So much for the day. At night are given handfuls of seurr, a species of thorny shrub. It is cut down close to the ground, and beaten with a stick to get rid of the dry prickles, which might injure the œsophagus, or the membranous lining of the stomach. It contains many nutritive elements. Another plant somewhat resembling the common bramble and called el âdem is prepared in a similar manner.
The horse is watered only once in the twenty-four hours, about two in the afternoon. That time is thought the most favourable because the water will have lost something of its coldness,—the temperature then falling every day. Those who are well off give barley, but the poor cannot always do so.
In winter the horses continue to be sent to the pastures, which are now verdant in proportion to the rain that has fallen. The shiehh, the âdem, the derine,[[44]] etc., are met with, and afford a very sufficient diet. At night bouse is thrown to them in quantities. It is called by the Arabs "brother of the barley," so highly do they appreciate its nutritive properties. Bouse is in fact, nothing else than the alfa,[[45]] which, at the moment of forming its ear, having been pulled by its upper part has come away and got separated from its sheath. Being gathered into small sheaves it is cut up in pieces and answers the purpose of chopped straw. The alfa is turned to account in yet another manner. Its roots are laid bare with a mattock and being freed from their reddish coating, are eaten with avidity by the animal. This article of food takes the name of gueddeine or zemouna, according to the locality. It is nutritious, but not a substitute for barley. Hay is unknown in the desert. The Arabs might, if they chose, lay up an abundant supply of it for the winter, but they reject it as having a tendency to make a horse heavy, to soften the fibre, and in the long run to occasion inflammatory disorders. The animals are watered only once a day as in autumn. It is a proverbial saying with the Arabs that "The food of the morning goes out into the draught, while that of the evening passes into the croup." They affirm, therefore, that if the horse has drunk sufficient over night, and eaten heartily through the night, there is not the slightest inconvenience in not giving him anything on the morrow, especially if he has to set out early in the morning. Thus in our camps, with fifteen to eighteen hundred Arab horsemen making part of the expedition, what did we witness? Every officer of the old African army can vouch for the truth of what I am about to say:
Contrary to our habits, to the very last moment the most perfect tranquillity continued to reign in the Arab bivouac. Not a minute was taken from the rest of the animal. They gave him nothing either to eat or to drink. The instant before starting they rubbed him down with a nose-bag. The saddle replaced the covering worn through the night. The bridle was put on, the tents struck, the morning prayer offered up, and at the hour named they were on the march. More than once I have happened to testify my surprise at such a system, but always received the same reply: "Why wouldst thou do for thy horse what thou wouldst not do for thyself? If thou leavest the table at ten or eleven at night, canst thou sit down again to it on the morrow at the dawn of day?" With this regimen the animals remain thin and slender. They are always ready to march or gallop, or do whatever hard work may be required of them. They pick up in an astonishing manner when instead, of a few handfuls of barley and what they can graze off plains parched by a burning sun, they fall in with the produce of the Tell. How would it be, then, if they were placed on the diet of European horses? Instead of their flesh being firm they would get quite fat, and so gain in our estimation, but they would lose in that of the Arabs, who little appreciate that style of beauty generally acquired at the cost of the best qualities of a war horse.
However, if the Arab is too genuine a horseman not to attach the greatest importance to vigour, he is on the other hand too fond of pomp and distinction and the fantasia—to use a word already popular in Europe—not to bestow upon himself, when he can, the luxury of a horse for show and parade. It is therefore no rare thing to see Arabs of high position leave their favourite mares for three or four months fastened in front of their tents, without putting them to any work. They thus get into good condition, and are employed only at festivals and marriage feasts and on occasions when the chiefs are particularly anxious to distinguish themselves. For the chace, for razzias, and for long and arduous journeys, they keep horses of less apparent value, but of which they are sure, and do not fear to fatigue them. The mares to which we have alluded are equipped with great ostentation. The stara, or cloths, and the bridles are embroidered with pure gold, the stirrups are plated or gilt, and the felt saddle-cloths are as fine as cloth; the most esteemed coming from Ouareglâa.
REMARKS OF THE EMIR ABD-EL-KADER.
One of the Prophet's companions as he went out one morning found him wiping with his cloak the head of his horse. "Why, with thy cloak?" "What know'st thou?" replied the Prophet. "It may be that the Angel Gabriel has been angry with me on his account last night." "At least let me give him his food." "Ah!" cried the Prophet, "Thou would'st take for thyself all the rewards, for the Angel Gabriel has told me that every grain of barley eaten by the horse is accounted to me for a good work."
The Saharene gives his horse camel's milk to drink which has the particular property of imparting speed, so that a man—according to what is said by reliable persons who guarantee the truth of the statement—if he takes nothing else for a sufficient time, will attain to such a degree of swiftness that he may vie with the camels themselves. In fact, camel's milk strengthens the brain and the tendons, and does away with fat, which produces a relaxation of the muscles.
In some parts of the Sahara the chiefs and horsemen of renown never give green food to their war horses. Milk, barley, and the plants known by the names of shiehh, derine, bouse, and seuliane form their sole keep. This diet does not enlarge the belly or fatten like green food, which distends the intestinal canal, partly because of the enormous quantity consumed by the animal before he is satisfied, and partly because of the water it contains.
In summer the horses are not watered until three o'clock in the afternoon. In winter they are watered rather earlier—from noon to one. It is the time of day when in the open air the water has lost much of its coldness. These principles are expressed in the following proverb, known to the meanest horseman of the desert:—