256 TURKISH SADDLES, &C. 



Our horses were excellent ; we had hired them 

 for ten piastres each, and had a good canter along 

 the grass on the side of the road. I found I 

 could ride very comfortably in a Turkish saddle, 

 with shovel stirrups; there is so much support 

 for one's feet, that I have some doubts whether 

 the Turks are not right after all in their seat on 

 horseback, particularly for riding for a great 

 length of time. I should not recommend the 

 Turkish seat for following a pack of fox-hounds ; 

 but in a country like Turkey, which is generally 

 unenclosed, and where all that a Turk requires is 

 a good seat for a gallop, and one in which he can 

 have a very powerful command over his horse, to 

 enable him to turn him very short, bring him on 

 his haunches, and perform the feats they some- 

 times do of picking up stones off the ground, &c., 

 the Turkish seat is perhaps the best. I have seen 

 Affghauns do these feats, in India, with great 

 apparent ease, and their seat on a horse is exactly 

 similar to that of the Turks. 



A Turkish stirrup is like two common fire- 

 shovels, joined together at the part where the 

 handle usually commences. The whole of the flat 

 of the foot rests upon this stirrup, and the ends 



