40 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



but tlie English, had fame as soldiers from the re^^ort 

 of their deeds in India. An officer of one of the 

 frigates which conveyed Sir John Malcolm's mission, 

 who had gone ashore at Abushelier, and was there 

 mounted on a spirited horse, afforded no small enter- 

 tainment to the Persians by his bad horsemanship. 

 The next day the man who supplied the ship with 

 vegetables, and who spolre a little English, met him 

 on board, and said, *' Don't be ashamed, sir ; nobody 

 knows you. Bad rider? I tell them you, like all 

 English, ride well, but that time they see you, you 

 very drunlc.'' The worthy Persian thought it would 

 have been a reproach for a man of a warlike nation 

 not to ride well, but none for a European to get 

 drunk. 



^ During Sir John Malcolm's first visit to Persia, 

 he, when riding one day near a small encampment 

 of Afshar families, expressed doubts to his Mehman- 

 der, a Persian nobleman, as to the reputed boldness 

 and skill in horsemanship of their females. The 

 Mehmander immediately called to a young woman 

 of handsome appearance, and asked her in Turkish 

 if she was a soldier's daughter. She said she was. 

 " And you expect to be a mother of soldiers ? " She 

 smiled. "Mount that horse," said he, pointing to 

 one with a bridle, but without a saddle, " and show 

 this European Elchee the difference between a girl 

 of a tribe and a citizen's daughter." She immediately 

 sprang upon the animal, and, setting off at full speed. 



