The Horses of the Sahara 35

The Horses of the Sahara 35

A generous hospitality is offered to the allies; and on the morrow, when

they set out to return to their own territories, the chiefs mount on

horseback and accompany them. After riding on together for two or three

hours, they renew the mutual oath never to raise but one war-shout,

never to make but one and the same gun, to come in the morning if

summoned in the morning, and to come at night if summoned at night. In

the desert, if feuds are keen and hereditary, sympathies, on the other

hand, are also numerous and profound. The following verses illustrate

the extreme degree of delicacy and devotedness to which the sentiment of

friendship is carried by the Arabs:

 

If a friend does not walk as blindly as a child,

If he does not voluntarily expose himself to death,

Forgetting that suicide is a crime,

 

He shall have no place in the tents of our tribes.

I will obey the summons of my friend.

Though the morning light should be the reflection of swords,

Though the darkness of night should be the cloud of dust raised

by the tramp of horses,

I will go to die or to be happy.

The smallest of the sacrifices to which I have agreed is death.

Can I live far away from the place of refuge so dear to me?

Can I support the absence of neighbours to whom I have become

accustomed.

 

It may be naturally asked why a tribe that is menaced with an attack,

but will not make the necessary sacrifices to obtain peace, does not

flee, instead of awaiting the assault. To flee, is to invite pursuit

while in the disorder of a retreat. It means leaving one's country,

exposing oneself to scarcity of water for the flocks, or even falling

into the hands of some other enemy, who would certainly take advantage

of this opportunity for pillage and revenge. The wisest plan is to

choose a good position, assemble the allies, and await the enemy if

confident in one's own strength, or else to make concessions if

conscious of weakness.

 

"O Allah! save us and save our horses. Every day we lie down in a new

country. It may be that She remembers our vigils with the flutes and

tabours."

 

 

REMARKS BY THE EMIR ABD-EL-KADER.

 

How can any strange people contend with us, who are brought up in the

highest sense of honour, even above all the tribes collected in the

great assemblies? Do we not advance against the enemy on horses of pure

race, terrible as raging lions, that gallop wildly along the perilous

mountain path?

 

I have prepared, against the time when fortune shall be unfavourable to

me, a noble courser of perfect shape, and which none can rival in

swiftness.

 

I have also a flashing sabre which severs at a stroke the body of an

enemy. And yet fortune has treated me as if I had never tasted the

pleasure of bestriding an air-drinker;

 

As if I had never rested my heart on the virgin bosom of a well-beloved

maiden, with legs adorned with bracelets of gold;

 

As if I had never felt the anguish of separation;

 

As if I had never taken part in the exciting spectacle of our blood

horses surprising the enemy at the break of day;

 

As if, in short, after a defeat, I had never brought back the runaways

to the fight, by crying aloud:—

 

"Fatma! daughters of Fatma!

 

"Death is a tax levied on our heads; turn the neck of your horses, and

repeat the charge.

 

"Time turns upon itself and returns.

 

"Would that I could throw the world on its face!"

 

 

 

 

USAGES OF WAR.

 

 

On returning to their _douars_ after a _razzia_, or an expedition, the

Arabs of the desert proceed to divide the spoils in equal shares, a

certain portion being set aside for special cases. Thus a cavalier who

has slain another in battle is entitled to the horse of the deceased, to

his arms, garments, harness, pouch, and _djebira_. "In fact, he has

risked a life to take a life, and will have to answer before Allah for

the death he has inflicted, rightly or wrongly." A horse that is

captured without its owner being killed, is comprised among the general

stock to be divided. If a horseman has been slain by several persons

firing simultaneously, without it being clearly shown by whose hand he

fell, his spoils are equally shared by all. In some tribes, the plunder

reverts to the chief when it cannot be proved from whose gun the fatal

ball was fired. Should a cavalier learn after the fight is over, that he

has killed an enemy with his own hand, and be able to produce witnesses

to the deed, he obtains restitution of the entire plunder of the slain.

 

When a tribe makes an expedition against another tribe, each individual

retains whatever he has taken in _haïks_, burnouses, arms, and garments;

but tents, flocks, horses, mules, camels, provisions, and grain, are

public property. The chief alone is entitled, over and above an ordinary

share, to thirty or forty ewes, or three or four camels, as the case may

be. Even should he not have accompanied the tribe in person, he would

still be assigned what is called the _akeud ek-sheikh_, or the sheikh's

knot. If any one, not caring to join the expedition, has lent his mare

to a friend, he shares the booty acquired by the latter. If the animal

be killed and any prize is made, the value of the mare is deducted and

paid over to her owner, for she had gone for the service of the tribe.

Should the result be unfavourable, the owner puts up with his loss—"he

sought his good fortune."

 

Whoever offers a supply of food to a party of horsemen is entitled to a

share if the party prove successful, as he was interested in the

expedition.

 

A "lance" [one share] is given to the farrier of the tribe, for he

contributes his skill and labour to the success of the enterprise. To

kill a farrier is deemed infamous. It is a deed that will recoil upon

the guilty tribe, who will be pursued by a curse ever after.

 

He who takes off his burnous and goes up to the enemy with the butt end

of his rifle in the air, must also be spared.

 

Shepherds, likewise, have their life accorded to them.

 

A special share of the plunder is reserved for those who have been sent

forward as scouts previous to the attack upon the enemy. It is their

just recompense for offering their lives to secure the triumph of their

brethren. If a scout loses his mare, he is compensated by one hundred

ewes, or another mare, or by one hundred Spanish _douros_. There is no

exaggeration in this estimate, for it is always the best mounted who are

selected. If a band returns with booty, a "lance" is bestowed upon the

woman of distinction who goes forth from her tent, and lifts up her

voice in honour of the victors. In an affair of _nif_ (self-love), the

pretty women who accompany the expedition to animate the combatants are

entitled to a share of the spoils. Whoever lends his rifle, receives

one-fourth of the share that falls to the lot of the borrower.

 

Suppose an Arab finds a horse at pasture away from its owner, at a time

when his tribe happens to be attacked, or is on the point of setting out

on an expedition. Suppose he takes the animal, and places on its back a

borrowed saddle. Suppose, further, that this saddle is not complete; but

that he gets stirrups from one, a girth from another, a bridle and a

breast-band from a third, until at last he is completely equipped. He

sets out and returns with plunder; but the proprietor of the horse has

no right to any portion of it. Had the animal been killed, the owner

would have been reimbursed, in the event of success; but if it is

brought back safe and sound, he cannot claim anything: "The animal has

been nothing more than an instrument of Allah to render service to the

brave horseman who exposed himself for the public good." The

proprietors, however, of the different parts of the equipment are

entitled to a share. The wanderers of the desert have an apologue quite

in the Arab style which exactly defines the respective dues of each:

 

"Quoth the saddle-tree to the horseman: 'Do you purpose to keep all the

prize to yourself? Who furnished you with a seat? What would you have

done had you not found me there?'

 

"A pretty story!" exclaims the girth. "The service you brag of, was it

after all so very great? Why, you would have done more harm than good,

had I not held you on the horse's back."

 

"Gently, gently!" cry the stirrups. "I acknowledge you may both of you

have been useful in your way; but pray tell me who supported the

horseman when he dashed forward? On whom did he lean when he made use of

his rifle to bring down the enemy from whom he took the spoils about

which you are wrangling so sharply? Who was it that enabled him to look

far ahead, to stoop down, or turn round, according as he wished to

strike a blow, or to avoid one with which he was threatened?"

 

"It was you," replied the bridle. "There is no denying the truth. And

yet, O my sons, by Allah, master of the world! our horseman would not

have much riches to boast of to-day had he employed only your services.

You did not take the road to the plunder, and assuredly you would be far

enough from it now had I not guided you. Cease, then, these disputes.

The palm is mine, for it was I alone who enabled you to reach the goal."

 

"Ah! that is rather too much of a good thing!" the horse ironically

observes, after listening thus far without uttering a word. "Somehow I

fancied that the greatest praise was due to myself. I thought I had seen

you lying forgotten in a corner, and that you were picked up only

because I had been found. I was dreaming, no doubt, and it is you who

have carried me. I own that I was mistaken. Take me back, then, as

quickly as possible to my pasture, or at least let me hear no more of

your squabbles."

 

"To put an end to all this jangling, the horseman divided his booty into