drink; she will be seized with a disease as rapid as the stream, and will either die or become yours;' in the latter case, the dupe must counteract the former charm by another. On the borders of the Wad Noon, twenty days' journey west of Soos, there is said to be a school of alchemists, necromancers, and celebrated sorcerers, among whom all the occult sciences are cultivated, and where the marvels of the magic world may be witnessed in the highest perfection. These superstitions belong chiefly to the vulgar; the wealthy Arabs, and the devout maraboots, attach themselves closely to the precepts of their religion, read their holy books, and believe in no prodigies but those of the Koran. But the mass of the people are plunged in the grossest ignorance. The chiefs endeavour to remedy this as they can; they have the hours of prayer punctually announced, even when en route; and they generally establish a sufficient number of schools in the tents. But his after-life of constant exertion and migration makes the Arab easily forget the instructions of his youth. He often hears them again, however, in a poetic form when a delighted multitude crowd round a meddah, or religious bard, on a festive occasion, and listen to the praises of the saints or the feats of the holy wars, sung to the music of the tambourine and flute.

The only industrial class among these people are the farriers, some of whom are also general smiths, and can repair bits, spurs, knives, guns, swords, and pistols, as well as the more domestic implements of the tent-bodkins, shears, hatchets, and pickaxes. They seem to form quite a separate society, however, occupying a duar appropriated to themselves, and enjoying peculiar privileges and immunities in consideration of their indispensable utility. It is said that they came originally from the towns on the coast-Oran, Tlemecen, Constantine; and that having attached themselves to the various nomade tribes of the desert, their art has been transmitted to their descendants from generation to generation. It is essentially different from that practised in Europe, which they utterly despise. A French officer told one of them that his countrymen had never discovered any inconvenience in their own mode of horseshoeing. I daresay not,' was the quick reply; 'how should they? When they try to clear, as we do, such a space in a day as they now usually travel in five or six, they will see. Splendid journeys you Christians make with your horses!'

The farrier is exempt from all the imposts and contributions which fall on the tribe to which he belongs. Neither does he 'owe any man shelter or kooskoos;' that is, he is not expected to exercise hospitality, which is sometimes a pretty heavy tax. Every tent of the section he serves gives him a feutra of corn, one of barley, and one of butter, when the annual supplies are brought from the Tell in autumn. In spring, each tent gives him a fleece; and when a camel is killed for food, a certain part of it is his perquisite. After a razzia or battle, he receives an equal share of the spoil with the warriors, whether he has accompanied

the expedition or not. A still more important immunity is, thất his life is always spared in war; but he enjoys it only on condition of his living an inoffensive life, devoted to his trade; if he distinguishes himself by military prowess, he forfeits his privilege. It sometimes happens that a farrier is found in a battle, armed and on horseback: his life, of course, is in danger; but let him dismount and kneel, imitating with the corners of his burnoose the rising and falling of the bellows, and he will be spared. Warriors have sometimes deigned to save their lives by practising this stratagem. It is evident that these craftsmen are held in some measure of contempt by their aristocratic employers. M. Carette, who wrote in 1844, before Daumas had ascertained the peculiarities attaching to this society, says: We have not been able to learn the origin of this feeling towards the trade of a blacksmith; but certain it is, that if a man be surrounded by enemies, and despairing of escape, he has only to wrap his head in the hood of his burnoose, and work with his arms as if beating iron; they will not stain their hands with the blood of so abject a wretch.' The immunities we have described are considered full compensation for the farrier's manual labour; so that if a makhzen provides the shoes for his horse, he pays nothing for getting them put on; when the job is finished, he remounts and rides away, exclaiming: 'May God have mercy on thy fathers!'

THE HORSE.

The first requisite for a makhzen is a thorough-bred horse, swift, strong, and trained by his master, through years of severe discipline, to the most perfect docility. The love of this animal seems to be inherent in the Arab. It sleeps in his tent, and is treated more as his companion and friend than his slave. At the daily gathering without the tent, when it is the privilege of the aged alone to speak, religion, war, the chase, and horsemanship, matters intimately connected and blended with each other, are the inexhaustible themes of discourse; the praises of particular horses are recounted with enthusiasm, and the rules for breeding and training are announced in apologue and fable. Though these people have no literature, and none but their talebs can read or write, yet every maxim of this hippic school is supported with: "Thus saith the Prophet,' and 'thus adds Sidi-Ahmed-ben-Youssef,' and 'thus relates Si-ben-Dyab.' The proverbs and legends of the people have thus assumed a religious character, which renders them permanent and accredited throughout the great family of Islamism. Among these sayings, one of the most generally current is the following: When Allah was about to create the horse, he said to the wind: "Thou shalt through my power give birth to a being which shall carry my worshippers, which shall be beloved and cherished by my servants, and which shall destroy the hope of

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all who follow not my laws." He then created the animal, saying: "I have made thee peerless; the wealth of this world shall be placed between thine eyes, and thou shalt destroy my enemies. In every place thou shalt be happy and preferred above all other animals, for everywhere thy master's heart shall yearn with tenderness towards thee. Strong in the advance as in the retreat, thou shalt fly without wings; and I will place on thy back none but those who know me, who offer me prayers and acceptable deeds; none but my devoted worshippers." The mind of the Prophet evidently was, that his followers should reserve to themselves the Arab horse as the most powerful instrument of war, which, if suffered to pass into infidel hands, would prove fatal to the Mohammedan cause. Accordingly, it is deemed a grievous sin to sell one to an unbeliever; and Abd-el-Kader avows, that when in the height of his power, he put to death without mercy every Mussulman convicted of so doing. Religion has made a duty that care of the horse which the roving life of the Arab, the incessant wars, and the immense distances to be cleared, had rendered a necessity; and his life may be said to be the joint one of himself and his horse. With it he traffics and travels; watches his numerous flocks; makes love and war; appears at the combat, the wedding, the religious festival-space is annihilated before him. It would be the highest insult to ask an Arab to sell his horse, unless he had himself expressed such an intention. 'He must suppose me in extreme poverty, since he dares make such a proposal!' would be his secret exclamation. Yet with all his passionate attachment to the equine race, he would not give to one of the species the name of a man. 'These names have been borne by saints; it would be profane to confer them on horses.' Horses' names are such as 'the Happy,' 'the Lucky,' 'the Enricher,' the Persevering,' 'the Coral," the Ostrich,' 'my Wealth.' Nearly similar are the appellations given to slaves; so that the scrupulosity seems not to arise from the veneration of human above brute nature, so much as from the fancied superiority of the race of Ishmael and the followers of the Prophet.

Among the wealthier Arabs, the horse is an object of luxury as well as utility. He is richly caparisoned; the saddle is covered with a large red morocco saddle-cloth, embroidered with arabesques in gold and silver. He is taught to perform several feats for mere amusement and display-such as rearing and walking on the hind-legs, kneeling down, leaping, turning short, stopping instantaneously when at full gallop, and setting off again. On festive occasions, it is usual to celebrate what may be called an equestrian fantasia, rather than a joust or tournament. On these occasions, the cavaliers, themselves in their richest equipments-large burnoose, fine woollen hyke, red morocco boots, silver spurs, ornamented with coral, straw-hat with ostrich plumes, silver-mounted sword and pistols-display to the utmost their own agility as well as that of their horses. While at full gallop, they pick up a girdle

No. 60.

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from the ground, or fire at a shoulder-blade of mutton when within fifty or sixty paces from it, or make the animal kneel on all-fours to the ladies-the ne plus ultra of horsemanship. But the most picturesque of these fantastic movements is the gateha. The horse rises off all four feet at once, while his rider, at the same instant, throws up his gun into the air, and catches it again. The ample folds of the long burnooses thrown back and displayed in this exercise, while the guns fly up and the horses jump simultaneously, present altogether a sight as beautiful as it is strange, and one which never fails to elicit the rapturous applause of the fair spectators.

The Arabs regard the European fashion of docking the horse's tail as barbarous in the extreme: it supplies them with an inexhaustible subject of mirthful jokes; as also do our little bare saddles, and, as they think, useless spurs.

THE GREYHOUND.

Nothing evinces more the aristocratic tastes of the Arabs of Sahara, than their treatment of the greyhound. Here, as in all other Arab countries, the common dog, whatever the utility of his employment in protecting the tents and flocks, is still regarded as a contemptible and troublesome servant a disagreeable necessity. The greyhound alone, as the companion of his chivalrous pastimes, is treated by the Arab with affectionate attention and respect. While, therefore, the faithful watch-dog is driven forth from the tent, treated as a vulgar brute, and allowed to seek his food among the offal and bones that have been thrown out, the greyhound sleeps in the men's apartment, on a carpet beside his master, or even on his bed. He is abundantly, but carefully fed with kooskoos; and in summer, cakes are made for him of milk and stoned dates, which are said to be highly tonic. If a thorough-bred animal, he will not drink out of a dirty vessel, nor will he taste milk in which any one has put his hands. He is defended from the cold with coverlets like the horse, the Arabs having no objection to his being sensitive in this respect—it is evidence of high blood. They delight in decking him with ornaments, and make for him collars of cowry-shells, to which they attach talismans to secure him from the blight of an evil eye.

No pains are spared in the breeding of this dainty animal; and the owner of a handsome sloogiah (female greyhound), thinks little of a journey of eighty or ninety miles to secure for her an eligible match. But nobility has its sorrows as well as its honours; and if she should take upon herself to form a mésalliance among the guardians of the flock, she is reproached in terms which we forbear to translate, and if not herself put to death without mercy, her progeny at least is destroyed. If, however, all in this respect has been done according to the rules of sloogian morals, her

accouchement is an event of distinguished importance, and one which attracts to the tent a round of congratulatory visits. These are not all disinterested; no flattery or cajolery is spared to induce the owner to bestow a puppy: Pray give me one: am I not your friend?' 'Do give me one: see how I will help you in the chase.' The usual answer to all these solicitations is, that he will not decide for seven days on which he will rear for himself, and which he will bestow. At the end of that time, he selects, according to established tests, the strongest of the litter, and appropriates the rest among his friends. At the end of forty days, they are removed from the mother, and fed with goat or camel's milk, mixed with dates and kooskoos.

At the age of three or four months, the education of the greyhound is begun by the children starting jerboas, and inducing him to give chase. He soon becomes so fond of this pastime, that he will bark round the holes, to induce the youngsters to renew the sport. The next game on which he is tried is the hare; then the young gazelle. At the end of a year, he has attained his full strength, and is advanced to be the companion of the master of the tent, who teaches him to hunt the full-sized gazelle. The Arab talks to him as a human being: 'Listen to me, friend; thou must bring me some venison: I am tired of eating nothing but dates;' whereupon the sloogee leaps, wheels about, and intimates as plainly as possible that he understands his master's wish, and is abundantly willing to comply.

When the sloogee perceives a herd of thirty or forty gazelles, he trembles with joy, and looks wistfully at his master. Ha! young Jew,' says the Arab, 'thou wilt not say this time that thou hast not seen them.' He then unties an ox-skin, and refreshes the body of the sloogee with a sprinkling of water. The impatient animal turns on him an imploring eye: he is loosed on the game, and bounds away; but yet conceals himself, crouches down if he is perceived, makes a zigzag course; and it is not till fairly within reach that he darts with all his strength, choosing the finest of the herd as his victim. When the hunter cuts up the gazelle, he gives the sloogee part of the loin; if he were offered any refuse, he would reject it with disdain. A thorough-bred sloogee will hunt with no one but his own master; and he manifests due self-respect in his choice of a prey. If on loosing him, his master has pointed out a fine gazelle, and he has succeeded only in taking a small and middling-looking one, he seems to feel the reproach that attaches to the failure, and slinks away ashamed, instead of claiming his accustomed share. He always accompanies his master when visiting, and shares whatever hospitalities he receives. By his extreme cleanliness, the kindliness of his manners, and his respect for the usages of society, he shews himself worthy of the attentions thus bestowed on him. When the Arab returns home after a somewhat prolonged absence, his sloogee makes a single bound from the tent to the saddle, and welcomes him with caresses.