[36]. During my long career, in my tribes, by my friends, or among my followers, I have seen upwards of ten thousand colts reared, and I affirm that all those whose education was not begun at a very early age and according to the principles enunciated above, have never turned out other than stubborn, troublesome horses, unfit for war. I also affirm that when I have made long and rapid marches at the head of twelve or fifteen hundred horsemen, horses however lean, if early broken in to fatigue, never fell out of the ranks, while those that were fat or mounted too late have always fallen to the rear. My conviction on this head is based on such a long experience that lately, finding myself at Masseur (Cairo), in the necessity of purchasing some horses, I refused point blank all that were presented to me that had been broken in at a comparatively advanced age.
"How has thy horse been reared?" was always my first question.
"My lord," an inhabitant of the city would reply "this gray stone of the river has been brought up by me like one of my own children, always well fed, well tended to, and spared as much as possible, for I did not begin to ride him till he was full four years old. See how fat he is, how sound in all his limbs."
"Well, keep him, my friend. He is thy pride and that of thy family. It would be a shame to my gray beard to deprive thee of him."
"And thou!" I would then ask of an Arab whom I recognized as a child of the desert, so embrowned was he with the sun, "How has thy horse been reared?"
"My lord," he would answer, "betimes I formed his back to the saddle, and his mouth to the bridle. With him I have reached a distant, very distant point. He has passed many a day without food. His ribs are bare, it is true, but if you encounter any enemies on your path he will not leave you in peril. I swear it by the day of the last judgment, when Allah shall be kadi and the angels witnesses."
"Hola, there! tether the dark chestnut before my tent," I would cry to my servants, "and satisfy this man."
(Sidi-Hamed-ben-Mohammed-el-Mokrani, khalif of Medjana,
chief of one of the most illustrious families of all Algeria.)
[37]. A sort of sabretache attached to the pommel of the saddle, in which the Arabs carry their ammunition, their papers, and food, etc., etc. Sometimes the djebira is a marvel of elaborate embroidery.