BREED OF HORSES. 95 



docile, and active ; though not remarkable for 

 symmetry or other beauty. They are used for 

 riding and burden, and great numbers of fine 

 colts are reared for exportation. The natives 

 seldom go any distance from home but on horse- 

 back, and nothing can exceed the simplicity 

 with which some of these people ride : without 

 any gear on the head or body of their steed, and 

 seated on its bare back, they guide the animal 

 in any required direction, by merely applying 

 to its head a pole, which they carry in their 

 hands. This is not, however, an elegant mode 

 of riding; since the unfurnished condition of 

 both horse and rider exhibits neither to advant- 

 age. The superior equestrian equipment consists 

 of a rude bridle, and a broad band, or girth, 

 encircling the body of the horse, and to which 

 wooden stirrups are attached. As an aristocratic 

 distinction, the bridles used by the rajah and 

 his sons are decorated with a light fabric, rising, 

 in branches, high above the horse's head, and 

 profusely covered with tufts of white and crimson 

 hair, parrots' feathers, and small bells. 



The buffalo found here is a very pure breed 

 of this elder branch of the ox family. It is dis- 

 tinguished by a short and rotund body, a full 

 front, armed with strong and very divergent 

 horns of a dark colour, and by short clumsy 



