Aâtika[56] said to me: "Come and be without a companion!" Docile as the sabre one draws from the sheath, Sabok hears my spurs, and divines my thoughts; He cleaves through space like a falcon regaining its nest, And when I arrive near her whose eyes are languishing, Alone, in the midst of peril, patient and immovable, He champs his bit until my return. By the head of the Prophet, this horse is the resource of caravans, The ornament of a tent, and the honour of my tribe. I am an Arab. I know how to command and to combat, My name protects the feeble and the afflicted, My flocks are the reserve of the poor, And the stranger in my tent is named The Welcome One. The Almighty hath loaded me with his gifts, But time turns upon itself, and turns back, And if I must drink one day of the two cups of life, I will show that adversity cannot humiliate my soul. My virtue shall be resignation, My fortune, contempt of riches, My happiness, the hope of another life; And if poverty were to grasp me by the throat, I would not the less glorify Allah. PART SECOND THE MANNERS OF THE DESERT THE EMIR ABD-EL-KADER ON THE HORSE. It is certain that the Arabs are the most experienced horsemen in the world. They know a horse thoroughly and minutely, and can rear and train one better than any other people. It is also certain that the Arab horses are better than those of all other nations. A sufficient proof of this is that they always finish by overtaking the gazelle, the ostrich, and the wild ass, which they sometimes pursue to a great distance. "He has chased the onager, the buffalo, and the ostrich, without once pulling up, and without a single drop of sweat moistening his coat." The nature of the horses of the Sahara is a consequence of the life led by their masters. The Saharenes are obliged to accustom their horses to support hunger through the scarcity of food, and likewise thirst through the scarcity of water, which is frequently not to be found within a couple of day's march of the encampment. Endurance of fatigue and speed are the result of the countless quarrels of these Arabs, their incessant hostile excursions, and their fondness for the chace of the swiftest animals, such as the ostrich, the gazelle, and the wild ass, which some among them hunt the whole year round without interruption.