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to be making such a figure in the Russian armies, drive parties of" those 

 wild Horses into the deep vaUies, wliich are filled with snow, in which 

 being entangled, the men catch them by throwing a noose over their 

 heads. The greater part, or those 'unfit for service are killed with 

 the spear, those retained for use, are broke, by being coupled with an 

 halter to a tame Horse, in which situation they are kept several months. 

 Some of them are trained for draught, and found far superior in 

 strength to the produce of the domesticated Horse. These Horses 

 are hunted for food by some of the Tartars, who also use their hides 

 for winter clothing. A foal is esteemed a great dainty, and horse-veal 

 is, at this day, as choice a dish amongst most Tartar tribes, as formerly 

 amongst the Irish. Mare's milk is as commonly drank as that of the 

 cow, in this country. It acquires a spirit after fermentation, and 

 being double distilled, in which state it is called asckba, is very inebri- 

 ating. The pagan nations of these countries still offer the Horse in 

 their sacrifices, and in preference the white Horse, of the flesh of 

 ■which, says the relator, no one can partake, unless he has first bathed 

 and put on a clean shirt: an article of apparel scarcely to be found, 

 one would suppose, in the wardrobe of a Tartar. 



The Horses of these deserts, it has been observed, are of three 

 different varieties. Of these, the Tarpans are found in the steps to 

 the eastw^ard of the river Yaik. They are of middling size, of a roundish 

 form and short, of a blue-roan colour, with thick heads and ewe- necks; 

 in few words, like the common mongrel breed of Northern countries. 

 The Roolans, or Turkans of the great desert, are higher and not so 

 fixed as the last described; mouse-coloured, \^'ith long upright ears, 

 thin manes and tails, and short woolly coats. They feed together in 

 companies of several thousands, and are shot b}' the inhabitants of 

 these countries for food. 



The Kalmuck Horses, nearest in situation to the Russians, are never 

 shod, any more than those in the distant dependencies of that empire. 

 In dry and wild countries, in fact, there is seldom much regularity in 

 that point, and in many, horse shoes are totally unknown. When 

 any shoe is used in those regions, it is the Turkish, a solid, round shoe, 



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