small horse with slim legs
but his legs are as i made of from,
and he will gallop one hundred miles
IN day without firing. He gets very
little grain, and can 60 without water,
and sometimes he is obliged to do SO
for days at time. One popularity of
the Arabs is this-they think a great
deal of good manners and of good
breeding both in men and horses. They
are poor people and do not value man
for his wealth; but they have a great
respect for one whose father and grand
father-whose ancestors for long way
back-were honorable men. kinl and
courteous to others and self-respectmg
what We call gentlemen, in short.
The Arabs believe that good manners
are aptto be inherited, and when a man
comes Of good stock and has proved
simple, courteous, and honest himself,
he is very likely to be chosen sheykh
or chief of the tribe. So also as to
their horses. The pedigree of the
Arabian horses runs back for hundreds 8
of years. They are not written or
printed. The Arabs have few books,
and they are not gwen to reading or
writing, but the ancestry of their horses
Is matter of common knowledge.
Every member of a tribe knows ju t
how every horse belonging to thu tribe
is bred, what horse was his lather's,
what one was his grandfather's, and so
on for many generations back. They
take the greatest pains to preserve the
purity of the breed.
Another, and perhaps the most i'm
portant, peculiarly of the Arabs, so
far as their horses are concerned is
this-they are extremely good-temper-
ed and patient. 1t is said that no 9TH
er people in the world are so kind to
children as are the Arabs, and they
treat their horses like children. The
horse is the most sensitive of all ami
mails, and he Is also by nature playful
and aftectionate. If you make habit
of speaking harshly to him, if you give
him cuff or blow or kick when
ever you lose patience with him, then
he is sure to become unhappy and
stupid and perhaps vicious and dan
gerous. The Arabs never strike a
horse.
The Arabs have neither whip nor
spurs nor bits. They ride on a pad.
without saddle stirrups, or bride The
horse is restrained merely by halter
having slight chain passing around
the nose, and the halter rope, which
the rider holds in his hand is attached
to the chain. And yet the Arabian
horses are exceedingly high-spirited
and courageous. The secret of their
good behavior is that they love their
masters, and no more think of rebell-
ing against them than dog would.
AS soon as the foal is bJrn he is tied
close to his masters tent by a cord
around his neck, or sometimes around
a hind leg. In months time he is
weaned and his mother goes out to pas
ture every day, while he remains by
the tent and is fed with camel's milk.
The children pay with HIM; he be-
comes one of the family, and when he
is a year old his playmates get on his
back and ride him about little. By
the time he is two years old he is able
to carry half-grown boy, and SIX
months later be is ridden on an expe-
ditron with older horses. The Arabs
never tie their horses by the head. The
common way of securing them is to
put an iron clasp around one Of the
hind ankles and fasten it with a pad
lock and key, and to this clasp is at
tached long chain, the other end of
which is rivetted to one of the tent
pegs. Then the horse is free to rove
about, and he cannot be stolen.
The Arabs are great robbers Of
horses, but they steal only from their
enemies. There is with them no sneak
ing into stable on II dark night and
softly leading out horse after muffi-
ing his feet. One tribe is very apt to
be at war with another, and ghazus or
raids are frequently un lerta ken for the
express purpose Of capturing horses.
Far off IN the desert is sen llt;le
cloud on the horizon like mans hand
rapidly it grows bigger and bigger and
spreads out; few minutes more and
ithas become a group of horsemen gal
loping swiftly towards the enemy's
camp. The picturesque cloaks of the
! Arabs stream out behind them in the
wind; each man carries a long lane, in
his right, and loosely holds the halter
rope in his left hand. As they ap-
/ proach one can see the pink glow with
in the quivering nostrils of the horses
their beautiful heads outstretched
thei ir soft eyes are now fired with ex-
citement. On they come, the enemy
| have mounted TO meet them. there ia