Eighty or one hundred piastres are given for an ordinary horse, which is in general less valued than an ass or mule; but a horse of a well known Arabian breed will fetch any price. Abdallah, pacha of Damascus, had just given three thousand piastres for one. The history of a horse is frequently the topic of general conversation. When I was at Jerusalem, the feats of one of these steeds made a great noise. The Bedouin, to whom the animal, a mare, belonged, being pursued by the governor’s guards, rushed with her from the top of the hills that overlooked Jericho. The mare scoured at full gallop an almost perpendicular declivity without stumbling, and left the soldiers lost in admiration and astonishment. The poor creature, however, dropped down dead on entering Jericho, and the Bedouin, who would not quit her, was taken weeping over the body of his companion. This mare has a brother in the desert, who is so famous, that the Arabs always know where he has been, where he is, what he is doing, and how he does. Ali Aga religiously showed me, in the mountains near Jericho, the footsteps of the mare that died in the attempt to save her master,—a Macedonian could not have beheld those of Bucephalus with greater respect.
The pure Arabians are somewhat smaller than our race horses, seldom exceeding fourteen hands two inches in height. Their heads are very beautiful, clean, and wide between the jaws; the forehead is broad and square; the face flat; the muzzle short and fine; the eyes prominent and brilliant; the ears small and handsome; the nostrils large and open; the skin of the head thin, through which may be distinctly traced the whole of the veins; the neck rather short than otherwise. The body may, as a whole, be considered too light, and the breast rather narrow; but behind the arms, the chest generally swells out greatly, leaving ample room for the lungs to play, and with great depth of ribs. The shoulder is superior to that of any other breed; the scapula, or shoulder-blade, inclines backwards nearly an angle of forty-five degrees; the withers are high and arched; the neck beautifully curved; the mane and tail long, thin, and flowing: the legs are fine, flat, and wiry, with the posteriors placed somewhat oblique, which has led some to suppose that their strength was thereby lessened—but this is by no means the case; the bone is of uncommon density; and the prominent muscles of the fore arms and thigh, prove that the Arabian horse is fully equal to all that has been said of its physical powers. The Arabian is never known, in a tropical climate, to be a roarer, or to have curbs, the shape, from the point of the hock to the fetlock, being very perfect. It is a remarkable fact, that the skin of all the light-coloured Arabians is pure black, or bluish black, which gives to white horses that beautiful silvery gray colour so prevalent among the coursers of noble blood. Bay and chestnut are also common, and considered good colours. It has been remarked in India, that no horse of a dark gray colour was ever known to be a winner on the turf. If an Arabian horse exceed fourteen and a half hands in height, the purity of his blood is always doubted in India.
Speaking of the docile character of the Arab horse, the late Bishop of Calcutta writes: “My morning rides are very pleasant. My horse is a nice, quiet, good-tempered little Arab, who is so fearless, that he goes, without starting, close to an elephant, and so gentle and docile, that he eats bread out of my hand, and has almost as much attachment and coaxing ways as a dog. This seems the general character of the Arab horses, to judge from what I have seen in this country. It is not the fiery, dashing animal I had supposed, but with more rationality about him, and more apparent confidence in his rider, than the majority of English horses.”—Le Keux—Brown—Clarke—Heber.
Arbalist, s. A cross-bow.
Archer, s. He that shoots with a bow.
Archery, s. The use of the bow; the act of shooting with the bow; the art of an archer.
