Series 03: John Brady Nash letters, January 1914-December 1915 - Page 238
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[Page 238]
wastes long before Mena is reached. In the wadis (valleys) the air has no crispness and its movement is not perceptible, even when cantering. This morn the sandy areas were as rippling water, the movements of yesterday having quite obliterated all foot prints left by man & animals; the trenches made by the soldiers were sanded inches & feet deep on the windward side. Fewer birds than ordinary were flying outward, probable sign that today will be as yesterday, are signalised by flying particles.
Midst the teachings of my childhood & early boyhood, and even some years later, much was learned that has proved by experience to be illusory. Of them the parading of the Arab Steed, as something surpassingly good in the horse line, produced effect which made me look forward to seeing him of the very best in Egypt. In praise of him a song had verse as follows:/
"My arab steed, my arab steed,
That standest meekly by,
With thy fondly arched & glossy neck
And dark & firey eye.
Fret not to roam the dessert now
With all thy winged speed
I may not mount on thee again
Thou'rt sold, thou'rt sold, my arab steed."
In these lines it is conjured up as a thing of beauty and a joy forever. From the Godolphin Arabian is supposed to be derived the blood, which runs in the blood vessels of the best racing strains in England. It may be, & is, true, but the animal was far other than those one sees in Cairo, or the Egyptian or Arab villages. Undersized, underfed, unkempt,