[38]. "To-day we went out on horseback with our host Youssouf-ben-Bender, and directed our course towards the desert. He was accompanied by his sons and grandsons, all mounted on fine horses, while his servants proceeded on dromedaries. During this excursion, we met an Arab who caused me some surprise. Without saddle or bridle, with a slight halter, the noseband of which was a thin iron chain, and holding in his hand a wand crooked at one end with which he guided his horse, he started off at full gallop, pulled up dead halt, was off again like an arrow, turned sharp round at full speed, and while going at that pace, made his horse change his feet, off the ground, on the right line. I could scarcely believe my own eyes and I question if our most celebrated riding masters or "sportsmen" could do better. What particularly struck me was the simplicity of the means employed by this son of Ishmael to obtain what he exacted from his courser. In Europe, we study the functions and play of the muscles, only to counteract them. In Arabia also are they studied, but in order to make use of nature, not to do her violence. Besides, it is not merely one Arab here and there who rides well; but all without exception are good horsemen, all love the horse passionately, all understand how to train him. At the bivouac an inhabitant of the Nedjed always sleeps with his head resting on the shoulder of his horse, and every horse lies down at his master's bidding. The latter thus obtains a pillow softer than the ground, and also renders it difficult for any one to steal his horse during his sleep." (Voyage dans la Haute Asie, by M. Pétiniaud, General Inspector of the "Haras.")
[39]. While with us, in France, the stirrup is not supposed to bear more than the weight of the leg; with the Arabs, on the contrary, the whole weight of the body, when going at a good pace, is thrown upon the stirrups.
[40]. France was indebted to the hatred of Abd-el-Kader cherished by Mustapha-ben-Ismaïl for the unfailing loyalty of the illustrious chief of the powerful tribe of the Douairs. He had been for upwards of thirty years the Aga of the Turks. Thus, when the son of Mahi-Eddin, at the age of twenty-five, was proclaimed Sultan by the tribe of the province of Oran, the aged warrior refused to yield obedience to him, saying that "never with his white beard would he go to kiss the hand of a mere boy." The consequences of this enmity forced him to take refuge in the mechouar of Tlemcen, where for two years he held out against the hadars, or citizens, all of whom were devoted to the cause of him who had assumed the title of Commander of the Faithful. Only when reduced to the last extremity did he demand and obtain succour from Marshal Clauzel, whose column relieved him in 1836. From that period, notwithstanding his great age, he took part at the head of the "goums" of the Douairs and the Zmelas, in all the actions fought in the province of Oran. France recompensed this energetic attachment by a Marshal's baton and the cross of a Commander of the Legion of Honour. Mustapha-ben-Ismaïl was killed by the Flittas, on the 19th May 1843, in his eightieth year, while skirmishing in the rear, protecting the rich booty taken from the Hashem-Gharabas, at the capture of the Smala.
[41]. Tents pitched in a circle, a subdivision of the tribe.
[42]. A river in Algeria.
[43]. The plural form of Ksar, a hamlet, village, or town of the desert.
[44]. The Stipa barbata of Desfontaines. This plant grows abundantly in the Sahara. The inhabitants of that unproductive region wander far and wide to gather the seeds of this grass, and often collect a large quantity. The seed is ground down and used for the same purposes as wheaten flour.
[45]. This plant is very common throughout Algeria, and is much used for feeding horses. In our expeditions our chargers have often had nothing else to eat. It is the Lygeum Spartum. The culms of this grass do not rise above ten or twelve centimètres in height. It is the Stipa tenacissima used in the East for making basket work, etc., and in some parts of Algeria the natives weave it into mats.
[46]. The Arabs understand by the hot season from April to September inclusive, and by the cold season from October to March inclusive.
[47]. A very important tribe situated to the North-West of Oran.