"We took part in the horse races. Though it was early morning the crowd was as dense as at the season of pilgrimage. "Horses were brought from every quarter, but no one knows better than ourselves how to rear and train them. "We arrived at the peep of day with horses whose hoofs were as hollow as cups. The stars had announced good fortune to them. "They are drawn up according to the purity of their race. The noble is placed by the side of the noble. "Among them is a black horse with robust limbs and adorned with a white mark on his forehead. When he feels the bit in his mouth, he dashes off, clearing the lines traced to indicate the goal. "The star that shines on his forehead equals the brilliancy of Mirzam.[53] "Then a dark bay with a black mane, endowed by nature with admirable qualities, with a sleek skin, bearing also a star on his forehead, and a white mark on the upper lip. "Next a horse completely black without a white spot anywhere, but participating in the excellent qualities of the preceding. "They have been brought to excite the admiration of the spectators, impatient to see them appear in the lists. "Horsemen mount them, hardy as bars of iron and short of stature. Their voice is like the roaring of the lion. "Seated on their coursers they look like starlings hovering over the table-land of a mountain. "At last they draw up in line. In the midst of the assembly of spectators, a man, a Mussulman like the others, sits in the capacity of umpire. He has been chosen by common accord as arbiter, and surely his awards will not be tainted with partiality. "The steeds let loose in the arena disperse immediately like pearls that fall from a necklace, or like a covey of _ketâa_ (gray partridges) discovered by a falcon that swoops down upon them, attacking them with fury. "The black, with a white mark on the forehead, comes in first. "The bay with the dark mane is second, and the entirely black is without reproach, for he runs in third. The _Tali_ is the fourth, and follows the others. But how far is the inhabitant of the Tahama from the inhabitant of Nedjed! The fifth, _el Mourtah_, is not to be blamed, for he has done as well as he could do. The _Aâtif_ is the sixth. He comes in all trembling, and his fear well nigh stopped him in mid-career. "The seventh is the _Hadi_. The awarder of prizes will give unto him his due. "The _Mouhammil_, who gave such hopes to his master, has come in the eighth. He was mistaken. The unfortunate one encountered on his path the bird of ill omen. He suffered seven horses to pass before him and ran in the eighth—but the eighth horse is not one of the winners. "The ninth arrives at last. He is the _Lathim_, the buffeted one, and receives blows from every one.