OF HORSEMANSHIP. 143 



are about the fize of the Kalmuck horfe, ill-made, with- 

 out elegance or proportion, and ewe-necked for the 

 mod part, but of fuch ftrong and hardy natures, as to 

 be able to run five or fix hundred Engliili miles in 

 three days. 



The Step, or w^ild horfi^, is an horfe of the defart : 

 there are three different kinds of thefe wild horfcs. 

 The horfes of the defart about Azof, live between 

 the Pahs Maotis and the Dou. They owe their origin 

 to the fiegc oiAzof, in the year 1697, when the great 

 army being obliged to employ a prodigious number of 

 horfes to bring ammunition and food, were compelled 

 to fufFer their horfes to go deep into the defart, in or- 

 der to fubfiH them ; the animals availed themfclves of 

 this permifilon, flrayed to great diftances, became 

 wild, and created a new breed. They are generally of 

 one uniform colour, inclining to red, the hair of their 

 fkins being curled, and waved like a lamb-fkin ; but 

 when they grow old, it changes to a moufe-grey, their 

 manes and tails being black, and having a black lift 

 along their backs. They live in great Taboovs. The 

 ftone- horfes keep watch round about, and give a fignal 

 by neighing of the approach of man, or any object: 

 that alarms them ; upon which, the whole troop, with 

 inconceivable fpeed, run deeper into the defart. During 

 the winter, the Kofjacks of Bachmont, and other Donijfo 

 KoJJacks drive them into deep valleys, full of fnow, and 

 catch them with a noofe. The greateft part of them 

 they kill, with a fpear, the younger are kept for ufe, 



and: 



