Talking with an Arab of Suse, on the subject of these fleet camels, and the desert horse, he assured me that he knew a young man who was passionately fond of a lovely young girl, whom nothing would satisfy but some oranges: these were not to be procured at Mogodor, and as the lady wanted the best fruit, nothing less than Marocco oranges would satisfy her; the Arab mounted his heirie at the dawn of day, went to Marocco,[90] purchased the oranges, and returned that night after the gates were shut, and sent the oranges to the lady by a guard of one of the batteries. I am aware, in relating this circumstance, that I shall incur the imputation of credulity; but Mr. Bruce, who related many things very common in Africa, was lampooned by Munchausen; much, however, of what was doubted, has been confirmed by other travellers after him, and I am persuaded that in a short time much more will be ascertained to be fact, which he has, by the ignorant and presuming, been censured for relating.[91] If transactions and facts well known by the African be incompatible with the European’s ideas of probability, and, on that account rejected as fables, it is not the fault of the former, but of the latter, who has neglected to investigate a neighbouring quarter of the globe. _The Sh’rubah Er’reeh_,[92] or Desert horse, is to the common horse what the desert camel is to the camel of burden; this animal does not, however, answer the purpose so well for crossing the barren desert, as he requires a feed of camel’s milk once every day, which is his only sustenance, so that there must necessarily be two she camels wherever he goes to afford this supply: for he will touch neither barley, wheat (oats are never given to horses in Africa), hay, straw, nor indeed any other thing but camel’s milk: they are employed chiefly to hunt the ostrich, at which sport they are very expert. When the desert horses are brought to Marocco, as they sometimes are, they fall away; and if obliged ultimately from hunger to eat barley and straw, the Moorish provender, they recover, gradually fill up, and become handsome to the sight, but lose entirely their usual speed. Alkaid Omar ben Daudy, an Arab of Rahammenah, when Governor of Mogodor, had two Saharawan horses in his stables; finding it inconvenient to feed them constantly on camel’s milk, he resolved to try them on the usual food given to Barbary horses; he accordingly had their food gradually changed, and in a short time fed them altogether with barley,[93] and occasionally with wheat and straw: they grew fat, and looked better than before (for those of Sahara of this particular breed are by no means handsome; they have a small slender body, formed like that of the greyhound, a powerful broad chest, and small legs), but they lost their speed, and soon afterwards died, as if nature had designed them to be appropriated solely to that district, whose arid and extensive plains render their use essentially necessary.