of him, inside one arm: it was in a frayed brown
canvas case, which had holes in each end, out of which both stock and
barrel respectively protruded. With his other hand he jogged incessantly
at the mule's mouth. Take him all in all, a soldier's was the last trade
he outwardly impersonated. Behind him rode R. and myself, shaking down by
degrees into our saddles, glad not to have before us eight or ten hours'
jog across rough country on provincial side-saddles, which, apart from
the strained position, are inconvenient for slipping off and on again.
Behind us followed the two baggage-mules with our tents, etc.: loaded as
they were, Mohammed and Ali had climbed upon the tops of their great
packs. A mule carries as much as he can get along under in Morocco: the
man climbs up afterwards, and does not count.

Two hundredweight, with a Moor on top, is a fair load for a long journey,
marching seven hours every day. Enough barley should be carried for each
night's fodder: the ordinary mule and pony live on barley and broken
straw, beans when in season, and grass in the spring to fatten them.
Sevenpence a day will feed a mule, and hire comes to three shillings a
day. Good mules are not bought easily, and are worth, on account of their
toughness, more than ponies, fetching L12 any day. Ours were but
second-rate hirelings, and we made up our minds to buy later on, when
starting on a long expedition. A mule should be chosen chiefly for its
pacing powers, doing four and a half miles an hour on an average for
seven hours a day, without turning a hair or tiring the rider, whose
comfort depends on an easy pace. The longer the overlap of the hind-shoe
print over the fore-shoe print, the better the pace. Moorish horses are
wiry little beasts, but you seldom see a handsome one: either they are
ewe-necked or they fall away in the hindquarters; their feet are allowed
to grow too long, and their legs are ruined through tight hobbling. Nor
is there much inducement to a Moor to breed a handsome foal, liable to be
stolen from him, if seen by a governor or agent of the Sultan's.
Naturally he breeds the inferior animal he has a chance of keeping, and
puts a valuable mare to a common stallion, branding and otherwise
disfiguring a colt which by bad luck turns out good-looking.

The slender desert-horse, the _habb-er-reeh_ (gust of wind, as they call
him), with the small aristocratic head, a nose which will go into a
tea-cup, perfect shoulders, and d