CHAPTER V. Zoology. T h e horses o f West Barbary, though small, are renowned for fleetness and a c tiv ity ; the breed, however, has been much neglected, except in Abda,and about Marocco, at a place called A in T o g a ; these horses have stronger sinews than those o f Europe, and after a little training are pecu liarly docile. The stallions on ly are rode, the mares being kept for breeding, except among the Shelluhs, who use them for riding. Geldings are unknown in Mohammedan countries; a Mooselmin w ill neither castrate, nor sell the skin o f the beast o f the Prophet. T h e A rab is p a r ticu lar ly attached to the horse: he rises with the sun, visits him, and laying his right hand on the horse’s face, he ejaculates the words (Bissim illah) In the name o f G o d ; he then kisses his hand, which is supposed to have received a benediction from the touch o f the favourite animal o f their Prophet Mohammed; he then has the place where the horse stands swept clean, some d ry sand spread, and an arm fu ll o f straw trodden small b y oxen, placed before him at such a distance, that he can b y stretching out his neck ju s t reach it (for the horse being picqueted, and fastened b y ropes round the fetlock, cannot move from his place) : this is done to lengthen the neck, and to strengthen the fore-hand b y e xe rtion ; the length o f neck is considered as a great perfection, so that when the Arabian jockies purchase a horse, they measure from the top o f the shoulder to the tip o f his nose; and then from the top o f the shoulder, to the end o f the fleshy part o f the t a i l ; i f the length o f .the former exceed that o f the latter, it is the criterion o f a good h o r se ; but if the latter h a lf exceed the front h a lf in length, the horse is considered o f an inferior kind. Such a predilection have Mohammedans for ablution, that the best horses are sprinkled with water eve ry morning on the chest, loins, and sexual p a r t s ; this, as th e y pretend, improves the strength o f the animal, and promotes his health; at noon on ly he is watered ; then he has a little more straw, and remains afterwards fasting till sun-set, when they feed him with a bag o f barley, attached to his head like our hackney-coach horses: they reprobate Christians for feeding their horses in a manger, and observe, that when a horse is used to a manger, he will not eat out o f a bag, and as mangers are not to be found in this country in travelling, the plausibility o f preferring the bag is e v id e n t : they do not suffer him to eat any straw after the feed o f barley, alleging, that it would destroy the good effect o f the latter. T he Arabs are expert fa r rie rs ; their horses are generally healthy, but are subject to jaundice, which they cure by drawing the skin from the flesh at certain places w ith a pair o f pinchers, and then piercing it with a hot iron lik e an awl. T h e y turn them out to grass e ve ry spring during forty days, after which they physic them th u s : th e y g iv e them a pound o f old butter, called budra,* w h ich they mix with two ounces o f * This budra is preserved in earthen pots under ground, .many, sometimes 20 or SO years, as it is said, to improve by age ; it is of so subtile and penetrating a nature, that it quickly passes to the capillary vessels of the body, and being rubbed on the inside of the hand, is quickly absorbed through the pores into the blood.
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