228 THE meer's stud. 



Singh J and Kissun Dass, the head moonshee. 

 After a brief conversation, His Highness in- 

 formed me that the commissioner would be at 

 Sukkur in four days, and that he wished me to 

 prepare a memorandum of the different subjects 

 on which he proposed addressing that high 

 functionary, respecting his future management 

 of the Khyrpoor state. The Meer, finding that 

 the darogha of the stable had given me a 

 wretched horse, directed that I should be pro- 

 vided with a fine grey Turcoman, fully equal to 

 my weight, with splendid action, and, as I after- 

 wards found, great powers of endurance, for on 

 one occasion I was eight hours in the saddle, 

 and most part of the time in a smart canter. 

 Meer Ali Moorad has a very fine stud of horses, 

 to which he added half a dozen first-rate Arabs 

 on passing through Bombay, and in his selec- 

 tion of them he seemed to be a good judge, ac- 

 cording to our English ideas of a horse's points, 

 figure, and action. The Meer's horses, as all 

 others in Sindh, are invariably kept saddled 

 during the day. This practice is supposed to 

 harden the skin and render it less liable to gall, 

 and I believe that it has that efiect ; at any rate 

 sore backs are rare, except with the yahoos of 



