on one horse, made a wonderful march, and escaped. The old chief swore that the fellow was either mounted upon the devil or the favourite mare he had lost. After his return, he found the latter was the case, that the lover was the thief of his mare as well as of his daughter; and that he stole the one to carry off the other. The chief was quite gratified to think he had not been beaten by a mare of another breed; and was easily reconciled to the young man, in order that he might recover the mare, which appeared an object about which he was more solicitous than about his daughter."

Of all the numberless stories, (which in very sooth might be termed legion), of the affection entertained by man when in the desert, and dwelling under the warmer sun of a tropical clime, for these valuable creatures, I shall introduce but two; one is very generally known, but may not be found unworthy of record in a treatise on the horse. "The whole stock of an Arab of the desert consisted of a mare. The French consul offered to purchase her in order to present her to his sovereign Louis XIV. The Arab would have rejected the proposal at once with indignation and scorn, but he was miserably poor. He had no means of supplying his most urgent wants, or procuring the barest necessaries of life still he hesitated. He had scarcely a rag to cover him, and his wife and children were starving. The sum offered was great; would provide him and his family with food for life. At length, and reluctantly, he consented. He brought the mare to the dwelling of the consul-he dismounted-he stood leaning upon her he looked now at the gold, and then at his favourite he sighed he wept! To whom is it,' said he, I am going to yield thee up? To Europeans, who will tie thee close-who will beat thee-who will

render thee miserable! Return with me, my beauty! my jewel! and rejoice the hearts of my children!' As he pronounced the last words, he sprung upon her back and was out of sight in a moment."

The other is detailed by Major Denham, the celebrated traveller into the interior of Africa, and is not so universally diffused as the former, but gives us a pleasing example, in which not only the wild, untutored Arab, but also the more enlightened European, has acknowledged the attachment these horses inspire from their utility, mildness, and sagacity. This horse died in the desert.

"There are few situations in a man's life," says this author," in which losses of this nature are felt most keenly, and this is one of them. It was not grief, but it was something very nearly approaching to it; and though I felt ashamed of the degree of derangement I suffered from it, yet it was several days before I could get over the loss. Let it, however, be remembered that the poor animal had been my support and comfort; nay, I may say companion, through many a dreary day and night; had endured both hunger and thirst in my service, and was so docile, that he would stand still for hours in the desert while I slept between his legs, his body affording me the only shelter that could be obtained from the powerful influence of a noon-day sun; he was yet the fleetest of the fleet, and ever foremost in the chase."

Such, then, is the Arab horse, which for every quality estimable in that animal, surpasses all that are found in every other portion of the globe. When young, they are trained in the tents of their masters, and are found lying down to rest, and feeding in the same habitation., with the rest of his family, and oftentimes serving the purpose of a pillow, on which they rest their heads;

hence their docility and evenness of temper. In the symmetry and beauty of their make consists their swiftness, occasionally travelling eighty, at other times one hundred and twenty miles, without stopping; and from the general nature of the country in which they are reared, together with the frequent scarcity of provisions, constitutes in them that sagacity, endurance of hunger and fatigue, and their great courage, which always has and ever will render them valuable while one of the breed exists.

The Bedouins appear as kind and gentle to the brute creation as they are to one another, and their fond attachment to their horses is proverbial. D'Arvienæ tells us a most interesting story of an Arab who had been obliged to sell his mare, making very frequently a long journey to come and see her. "I have seen him," says he, "cry with tenderness, whilst kissing and caressing her. He would embrace her, would wipe her eyes with his handkerchief, rub her with his shirtsleeves, and gives her a thousand blessings. eyes!' would he say to her, 'my soul! my heart! must I be so unfortunate as to have thee sold to so many masters, and not to keep thee myself? I am poor, my antelope! I have brought thee up like a child; I never beat nor chid thee. God preserve thee, my dearest! Thou art pretty-thou art sweet-thou art lovely! God defend thee from the looks of the envious !" "

'My

EGYPTIAN HORSES

THERE is no breed of horses especially particular to Egypt; all that are there being generally importations

from the neighbouring countries of Arabia, Dongola, &c.

There is a curious circumstance related by Burckhard, touching the manner in which the Egyptians set about breaking a horse in the habit of biting." I have seen vicious horses in Egypt cured of this, by presenting to them, while in the act of doing so, a leg of mutton just taken from the fire. The pain which a horse feels in biting through the hot meat, causes it, after a few lessons, to abandon the vicious habit."

THE PERSIAN HORSES

HAVE been celebrated for ages. Ancient history makes frequent mention of the speed and excellence of the Parthian cavalry, and that nation used to propitiate the deity by sacrificing a Persian horse. They were always in great requisition, and it would seem furnished the east ages before the Arabian horses were known, or perhaps existed. They show much blood, and are taller than the Arabs, but this may arise from the good pasture that is found in many parts of Persia. The present race of horses in that country has not degenerated from days of yore.

In Turkistan there is a breed denominated Toorkamans, some of which, especially those of pure blood, are held in equal estimation with the Persians: not from their beauty or appearance, but from the speed and inexhaustible spirit and courage they display under the greatest fatigue. At first, their superiority is not apparent, but on trial, their valuable qualities are fully displayed, and some have been purchased at three hundred pounds a-piece.

The horses of Circassia are many of them very excellent, especially such as belong to persons of distinction. These are marked on the buttock with a hot iron, and it is accounted a capital offence to mark in the same manner one of the common horses of the country. They are valuable not only for swiftness and strength, but they are exceedingly beautiful, the finest being known under the name of Shalokh, and are the property of the prince.

THE EAST INDIAN HORSES

ARE originally from Persia and Arabia. A breed be tween the Toorkaman and Persian is much esteemed for beauty, speed, and spirit. There are many others of inferior note. Many horses in the East India Company's studs in the different presidencies, are remarkably fine and strong animals; their chief faults are fulness of the hocks and a deficiency of bone below the knee. Many horses have been recently imported from Australia and the Cape, which are very strong and superior.

THE CHINESE HORSES

ARE inferior to all other breeds in the east, being void of strength or beauty, and no traveller or resident has ever been known to speak favourably of them in any one instance.