On the Road to the Caspian 261 



south of the Tehran - Meshed road, while the 

 Tekke and other tribes in Kussian territory raid 

 not at all ; so that the breed of horses is pro- 

 bably doomed, at any rate so far as its most 

 famous characteristics are concerned. Already 

 the Kussians have had to apply the usual arti- 

 ficial stimulus of shows and prizes. 



It is curious how Arab descent is claimed for 

 all the best strains of horses in the East the 

 Kathiawar, Marwari, and Waziri in India, the 

 Khatgani in Afghanistan, and here the Turkoman. 

 There is a story that the Emperor Timur, in the 

 fourteenth century, sent 5000 Arab stallions to 

 the Turkoman ; and another, that when Nadir 

 Shah was slain towards the end of the seven- 

 teenth century, his Arab horses that had been 

 sent to graze near this country became the prize 

 of the nomads. However this may be, the 

 Turkoman horse of the present day bears as 

 little resemblance to an Arab as does an English 

 thoroughbred. He stands much higher, from 

 fifteen to sixteen hands is not uncommon, is 

 weedier looking, and has a head much more like 

 an English horse's than an Arabian's. Taken all 

 round, his appearance is distinctly bloodlike. 

 The Arab, in fact, seems to have developed on 

 similar lines in England and in Turkomania, the 

 increase in size being in both cases probably 



