The Horses of the Sahara and the Manners of the DesertDaumas, E. (Eugène)
History
The Horses of the Sahara and the Manners of the Desert
Daumas, E. (Eugène)
Arabian horse; Sahara
The Arabs of the desert are so fond of their independent wandering
life, that they regard as the most wearisome moment of their existence
the season when they are compelled to come to the Tell to purchase
their supplies of corn.
Footnote 16:
Feminine of _sherif_, signifying a descendant of the Prophet.
Footnote 17:
In their poetic effusions, the Arabs frequently call the sun _aâin
ennour_, "eye of light."
Footnote 18:
Among the Arabs, there are no rejoicings without firing off of guns.
Footnote 19:
When a desert tribe is at peace, the camels are sent away ten or
twelve leagues, to graze, and it may be easily conceived that if a
sudden swoop be made upon them it needs excellent horses and vigourous
horsemen to recover them.
Footnote 20:
Small and restless ears as well as lively and prominent eyes are a
sign, say the Arabs, of a healthy action of the heart, and that the
animal is full of life.
Footnote 21:
The _mahari_ is much more slender in its proportions than the
_djemel_, or common camel. It has the exquisite ears of the gazelle,
the supple neck of the ostrich, the hollow belly of the _slougui_ or
greyhound. Its head is lean and gracefully attached to the neck; its
eyes bright, black, and prominent; its lips long and firm, covering
well the teeth; the hump is small, but the chest where it touches the
earth when the animal couches down, is strong and protuberant; the
dock of its tail is short; its legs, very lean in the upper part, are
furnished with muscles from the ham and the knee down to the hoof, and
the sole of its foot is neither broad nor thick: finally, it has very
few hairs on the neck, and its coat, of a tawny colour, is as fine as
that of the jerboa. See General Daumas' work on the "Great Desert." In
the desert, the _mahari_ is to the _djemel_ what, with us, a race
horse is to a draught horse.
Footnote 22:
_Hôor_, in the plural _harar_. Not unlikely, this word brought by our
ancestors from the crusades is the origin of the word _haras_.
Footnote 23:
The nomadic tribe of the Arbâa encamps in the neighbourhood of
Leghrouât. It is divided into three great sections: el Mamera, el
Hedjadj, and Ouled Salah. (_Sahara Algérien_, p. 45.)
Footnote 24:
All these tribes pitch their tents in the quadrilateral comprised
between Sidi-Khaled, Tougourt, the Beni-Mzab, and Leghrouât.
Footnote 25:
The French league is rather less than 2-1/2 miles English.
Footnote 26:
A very populous tribe who occupy the whole of the Djebel-Sahri and the
greatest part of the basin of the Oued-Djedi.
Footnote 27:
Berouaguïa is six leagues south of Medeah; Souagui, thirty one leagues
from Berouaguïa; Sidi-Bouzid, twenty-five leagues farther on; and
lastly Leghrouât, twenty-four leagues beyond that, or one hundred and
seven leagues south of Algiers.
Footnote 28:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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