without breaking. They approve of our method of driving the nails into the hoofs and clenching them on the outside, which prevents a horse cutting himself; but their scarcity of iron obliges them to content themselves with hammering the nail-points close to the face of the hoof, sometimes in a curled fashion, like the Celtic nails, so as to preserve them in a state fit for use a second time, by making a new head. If a horse over-reaches himself, they cut away his heels and place light shoes on his fore-feet, but heavier ones on his hind-feet. They are careful not to leave one foot shod and the other unshod. During a journey, if a horse chances to cast one of his fore-shoes, and his rider has not a fresh supply with him, he takes off both the hind-shoes and puts one of them on the fore-foot; and if the animal is shod only on his fore-feet, the rider will take the shoe off the other foot, rather than leave him in such a condition. Should a horse, after a long journey such as the horsemen of the desert not unfrequently make, require to be shod, it is no uncommon thing to place a morsel of felt between the shoe and the foot.
The necessity, caused partly by the nature of the ground, and partly by the length of their excursions, of shoeing the horses of the Sahara, has shown the expediency of accustoming the colt to let himself be shod without resistance. They therefore give him kouskoussou, cakes, dates, &c., while he allows them to lift his foot and knock upon it. They then caress his neck and cheeks, and speak to him in a low tone; and thus, after a while, he lifts his feet whenever they are touched. The little difficulty experienced at a later period, thanks to this
