ABD-EL-KADER'S ACCOUNT OF THE ARAB HORSE, WITH HIS NOTICE OF THE TRIBES OF ALGERIA,&c. [From the Daily News, January 1, 1852.] "Glory to the one God, his reign alone is eternal."

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 717, 16 June 1852, Page 4

ABD-EL-KADER'S ACCOUNT OF THE ARAB HORSE, WITH HIS NOTICE OF THE TRIBES OF ALGERIA, &c. [From the Daily News, January 1, 1852.] " Glory to the one God, his reign alone is eternal."

-Greeting to him who, in his excellent qualities, equals all the men of his time, who seeks only what is good, whose heart is pare, and whose speech is admirable, the wise, the intelligent Lord General Daumas — from your friend Sid-el Hadj Abd-el-Kader, son of Mahhi-Eddiru Behold the reply to 'your enquiries. - 1. How many days can the Arab horse travel, without repose or injury ? Know that a horse, sound in all his limbs, fed on barley, which his belly demands, can do whatever his rider wishes him to do. With reason the Arabs say : , *' Alef 6u annef—Gvue barley arid abuse.* 1 But, without abusing the horse, you carimalce him travel sixteen parasangs* every day \ that -is the distance between Mascara and Kondiat Aghelizan, or the Oued Miua, A horse making this journey every day, and fed on barley to the utmost of his appetite, can continue unfatigued for three' or even four months on the road, without resting one single day. 2. What distance can the horse traverse in a day? I cannot tell with precision ; but that distance ought to "approach fifty parasangs — from Tlemsen to Mascara, for example. We have seen, a vast number of horses do the journey in one day.

* A parasang is about three miles, as will be seen in this irery letter of Abd-el-Kader's, under -the head of the 4th question.

However, the horse which has accomplished that, distance must he spared next day, and would not be able to do at all so much without & twentyfour hoars' interval. - Most of our horses used to go from Oran to Mascara in one day ; and for several days together they could repeat the- journey. We have.' left Saida at eight o'clock in the rooming ,(au dohkq) , to surprise the Arbaa, who were'encamped at Am" Toukria (amongtbe Oulad-Diad, near TBza) and' we reached them at break of day (fedgerj. You know the country, and you can understand the distance we had to accomplish. 3. What examples are there of the abstemiousness of the. Arab horse, and what proofs of bis power to bear hunger and thirst ? Know, that when we were established at the mouth of the Melouia, we made razzias "in the" Djebel- Amour, following the road of the Sahara, pressiog our horses to the gallop for five or. six hours together in one breath on the days of* attack, and accomplishing our excursion thither and back in. 20 or-25'days at the most. During this interval our horses had no barley to'eati except what they could carry along with their riders ; that is, . about eight ordinary meals. Our horses found, no straw, but only some alfa or chilh, or, in spring, a little gras3. Nevertheless, on our return home," we performed the gaincs on horseback, the day of our'arrival, and struck the dust with some of our. horses. Many which could not exhibit this exercise were yet in a condition for the campaign. Our horses used to remain without driuking for one or two days. Once they had nothing to drink for three. The horses of the Sahara do much more than this. They remain for about three months without eating a grain of barley ; they know not straw except on the days when they come to purchase' grains in the Tell ; and they eat, tor the most part, only alfa, chilh, and occasionally guetof. - The Arabs say — " Alfa enables the horse to travel — Chilh makes him. fight — And guetof is better than barley." Certain years p'as3 without the horses of the Sahaia having a grain of barley to eat during the whole year, when the tribes have not been received in the Tell. Sometimes, then, they give dates to their horses ; this nourishment fattens them ; they are then marched out, and enter on expedition. ~ , 4. Why, as the French do no not ride their horses until after they -have passed the age of four, do the Arabs mount theirs extremely young ? Know that the Arabs say that horses and man can be well taught only in the tenderest age. This is their proverb on' the subject :—: — " The lessons of infancy are graven on stone." " The lessons of riper years disappear like the riests of birds." - • . They" also say, "The young branch recovers its posture without much difficulty, but the' thick wood never recovers from a warp." In the very first year the Arabs begin to instruct the young horse to go with the reseun, "a sort of cavesson ; then they call him djeda, beginning to break and bridle him. As soon as he becomes tent, that is when he 'enters his second year, they ride him one mile, then two, then a parasang ; and when . he has completed his eighteenth month, they are no longer afraid of fatiguing him. - When he has become tebora telqta, that is when he. enters his third year, they cease to ride him ; they fasten him, cover him with a good djelale ; (cloth) and fatten him. On this head they say — | "In the first year, tie him for fear of accident, i In the second year ride him till his back curves. In the th rd year tie him again, and if he has not i become what you wish sell him." If a horse be not ridden before his third year it j is certain that he will never be good for anything but speed, which he does not require to learn — it is his natural faculty. The Arabs express the idea thus — " El djouad idjri ne daselouh." " The djouad runs according to his blood." The ', noble horse needs not to learn swiftness. i 5. Why, if the stallions impart more qualities to the breed, should the mares nevertheless be dearer ? This is the reason : — He who buys a mare hopes that, while using her as a steed, he will at the same time rear a numerous brood from her ; i whereas he who buys a horse only employs him i for riding ; no money being taken by the Arabs for commercial purposes. , i 6. Do the Arabs keep registers to establish the i genealogy of their horses ? * i Know that the Arabs of the Sahara trouble ] themselves as little with registers as little as do those of the Tell. Notoriety suffices ; "for the ' pedigree of- their blood horses is as well known as that of their 4 riders. I have heard that some families keep registers, but I cannot quote them, i These books are used in the East, as -I mention in the little treatise which I am about to address ] to you. , " I 7. What tribes of Algeria are the -most re- i •nowfned for their horses ? __,„.-',' Know that the best horses of the Sahara, are those, of the Hamyan, without exception. They 1 possess none but excellent horses, because they ] never employ -theß3_eif her for tillage or with the ,\ packrsaddle, but solely for expedition and war. < These .are the steeds which best bear hunger, < i thirst and fatigue, , Next to the horses of the | H,atnyart; come those of the Arbaa and of the ' Ouled-Nayl. , In the Tell, the best horses for nobleness and • blood, for figure, form, and -beauty, are those I of the people of the Chelif, especially those of Oulad Sidi-Ben-Abd-Allah (Sidi el Aaribi) near ; the Mind; and again those of the .Oulad Sidi i Hassan, a fraction of the Oulad Sidi Dahhon, who \ inhabit the mountain of Mascara. The swiftest og the race-course (fine also in shape) are those i of tJje.tribjß JFlita, of the. Oulad Sheriff, and of i the Oulad Sekreud. The best for a march over \ stony ground, without being shod, are th6se of the i Assassena tribe in Yakouhia. A saying is attri- 1 buted to Moulay Ismail, the celebrated Sultan of i Morocco — "Let my steed have been reared < in Maz,and watered in the Biaz." - ] Maz is a place in the country of the* Assassena, . and the Siaz is the stream known by the name of the.Foufet, which flows in their territory. The horses of the Oulad-Khaleil are also ieriowned for the same qualities. Sidi Ahmed Ben Yassouf has said, with reference to that tribe, -" long tresses and flowing " manes will be seen amongst ; you 1 till the day of the i

resurrection," thus panegyrising their women and tbeir horses. 8. You say to me that you are told that the , horses of Algeria are not Arabian but Berberien' — that is barh's? This is an opinion which recoils' upon its.holders. The Berbers are genuine Arabs. A celebrated author has said — " The Berbers inhabit ] Mogheblw ; they are all sons of Kais's Ben Ghi- ' lan." It is averred, moreover, that they spring from, the two great Hemiarite tribes, the Senahdja and the Kettama, who entered with the 1 invader I frikecb-el-Malik. ' According to these facts', the Berbers are cer- j tainly Arabs, and historians establish the filiation of most of the Berber tiibes, and their descent from the Senahdja and the Kettama. The coming of these tribes was anterior to Islamism. Since the Mussulman invasion, the number ~ot Arabian immigrants is incalculable. When the Obeicfin (the Faiimites) were masters of Egypt, immense tribes passed into Africa, and among others, the Raih'h. , They spread 1 themselves from Kairou'n to Merrakeb' (Morocco.) It is from . these ( tribes that the Douaouda, the Aiad, the , Madid^ the Onlad-Madi, the Oulad-Jacdb-Zerara, the Dj'endel, the Attaf, the Haufis/ the Braze, the'Sheha',, the Flita, the Medjahar, the Mehal, the Berii Araer, the Hayman, and many others spring. Doubt there is none but that the Arabian horse came with, his 7 Arabian ridar. In the "days of Ifrikech-Ben-Kaif, the empire of the Arabs was omnipotent. It extended' itself towards the west as far as Morocco, as in the days of Charaar the Hemiarite, -it extended itself in the east as far as China. The account of this is. given by Ben Konteiba, in his-book entitled "El Marif." It is very true that, if all the horses of Algeria are of Arabian blood, many of them are fallen from their nobleness, because they are only too often employed in tillage, in retil'age, in carrying, in drawing, &c, because the mares have been subjected to the ass ; whereas, nothing of that sort was done among the Arabs of old. On this point they say that it is enough for the horse bat to walk over tilled ground to make him lose some of his merit. - The following story is /told on the subject : — "A man was travelling, mounted' on a bloodhorse. He is met by his enemy, be also being mounted on a noble courser. The one pursues the other, and he who gives the chase is distanced by him who flies. Despairing to overtake him, the pursuer' ories, ' I ask thee in the name of God,-' has thy horse ever worked V *He worked once for four days.' ' Good-; mine has never worked ; and, by the head. of the Prophet, lam certain to overtake thee.' " Accordingly, he continues the pursuit. Towards the close of the day, the fugitive begins to lose, and the pursuer to gain ground. He soon contrives to come up -with him, and ' to fight him whom he had despaired of catching. My father (God 'have him in ■ his mercy !) was wont to say : "No more blessing is there on our country since we have turned our war-horses into beasts of burden and of tillage. - Did not God v make the horse for the charge and the race, the ox for tillage, and the camel for carrying loads ? There is no gain in amending the ways of God." $._ What .are our precepts for the nurture and nourishment of our horses ? Know that the owner of a horse gives him at first but' little barley, augmenting his ration by small quantities, then diminishing it again a little as soon as the animal leaves any, and finally, maintaining the allowance at that measure. The best moment for giving barley is the evening. Except on the road there is nothing to be gained by giving any in the morning. The saying on this head is — " The barley of the morning is found on the dunghill ; the barley of the evening in the croup." The best manner of giving the barley is to give it to the horse saddled and girthed ; as the best manner of watering him is to water him bridled. They say : < " Water with the bridle, barley with the saddle." The Arabs, above all, prefer a horse that eats little, provided He be not weakened in consequence. He is, say they, " a treasure beyond price." To give a horse water at brealc of day makes him' grow thin ; to give it him in tbe-even-ing makes him grow fat ; and to give it to him in the middle of the day, keeps Kirn in his condition. Duringahe great Keats, which lasts forty days (semaime,) the Arabs water their horses only once in two days ; and they aver that this practice has the best effects. In summer, autumn, and winter they give an armful of straw to their horses ; but the chief part of the food is barley, in preference to all other substance. The Arabs have a saying : " If we had not seen that horses beget horses, we should say that th«y were begot of barley." Again : " Buy the big horse, barley will make him swift." 41 Of forbidden meats," say they, " choose the lightest." That is to say, choose the lightest horse. Horse-flesh is interdicted^' the Mussulman. Among their further proverbs are,: " A m»h becomes a good rider only by having his bones broken repeatedly.", "Thorough-bred horses have no malice." " The horse trained is >tbe master's' honour." " Horsesire birds without wings." . "There; is nothing disfini to the horee."., " Those .who forget the beauty of the horse for that of woman shall not prosper." " The horse' knows. the. horseman.", The holy Ben- el- Abba's -(may God be pleased with him) has also said — " Love the horse, care for him, spare not your pains;". &c. I have finished the letter of which dur friend and companion, the friend of everyone, the Com- . mander Sid- Ban-Senna will be the bearer. Health.'. - General Daumas, to whom this remarkable epistle was addressed, in; reply to iuqufries which it specifies, remarks: — " The whole. of this letter was written by Abd-el-Kader with his own hand; the original is in my possession-, and is certified by tbe y Chef d'Escadron d'Artillerie Boissonnet, who has for three" years occupied, with honour a difficult and delicate position , with regard to the Emir.,^ It is to tie Commandant, Boissonnet that I owe the translation of this precious document. (Signed) "Le Qeksbal J& Daumas."