In summer the Saharenes proceed to the Tell to lay in their provision of grain. They are surrounded by unfriendly strangers, and sometimes by enemies. They do not, therefore, care to send their horses out to graze, as they would run the risk of being stolen. Nor are they sorry to have them close at hand in case of any of the numerous accidents happening which so often occur. Barley and barley straw are purchased from their hosts: it is the period of the year when the animals fare most liberally. I mention barley straw, because no Arab would ever consent to feed his horses on fresh wheaten straw. They fancy it produces jaundice if used before the winter. If, perchance, any thing should prevent them from going to buy grain in the Tell, as the plains afford no herbage but what is dried up by the sun, they make for the mountains of the Sahara, where there is a better chance of coming across rivers, or ponds, or at least marshes. If this resource fails them, they encamp in the neighbourhood of the _Kuesours_[43] where straw can be had for money or in the way of barter. In either case the mares alone are sent out to graze, the horses being fastened in front of the tents. Whatever be the temperature, the Arabs never give their horses that mixture of bran, barley meal, and water which we call a mash, and of which we make such a mistaken use. They accuse it of relaxing the tissues and of weakening the system, while favouring the growth of fat, an evil they dread above all things. When their horses are over heated they lessen their work, and if they can procure it they give them green barley straw, and if that is not to be had they have recourse to cooling baths. As to the barley, they like it heavy, without any bad smell, and free from the dirt which gets mixed with it in the "silos," as well as from the black, withered, and blighted grains which have been struck by the South wind. In autumn the horses are again turned out into the pastures, where they find the _shiehh_, that invaluable resource of the Sahara, so that it is said in praise of a man who is as capable as he is modest: So-and-so is like the shiehh: He has parts, but is no prattler. So much for the day. At night are given handfuls of _seurr_, a species of thorny shrub. It is cut down close to the ground, and beaten with a stick to get rid of the dry prickles, which might injure the œsophagus, or the membranous lining of the stomach. It contains many nutritive elements. Another plant somewhat resembling the common bramble and called _el âdem_ is prepared in a similar manner. The horse is watered only once in the twenty-four hours, about two in the afternoon. That time is thought the most favourable because the water will have lost something of its coldness,—the temperature then falling every day. Those who are well off give barley, but the poor cannot always do so.