COFFEE 163 



sojourning in South Africa. For real enjoyment of the 

 flavour of the Mocha or Ceylon berry when employed with 

 boiled milk, we require an addition of thick fresh cream, 

 that obtained from a separator being the best. The question 

 of milk or no milk is one of quantity ; for if only a few sips 

 are needed, there is nothing like cafe Tare, in which I had 

 the pleasure of meeting an old and valued friend at far-off 

 Liski on the Don, when having luncheon with that smart 

 young dragoon, Captain Joltannovsky, who had his cook 

 trained in the Turkish art while he was stationed at Odessa. 

 Taken all round, one certainly gets better coffee (that is, 

 less chicory) in Russia than in England. We owe the curse 

 of chicory chiefly to France ; for had that confounded 

 expression, cafe noir, never been uttered, cooks would not 

 have sought to have made a brown fluid black. 



The kindness and hospitality which I had received from 

 the officers at Liski, Tambof and Kirsanof, was continued 

 at Borisoglebsk, where I met some very wild young horses, 

 which I made quiet. I was glad to have the opportunity 

 of showing how to make an old refuser jump kindly, which 

 is a form of breaking that demands far more skill and know- 

 ledge of horsemanship than mere taming. After having 

 made the animal obedient and clever with the long reins, 

 I of course got up myself; for I naturally did not want 

 the good effect I had produced, to be nullified by a man 

 who would not ride with a long rein and drop his hands, 

 which are two points of fine horsemanship that the Russians 

 have not as yet acquired. At Borisoglebsk, I could get 

 none of the officers to take a practical part in the breaking. 

 They liked to look on and criticise not altogether unfavour- 

 ably, I have reason to believe ; but they did not seem to 

 understand that practical experience was necessary for in- 

 telligent criticism. I was sorry that such nice young fellows 

 had not been differently brought up. Once while waiting 



