636 ASIATIC AND NORTH AFRICAN HORSES. 



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on Battak ponies, by Mr. Carl Maschmeyer, who is a 

 tobacco planter in Deli, where he has lived for a long time. 

 He tells me that " sixty years ago, when the Achenese 

 made their money by pepper gardens and did not spend 

 it exclusively on guns and ammunition, the Achenese 

 sultans and princes kept high-caste Arabs, and supplied 

 the Battaks with Arab blood for improving their rather 

 neglected breed of ponies ; the result being a blend which 

 combines in almost perfect harmony, the fire and the 

 beauty of the Son of the Desert, with the hardiness and 

 the endurance of the Battak pony. The Battaks live on 

 high mountains which are not far from the frontiers of 

 Achen, and have always been on good terms with the 

 Achenese, who are interested in obtaining sulphur from the 

 volcanic soil of the Battak plateau, in order to make gun- 

 powder. Of late years, Battak ponies have come into 

 extensive use in saddle and harness for officials, planters 

 and Malay princes, and are also largely employed for cart 

 work in the tobacco districts. 



" The original colour of Battak ponies is said to have 

 been mouse-grey, with a black stripe down the back 

 (p. 330). Skewbalds and piebalds are in the majority, 

 although all other colours are met with, except creams and 

 greys. Pure white ponies with red eyes (albinos) and 

 without any marks, remain the property of the chief of 

 the district, and cannot be obtained by purchase. Battak 

 ponies are generally docile in drawing carts, but when they 

 jib, it is very difficult to get them to go on. As their 

 weight is light, it is^not judicious to make them draw too 

 heavy loads. They have great agility in climbing, at 

 which they have constant practice in their youth. Day 

 after day, when going to drink, they have to climb down 

 steep and deep ravines which traverse the plateau, and 

 near which most of the Battak villages are situated, so as 

 to have water at hand. The surprisingly good qualities 

 of Battak ponies are naturally the outcome of the condi- 

 tions of their native country, which consists of grassy 



