n's spirit
that had once been brave; and we therefore consider it the greatest
marvel in history how the Arabians managed at one time to conquer half
the world. They must have been very different fellows from the
chicken-hearted children of the desert recorded in these volumes. One
thing only is certain, that they have left their anti-fighting
propensities to their mongrel descendants in Spain; for a series of
_actions_--that is, jinking and skulking, and running up and down,
hiding themselves as if they were the personages of a writ--more
distinctly Arabian than the late campaign which ended in the overthrow
of Espartero, could not have been performed under the shadows of Mount
Ebal. All the nobility that we are so fond of picturing to ourselves
in the deeds and thoughts of Saladin, has gone over to the horse. The
wild steed retains its fire, though the miserable horseman would do
for a Madrileno _aide-de-camp_. And yet this is the way they are
treated:--

"It was a matter of surprise to us, how our horses stood
without injury all the exposure, severe work, and often
short commons, to which they were constantly subjected.
When we came to a place where barley was to be procured,
the grooms carried away as much as they could; when none
was to be had, we gave our nags peas and _tibbin_,
(chopped straw, the only forage used in the East,) or
any thing we could lay hands on; they had little or no
grooming, and frequently the saddles were not even
removed from their backs. But I believe that nothing
save the high mettle of the desert blood would carry an
animal through all this toil and privation; and as to
the much-extolled kindness of the Arab towards his
horse, although it may be the case in the far deserts of
the Hedged and Hedjar, I can avow that I never saw these
noble animals treated with more inhuman neglect than I
witnessed in the whole of my wanderings through Syria."

The dreariness of a ride through the desolate plains and rugged rocks
of Palestine, was diversified with startling adventures; and the fact
of several of the powers of Europe and many of the tribes of Asia
having chosen that sterile region for their battle-place, gave rise to
some very odd coincidences. People from all the ends of the earth, who
were lounging away their existence some three or four months before,
without any anticipation of treading in the footsteps of the
crusad