266 THE "FANTASIYA" 



the men shouting meanwhile, yelling, screaming like so 

 many demons. No picture can do justice to the kaleido- 

 scopic fervor and wildness of the scene, if many riders are 

 engaged in it. It is a seething whirlpool of wild, unmean- 

 ing, half-merry, half-fanatical excitement, in which no end 

 of excellent horsemanship comes to the fore. From time 

 to time the riders stop and rank themselves for a rest on 

 one side ; then out come individuals to show what their 

 steeds can do. They pirouette and dance a while, and 

 then make a rush at full gallop to one or otlier side, stop 

 suddenly, and wheel about. There is no specific art in 

 what they do ; each man has trained his horse on his own 

 untrained ideas. They liave a close seat, clinging with 

 their heels, and exhibit a great deal of skill, in their gy- 

 ratory exercises ; but once seen, the fantasiya, like a 

 circus, loses its interest. All semi-wild nations do about 

 the same tricks on horseback. I think our Indian, or a 

 Cossack, will easily excel them all, while nothing I have 

 ever seen in fantasiyas in the faintest degree approaches 

 the fine work of the school-trained horse in the hands of 

 a master of the art. The one depends on speed and 

 violent motion ; the other on slow and rhythmic move- 

 ments, vastly more diiflcult to execute, and requiring a 

 system of education which i\\e fantaslya work quite lacks. 

 The one is a sailors' hornpipe rapidly played on a fiddle ; 

 the other is an adagio of Schumann on an Amati. 



Here is one of the Arabian horsemen, ready to take part 

 in i\\e fantasiya. His seat and steed show the type well; 

 man and horse are what you are wont to see. In action 

 tliis horse will show to decidedly better advantage. The 

 docile nature of tlie Arabian robs him of much of his 

 beauty in a picture at rest. Yet if you examine him stand- 

 ing, you will find man}^ points to commend, few to con- 

 demn. 



