ENCOMIUMS OF THE ARAB TAKEN AT RANDOM ^ 173 



tions with the Arabs, and that his experience 

 proved that their ponies possessed great pluck and 

 powers of endurance. 



Long before Marco Polo's time far Eastern Asia 

 was on the watch for Arab horses. Knei Shan 

 (probably Khojend towards Merv) was ' celebrated 

 for its horses of divine race.' 



China went to war with the Great Wan in 

 104-103, and again in 109-98 B.C., for the possession 

 of this country and its horses, which were un- 

 doubtedly Eastern horses — most probably Persian 

 Gulf Arabs. 



In ' The History of Russia' (Bohn's Library) the 

 success of the Tartars is attributed partly to their 

 ' being masters of the provinces which produced the 

 finest horses.' 



Mr. Shaw, in his 'Visits to High Tartary,' fre- 

 quently refers to the handsome horses. He describes 

 a sport where a dead goat is thrown on the ground, 

 and the horsemen try to pick it up without 

 leaving the saddle ; when one succeeds he is chased 

 by the others, doubling and turning, their hands 

 seldom on the reins, banks and ditches jumped 

 while they are half out of the saddle, galloping 

 with one another, trusting entirely to their steeds 

 when tugging with both hands at the goat. But, 

 says he, ' the Toorkee horses seldom make a 

 mistake.' 



The Rev. Dr. Henry Lansdell (1893) writes of 

 his travels in Central Asia, that, fearing his horse 



