"I take them by surprise in the morning, while the bird is yet in its nest and the moisture from the dew is making its way to the river. "I surprise them with my sleek-coated courser that by its swiftness overtakes the wild beasts and never wearies of hunting the gazelle in all seasons and far from our home. "He has the flanks of the gazelle, the legs of the female ostrich, and the straight back of the wild ass standing as a sentinel on a hillock. "His croup, like to a heap of sand which moisture has rendered compact, harmonizes with withers rising above the back, like the pack-saddle of the camel kept in its place by the crupper. "The swellings behind his ears are rounded like spheres: the headstall and the headband seem as if they were fixed to the extremity of the trunk of a palm-tree, stripped of its leaves. "Fastened by the side of other horses, he bites and demeans himself in his jealousy as if he were possessed by a demon." SHOEING. Contrary to the accepted opinion, the Arabs of the Sahara are in the custom of shoeing their horses, whether on the two forefeet, or on all four feet, according to the nature of the ground they occupy. Those who shoe them on all four feet are the inhabitants of the stony districts, and these constitute the majority. Among them are the Arbâa, Mekhadema, Aghrazelia, Saâid-Mekhalif, Oulad-Yagoub, Oulad-Nayl, Oulad-Sidi-Shikh, Hamyane, etc., etc. It is the universal practice to take the shoes off in the spring, when the animals are turned out to grass; the Arabs asserting that care must be taken not to check the renewal of the blood which takes place at that season of the year. In every desert tribe there is a _douar_ set apart by the name of _douar-el-maâllemin_, "the master's douar." It is that of the farriers. A profession entirely and especially devoted to that indispensable complement of the Arab, his horse, might be expected to be made the object of particular esteem. Accordingly, numerous and invaluable privileges are accorded to them, but I am not certain if the concession of these privileges is to be regarded as an homage rendered to an art that refers exclusively to the horse, and not also, seeing that it is the only art that survives in the desert, as a remembrance of the encouragements formerly given to the able and learned men of Arabia, Egypt, Africa, and Spain, by the Arabs of the olden times, the brilliant conquerors of the Goths and contemporaries of Haroun-al-Raschid. The Arabs of the Sahara say that their first farriers came to them from the towns on the seaboard, such as Fez, Tunis, Mascara, Tlemcen, and Constantine, since when their knowledge and their calling have been perpetuated in their families from generation to generation. A farrier must likewise be something of an armourer and iron-smith, to repair their bits, spurs, knives, guns, sabres, and pistols, besides making horse-shoes, sowing needles, sickles, small hatchets, and mattocks.