"We have taken part in the races, and, although it was yet early, the crowd was as great as at the period of pilgrimages." Horses properly trained are never suffered to run against those that are not. They are placed in different classes, to each of which a different goal is assigned. The trained horses have much the longest course to run. The race-course in this case in called _el midmar_, and upon this the learned Bokhari has remarked: "The Prophet caused the trained horses to run by themselves, and fixed a distance of seven miles to traverse, while for ordinary horses he fixed a distance of only three miles."[52] The horses are grouped together by tens, but before allowing them to start and to prevent false starts, the following precaution is taken. A rope is stretched across touching the animals' chests, the two ends of which are held by two men. This rope is called _el mikbad_, and _el mikouas_; and in reference to it the Prophet said: "The horse runs according to his race, but placed before the _mikouas_ he runs according to his chance of a rider." Or, in other words: "In ordinary circumstances the speed of horses depends on the qualities of blood with which they are more or less endowed; but in a race success depends greatly on the skill of the rider, and not unfrequently a horse of the purest blood may be outstripped by a less noble animal." To each of the ten horses that have contended, a name is assigned indicative of his degree of swiftness. Thus the one that arrives first at the goal is called _Modjalla_, "taking away," because he takes away care from the heart of his master. The second is named _el Mousalli_, from the word _salouan_, "the extremity of the buttocks," because he follows the first so closely that the point of his nose touches the other's hindquarters. "I must positively be the _mousalli_, [that is, the second] if I consent to thy carrying off the first prize." The third receives the surname of _el Msali_, "Consoling," because he consoles his master, who is content that there is only one horse between his own and the winner. The fourth is _el Tali_, or "the Follower;" the fifth _el Mourtah_, "the fifth finger of the hand;" the sixth _el Aâtif_; the seventh _el Hadi_, "the Lucky one," because he has his share of success with the foremost; the eighth, _el Mouhammil_, "one who gives hopes," because he caused his master to hope that he might be among the winners; the ninth, _el Lathim_, or "the Buffeted," because he has been humiliated and rejected on all sides; and the tenth, _el Sokeït_, "the Taciturn," because his master undergoes the lowest humiliation without uttering a word—shame closing his mouth. Of these ten horses seven gain a prize, but the others obtain nothing. At the further end of the course a vast tent is pitched, into which the seven winners are admitted in order to shelter them, while the three others are ignominiously driven away. IN THE NAME OF ALLAH THE CLEMENT AND MERCIFUL.