DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11637#0324
296 TRAVELS IN UPPER
horses have the crust of the hoof harder than it is
in our climates.
A body of cavalry mounted entirely on stallions,
seems something very extraordinary ; yet such was
that of Egypt. The Arabs prefer mares; experi-
ence having taught them, that these are more ro-
bust, more capable of sustaining fatigue and want,
and at the same time more gentle. Stallions, on
the contrary, are chosen by the Turks and Mame-
lucs. Michaelis appears to question this ; he con-
sidered numerous accidents inevitable from it; and
could not conceive, that in a day of battle it would
be possible to make use of a body of cavalry so
mounted. In his upinion, the people of the East,
to be able to dispense with geldings, must be infi-
nitely more expert in the methods of training
hordes than the Europeans *. It is, however, the
■ custom, not only in Egypt, but in Arabia
likewise, and almost all parts of the East, to refrain
from gelding horses. Probably their copious per-
spirati&n may be capable of rendering an operation
u l< CL-sary here, which in Europe appears indis-
pensable. And that the difference of tempera-
ture occasions a very sensible difference in the
deposition of sritiionf seems confirmed by a cu-
riuua observation, which a French officer, quoted
* Voyageurs savatis et curieux, quest. 54, page 198.
by
horses have the crust of the hoof harder than it is
in our climates.
A body of cavalry mounted entirely on stallions,
seems something very extraordinary ; yet such was
that of Egypt. The Arabs prefer mares; experi-
ence having taught them, that these are more ro-
bust, more capable of sustaining fatigue and want,
and at the same time more gentle. Stallions, on
the contrary, are chosen by the Turks and Mame-
lucs. Michaelis appears to question this ; he con-
sidered numerous accidents inevitable from it; and
could not conceive, that in a day of battle it would
be possible to make use of a body of cavalry so
mounted. In his upinion, the people of the East,
to be able to dispense with geldings, must be infi-
nitely more expert in the methods of training
hordes than the Europeans *. It is, however, the
■ custom, not only in Egypt, but in Arabia
likewise, and almost all parts of the East, to refrain
from gelding horses. Probably their copious per-
spirati&n may be capable of rendering an operation
u l< CL-sary here, which in Europe appears indis-
pensable. And that the difference of tempera-
ture occasions a very sensible difference in the
deposition of sritiionf seems confirmed by a cu-
riuua observation, which a French officer, quoted
* Voyageurs savatis et curieux, quest. 54, page 198.
by