THE CIRCASSIAN HORSE. 29 



thickness of the mud-wall for that purpose, hut much higher up than the line 

 of our mangers, and there the animal eats at his leisure. Hay is a kind of food 

 not known here. The bedding of the horse consists of his dung. After being 

 exposed to the drying influence of the sun during the day, it becomes pulverised, 

 and, in that state, is nightly spread under him *. Little of it touches his body, 

 that being covered by his clothing, a large nummud from the ears to the tail 

 and bound firmly round his body by a very long surcingle. But this apparel is 

 only for cold weather ; in the warmer season the night-clothes are of a lighter 

 substance, and during the heat of the day, the animal is kept entirely under 

 shade. 



" At night he is tied in the court-yard. The horses' heads are attached to 

 the place of security by double ropes from their halters, and the heels of their 

 hinder legs are confined by cords of twisted hair, fastened to iron rings, and pegs 

 driven into the earth. The same custom prevailed in the time of Xenophon, 

 and for the same reason : to secure them from being able to attack and maim 

 each other, the whole stud generally consisting of stallions. Their keepers, 

 however, always sleep on their rugs amongst them to prevent accident ; and 

 sometimes, notwithstanding all this care, they manage to break loose, and then 

 the combat ensues. A general neighing, screaming, kicking, and snorting, soon 

 rouses the grooms, and the scene for a while is terrible. Indeed no one can 

 conceive the sudden uproar of such a moment who has not been in Eastern 

 countries to hear it, and then all who have, must bear me witness that the noise 

 is tremendous. They seize, bite, and kick each other with the most deter- 

 mined fury, and frequently cannot be separated before their heads and haunches 

 stream with blood. Even in skirmishes with the natives, the horses take part 

 in the fray, tearing each other with their teeth, while their masters are in 

 similar close quarters on their backs." 



His description of a Persian race does not altogether remind us of Newmarket 

 or Don caster. 



" My curiosity was fully on the spur to see the racers, which I could not 

 doubt must have been chosen from the best in the nation to exhibit the per- 

 fection of its breed before the sovereign. The rival horses were divided into 

 three sets, in order to lengthen the amusement. They had been in training for 

 several weeks, going over the ground very often during that time ; and when 1 

 did see them, I found so much pains had been taken to sweat and reduce their 

 weight, that their bones were nearly cutting the skin. The distance marked 

 for the race was a stretch of four-and- twenty miles, and, that his majesty might 

 not have to wait when he had reached the field, the horses had set forward long 

 before, by three divisions, from the starting point, (a short interval of time 

 passing between each set,) so that they might begin to come in a few minutes 

 after the king had taken his seat. The different divisions arrived in regular 

 order at the goal, but all so fatigued and exhausted, that their former boasted 

 fleetness hardly exceeded a moderate canter when they passed before the royal 

 eyes." 



The plains of Persepolis, Media, Ardebil and Derbane, rear annually a great 

 number of valuable horses, but those bred in Kurdistan are accounted the best 

 both in beauty and strength. 



THE CIRCASSIAN HORSE. 



The Circassian horse, although inferior to the Persian, does not often find 

 his equal among the predatory hordes with which this part of Asia abounds. 



* It is the usual flooring of the stable and from use it becomes a second time offensive, 

 the tent. The united influence of the sun and it is again exposed to the sun, and all un pleas- 

 air deprives it of all unpleasant, odour, and when ant smell once more taken away. 



