Note 183 — Chapter XI

The (Delels) auctioneers, who sell the horses, have a mode of shewing them off to great advantage, so that if a person be not experienced in the purchase of them he will very often be imposed upon; to prevent which, the best judges, even the Arabs, give a small fee to the Delel, by way of purchasing his fidelity; and when this mode is adopted, he may be depended on as far as his judgment extends. When the horse has been rode up and down the market several times in different paces, he is sold to the highest bidder, who is immediately apprised of his purchase: he then repairs to the Cadi, or chief judge, and procures from the court of law a (Akad el beah) declaration of sale, which is signed by two (Ukils) attorneys, and confirmed by the Cadi at the bottom or left corner of the paper; the declaration expresses the purchase to be, for better or for worse, by the Arabic term Eladem fie el Kunshah, which, if literally rendered into English, means the bones in the sack or skin. The same custom is observed in the sale and purchase of mules, and other animals.