1098 



THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



The speed of the ghorkhar is so great that it appears to be impossible for a sin- 

 gle horseman to ride down an adult in good condition. It is stated, indeed, that 

 this has been done in Cach, but Mr. Blanford is of opinion that in such cases mares 

 in foal were the objects of pursuit. In the Bikaner desert the foals are captured dur- 

 ing the summer by mounted parties of Baluchis, who, by relieving one another, 

 hunt them till they fall from sheer exhaustion, when they are taken and bound. 

 Such of these foals as can be reared are taken into India and sold to the native 



A TROOP OF PERSIAN WII<D ASSES. 



princes, by whom high prices are given for these animals. Whether ghorkhars thus 



taken are capable of being tamed and broken to harness or the saddle, I am not 



aware; but a kiang which I once saw in captivity in Leh was a most vicious and in- 



.ctable brute, with which nothing could be done. The late Sir O B St John 



states that it was told him by the Persians that if the sportsman can manage to con- 



cea, himself and his horse in the vicinity of a spring, and wait till the wild asses 



iave quenched their thirst, they can readily be come up with, when full of water by 



