The Horses of the Sahara and the Manners of the Desert

by E.‏ Daumas

ABD-EL-KADER ON THE ARAB HORSE.

Having known the Emir Abd-el-Kader during the time I held the office of French Consul at Mascara, from 1837 to 1839, and having again met him at Toulon in 1847, whither I had been ordered on special duty at the time of his first landing in France, I had full opportunity in my numerous interviews with him to appreciate his intimate acquaintance with all that related to the history of his country, as well as to all questions of horse-flesh. I did not hesitate, therefore, to ask his opinion on a subject of a purely scientific nature, which may nevertheless be of great moment, not only for the future interests of our colony, but for those of the country at large. The following is his reply, written under date of the 8th November, 1851.

Glory to the one God, whose reign alone endureth for ever!

Peace be with him who equals in good qualities all the men of his time, who aims only at what is good, whose heart is pure and his word abiding, the wise, the intelligent, the Lord General Daumas, on the part of your friend Sid-el-Hadj Abd-el-Kader, son of Mahhi-Eddin.

Behold the reply to your inquiries:—

1st. You ask me how many days an Arab horse can march without rest and without suffering too severely. Know, then, that a horse sound in every limb, that eats as much barley as his stomach can contain, can do whatever his rider can ask of him. For this reason the Arabs say: "Give barley and over-work him." But without tasking him overmuch, a horse can be made to do sixteen parasangs day after day.[^[54]] It is the distance from Mascara to Koudiat-Aghelizan on the Oued-Mina; it has been measured in cubits. A horse performing this journey every day, and having as much barley as it likes to eat, can go on, without fatigue, for three or four months, without lying by a single day.

2nd. You ask me what distance a horse can accomplish in a day. I cannot tell you very precisely, but it ought to be about fifty parasangs, or the distance from Tlemcen to Mascara. However, an animal that has performed such a journey ought to be carefully ridden on the following day, and allowed to do only a very much shorter distance. Most of our horses used to go from Oran to Mascara in a single day, and could repeat the journey for two or three consecutive days. On one occasion we started from Saïda about eight in the morning to fall upon the Arbâa, who were encamped at Aaïn-Toukria, among the Oulad-Aïad near Taza, and we came up with them at break of day.

3rd. You ask for examples of the temperance of the Arab horse, and for proofs of his power of enduring hunger and thirst. Know that when we were established at the mouth of the Melouïa, we used to make razzias into the Djebel-Amour, following the route of the Sahara, and on the day of attack pushing forward at the gallop for five or six hours at a stretch—the entire expedition, going and returning, being completed in twenty to twenty-five days at the outside. During this space of time our horses had no barley except what they carried with them, about enough for eight ordinary feeds. Nor did they find straw, or anything except the alfa and shiehh, and grass in the spring time. And yet, on rejoining our people, we performed the fantasia on our horses, and some among us burnt powder. Many, too, who were not fresh enough for the latter exercise, were quite able to go upon an expedition. Our horses would go a day or two without water, and once they found none for three days. The horses of the Sahara do far more than that, for they go three months without touching a grain of barley. Straw they meet with only when they go to the Tell to buy grain, and for the most part feed on the alfa, the shiehh, and sometimes the guetof. The shiehh is better than the alfa, but not so good as the guetof. The Arabs say:

The alfa is good for marching,

The shiehh is good for fighting,

And the guetof is superior to barley.

In certain years the horses of the Sahara have gone the whole twelve months without a grain of barley to eat, especially when the tribes have not been suffered to enter the Tell. At such times the Arabs give dates to their horses, which is a fattening food, and keeps them in condition for marching or fighting.

4th. You ask why, seeing the French do not mount their horses before they are four years old, the Arabs mount theirs at a very early age. Know that the Arabs say that horses, like men, are more easily taught when quite young. They have a proverb:

The lessons of infancy are engraved upon stone,

The lessons of ripe age pass away like birds' nests.

They likewise say:

The young branch is made straight without much trouble,

But the old wood can never be straightened.

In the very first year, the Arabs teach the colt to let itself be led by the reseum, a species of cavesson. They call it then djeda, and begin to fasten and bridle it. As soon as it has become teni, that is, as soon as it has entered on its second year, they ride it a mile or two, or even a parasang, and after it has completed eighteen months they do not fear to fatigue it. When it has become rebâa telata, that is, when it has entered on its third year, they tie it up, cease to ride it, cover it with a good djellal, and get it into condition. They say:

In his first year, tie him up lest he should meet with an accident;

In his second year, ride him until his back bends;

In his third year, again tie him up, and after that, if he does not

suit you, sell him.

If a horse is not ridden before his third year, it is certain that he will never be good for anything but to gallop, which he does not need to learn, as it is his nature to do so: an idea thus expressed by the Arabs: "The noble horse gallops according to his race"—that is, a thoroughbred horse has no occasion to be taught to gallop.

5th. You ask me how it is, seeing that the foal derives more qualities from its sire than from its dam, that mares are always higher priced than horses. The reason is this. He who buys a mare does so with the expectation that he will not only be able to make use of her for the saddle, but will also obtain from her a numerous stock; while he who buys a horse cannot hope to get any other advantage out of him than by riding him.

6th. You ask me if the Arabs of the Sahara keep registers to establish the descent of their horses. Know that the inhabitants of the Algerian Sahara do not, any more than those of the Tell, concern themselves with these registers. The notoriety of the fact suffices them; for pedigree of their blood horses is as well known to every one as that of their masters. I have heard it said that some families possessed these written genealogies, but I cannot answer for the fact. Such books, however, are kept in the East.

7th. You ask me which are the tribes of Algeria the most renowned for the pure breed of their horses. Know that the best horses of the Sahara are unquestionably those of Hamyân. They possess none but excellent animals, because they never employ them to till the ground, or as beasts of burden. They employ them solely on expeditions and in battle. These are superior to all others in endurance of hunger, thirst, and fatigue. Next in order come the horses of the Harar, the Arbâa, and the Oulad-Naïl. In the Tell, the horses in the first rank for nobility of race, for height and beauty of mould, are those of the Shelif, especially those of the Oulad-Sidi-Ben-Abd-Allah, near the Mina, and those of the Oulad-Sidi-Hassan, a section of the Oulad-Sidi-Dahhou, who dwell in the highlands of Mascara. The fleetest in the race-course, and at the same time of a beautiful shape, are those of the Flittas, the Oulad-Sherif, and the Oulad-Lekreud. The best for traversing stony ground, without being shod, are those of the Hassasna in the Yakoubia. The following words are ascribed to Mulay-Ishmael, the celebrated Sultan of Morocco.

May my horse have been reared in the Mâz,

And watered in the Biaz.

The Mâz is a district of the Hassasna, and the Biaz is the stream known by the name of Foufet, that flows through their territory. The horses of the Oulad-Khaled are also famous for the same qualities. In reference to this tribe Sidi-Ahmed-Ben-Youssel has said: "The long locks and the long djellals will lie seen in the midst of you to the day of the resurrection," thus eulogising their women and their horses.

8th. You say that people maintain against you that the horses of Algeria are not Arabs but Barbs. It is a theory that turns against its own authors, for the Barbs were originally Arabs. A well-known writer has said: "The Berbers inhabit the Mogheb. They are all sons of Kaïs-Ben-Ghilan. It is likewise stated that they spring from two great Hemiarite tribes, the Senahdja and the Kettama, who came into the country at the time of the invasion of Ifrikesh El Malik." According to both these opinions, the Berbers are decidedly Arabs. Historians, moreover, establish the descent of most of the Berber tribes from the Senahdja and the Kettama. The arrival of these tribes was anterior to Islam. Since the Mussulman invasion the number of Arabs who have emigrated into the Mogheb is beyond computation. When the Obeïdin [the Fatimites] were masters of Egypt, immense tribes passed into Africa, among others the Riahh, and spread themselves from Kaïrouan to Merrakesh [Morocco]. It is from these tribes that are descended the Algerian tribes of the Douaouda, the Aïad, the Mâdid, the Oulad-Mahdi, the Oulad-Iakoub-Zerara, the Djendel, the Attaf, the Hamïs, the Braze, the Sbeha, the Flittas, the Medjahar, the Mehal, the Beni-Aâmer, the Hamian, and many more. Without doubt the Arab horses were dispersed through the Mogheb in like manner with the Arab families. At the time of Ifrikesh-ben-Kaïf, the empire of the Arabs was all powerful. It extended as far west as the confines of the Mogheb, just as in the time of Shamar the Hemiarite it extended eastward to the frontiers of China, as it is related by Ben-Kouteïba in his book entitled "El Marif."

It is quite true, however, that although the Algerian horses come of Arab stock, many have degenerated from their nobleness from being employed much too often in the plough, in carrying and drawing heavy loads, and in other kinds of labour, and from other causes which did not exist among the Arabs of the olden times. It is sufficient, they say, for a horse to have walked over ploughed land to lose something of his excellence, and by way of illustration they relate the following anecdote:

"A man was riding one day, mounted on a thoroughbred, when he met his enemy also mounted on a noble courser. The one turned and fled, while the other gave chace. The latter was distanced, and despairing to overtake the former, cried out to him:

"I demand of thee in the name of Allah, has thy horse ever been in the plough?"

"He has ploughed for four days."

"Ah! mine has never been in the plough. By the head of the Prophet, I am certain to overtake thee."

"He then followed up the pursuit and towards the end of the day the pursued began to lose ground and the pursuer to gain upon him. At last the latter succeeded in coming up with and combating him whom he had at first despaired of overtaking."

"My father—Allah be merciful to him!—was in the habit of saying: 'There was no blessing for our land since we converted our coursers into beasts of burden and tillage. Did not Allah create the horse for riding, the ox for the plough, and the camel for the transport of burdens? There is nothing to be gained by changing the ways of Allah.'"

9th. You ask me further what is our practice with regard to the keep and maintenance of our horses. Know that the master of a horse gives him very little barley to begin with, and goes on increasing the quantity little by little, until he fails to consume it all, when the quantity is reduced and afterwards maintained at the exact measure of his appetite. The best time of day for giving barley is the evening. Unless on a journey, it is useless to give it in the morning. The best way is to give it to the horse saddled and girthed, just as the best way of watering him is with the bridle on. There is a saying.

Water with the bridle,

And barley with the saddle.

The Arabs greatly prefer a horse that eats little, provided he does not lose strength. Such a one, say they, is a priceless treasure. To water a horse at sunrise, makes him lose flesh. To water him in the evening, puts him into good condition. To water him in the middle of the day, keeps him as he is. During the great heats which last for forty days, the Arabs water their horses only every second day: a custom, they assert, attended with beneficial effects. In summer, autumn, and winter they throw an armful of straw to their horses; but the substance of their keep is barley, in preference to every other kind of food. They say: "Had we not seen that horses come from horses, we should have said that it is the barley that produces them." Again:

"Of forbidden flesh, choose the lightest," that is, choose a horse that is light and nimble—horse-flesh being forbidden to Mussulmans.

"No one becomes a horseman until he has been often thrown."

"Thoroughbred horses have no vice."

"A horse in a leading-string is an honour to his master."

"Horses are birds without wings."

"No distance is far for a horse."

"Whoso forgets the beauty of horses for that of women will never prosper."

"Horses know their riders."

The pious Ben-el-Abbas—Allah be good to him!—hath said:

Love horses and take care of them,

Spare no trouble;

By them comes honour, by them comes beauty.

If horses are forsaken of men,

I will receive them into my family,

I will share with them the bread of my children;

My wives clothe them with their veils,

And cover themselves with the horse-cloths;

I ride them every day

Over the field of adventures;

Carried away in their impetuous career

I combat the most valiant.

I have finished the letter which our brother and companion, the friend of all men, the Commandant Sidi-Bou-Senna [Boissonnet], will cause to be delivered into your hands. Peace!