Having Had Many Opportunities Of Watching Them, I Can Positively Assert
That They Were Divided Into Two Parties, Which Fought With A Skill And
An Acharnement That Astounded Me.
Sometimes when one side gave way, and
as the retreat was degenerating into a sauve qui peut, some proud
Warrior, a dog-hero, would sacrifice himself for the public weal, and
with gnashing teeth and howls of rage encounter the assaults of the
insolent victors until his flying friends had time to recover heart.
Such an one my companions called "Mubariz.[FN#30]" At other times, some
huge animal, an Ajax of his kind, would plunge into the ring with
frantic yells, roll over one dog, snap at a second, worry a third for a
minute or two, and then dash off to a distant part, where a thicker
field required his presence. This uncommon sagacity has been remarked
by the Arabs, who look on amused at their battles. Current in Al-Hijaz
are also certain superstitions about the dog resembling ours; only, as
usual, more poetical and less grotesque. Most people believe that when
the animal howls without apparent cause in the neighbourhood of a
house, it forbodes death to one of the inmates; for the dog they say
can distinguish the awful form of Azrail, the Angel of Death, hovering
over the doomed abode, whereas man's spiritual sight is dull and dim by
reason of his sins.
When the Damascus Caravan entered Al-Madinah, our day became a little
more amusing.
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