Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/337

OF THE EOMAN EMPIKE 315 under similar tents, and conducted their horses and camels and sheep to the same springs and the same pastures. Our toil is lessened, and our wealth is increased, by our dominion over the useful animals ; and the Arabian siiepherd had acquired the absolute ])Ossession of a faith lid I'riend and a laborious slave.^^ Arabia, in the opinion of the naturalist, is the genuine and original country of the horse ; the climate most propitious, not The horse indeed to the size, but to the s})irit and swiftness, of that genei'- ous animal. The merit of the Barb, the Spanish, and the I'-nglish breed is derived from a mixture of Arabian blood ; ^^ the Bedoweens preserve, with superstitious care, the honours and the memory of the purest race ; the males are sold at a high ])rice, but the females are seldom alienated ; and the birth of a noble foal was esteemed, among the tribes, as a subject of joy and nmtual congratulation. These horses are educated in the tents, among the cliildren of the Arabs,i' with a tender familiar- ity, which trains them in the habits of gentleness and attachment. They are accustomed only to walk and to gallop ; their sensa- tions are not blunted by the incessant abuse of the spur and the whip ; their powers are reserved for the moments of flight and pursuit ; but no sooner do they feel the touch of the hand or the stirrup than they dart away with the swiftness of the wind ; and, if their friend be dismounted in the rapid career, they instantly stop till he has recovered his seat. In the sands of Africa and Arabia the camel is a sacred and precious gift. That The camei strong and patient beast of burthen can perform, without eating or drinking, a journey of several days ; ^^ and a reservoir of fresh water is preserved in a large bag, a fifth stomach of the animal, whose body is imprinted with the marks of servitude. The larger breed is capable of transporting a weight of a thousand pounds ; and the dromedary, of a lighter and more active frame, outstrips the fleetest courser in the race. Alive or dead, almost every part of the camel is serviceable to man ; her milk is plenti- the plural is Bedruvu, or Bidwan, never Bedawin. The English plural would be B<'davis.] '-' Read (it is no unpleasing task) the inconiparahde articles of the Horse and the Cumcl, in the Natural History of M. de Buffon. '•'For the .Arabian horses, see d'Arvieux (p. 159-173) and Niebuhr (p. 142-144). hx. the end of the thirteenth century, the horses of Neged were esteemed sure-footed, th(jse of Yemen strong and serviceable, those of Hejaz most noble. Tiie horses of Europe, the tenth and last class, were generally despised, as having too much body and too little spirit {d'Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient, p. 339) ; their strength was requisite to bear the weight of the knight and his armour. '■•[This is an exaggeration. Though treated with great consideration, it is not usual for the Arab horses to come into the tents.] '■[A dromedary can go without water si. days in summer, ten in winter.]