CAPTAIN KOVALEVSKY 173 



who is the handsome son of a Greek gentleman and Russian 

 lady, ably-translated into Russian the discourses I delivered 

 in French about the art of giving horses good manners and 

 mouths. Captain Ivan Kovalevsky, a fine, big, strong fellow 

 who takes a real interest in horses, was as good an assistant 

 to me as I could want. He not only carried out my directions 

 on foot, but also mounted the young horses after I had 

 sobered them down. I have never had a better helper among 

 English officers, colonials, planters, or Boers and I can't 

 possibly say more in his praise. The officers gave me a 

 champagne breakfast on the forenoon of my departure, drank 

 my health (" Za, vashe sdorovye"\ and said all sorts of nice 

 things about the pleasure my visit had been to them. Even 

 the soldiers who put my traps into the troika that was to take 

 me thirty versts across the steppe to the railway station of 

 Grakovo, wished me a kindly dosvidaniya (au revoir). I 

 shall always remember my Balakleya friends with very 

 grateful feelings. 



The troika (Fig. 16) may be said to be the national 

 carriage of Russia. In it, three horses are yoked abreast; 

 the middle one being between shafts, while the outer ones 

 pull from outriggers. The characteristic wooden arch (Russ. 

 dooga) which goes over the centre horse's shoulders, is firmly 

 fixed to the ends of the shafts in order to keep them in position. 

 In the ordinary one-horse four-wheeled trap, the use of the 

 dooga is supplemented by that of straps which are attached to 

 the shafts and which prevent them from approaching each 

 other. The show-off brigade enact that the centre horse 

 must trot of course as fast as ever he can ; for Russians 

 when out driving love to appear as if they were trying to 

 catch a train and that the near and off one must canter ; the 

 former with the off fore leading, and the latter with the near 

 fore. They say that in this style they are best able to protect 

 themselves from the attacks of wolves which wish to impede 



