THE ANTIQUITY OF POLO 243 



size of an apple, and made of leather, is thrown up into the air, 

 and at it, as if contending for a prize, they all gallop as hard as 

 they can. Each man has in his right hand a moderately long 

 stick twisted into a hoop at the end, and across are stretched, like 

 a net, a little distance apart, and crossing each other, many little 

 strings. Each side, by outstripping the other, endeavours to drive 

 the ball beyond the opposite goal, which has previously been set 

 up, and this constitutes the victory. This is the game, then ; a 

 very doubtful and dangerous one, as he who would play it must be 

 constantly lying flat on his horse, and bending himself on either 

 side of his horse, and be turning his horse very sharply, and he 

 must manage to ride so as to be skilled in moving his body and 

 his horse in as many different ways as the ball is driven. 



He goes on to describe a game ' in which when the Emperor 

 was exercising himself hotly his horse fell altogether on the 

 ground ' (a regular ' purler ' evidently), ' and he being thrown 

 underneath had great difficulty in extricating himself.' 



Sir William Ouseley in his ' Travels in the East,' published 

 in 1 8 10, devotes some space to a description of the game, and 

 after mentioning that it was played through almost every reign 

 of the Sassanian dynasty, and as much esteemed by the Mahom- 

 medan kings as by their fire-worshipping predecessors, he 

 says : 



It was universally practised throughout Persia, and was a 

 favourite recreation of kings and chiefs, and originally, I believe, 

 considered as almost peculiar to illustrious personages. We learn, 

 however, from a letter of Pietro della Valle, written at Cazvin in 

 1618, that Shah Abbds (the monarch then reigning) exercised him- 

 self frequently in this royal sport, and sometimes invited those to 

 participate in it who understood the game well, although not dis- 

 tinguished by exalted rank. Half a century later Chardin describes 

 it as a popular amusement admitting of thirty or forty persons, 

 forming two parties, to engage at once. The object of those who 

 played was to drive through the goal with sticks having semicircular 

 or straight transverse heads a ball made of light wood, which the 

 contending parties governed by certain prescribed laws, and 

 striking only when at full gallop endeavoured to bear off one 

 from the other. Of this game there were several kinds, and I per- 



