THE HINDOO NO RIDER 419 



The bullock has driven out both the horse and the ass 

 as a general utility beast, and India is not a land of riders 

 mainly because the bullock \yorks better in a cart than 

 under saddle, and because three - quarters of the land is 

 one vast plain on which roads can readily be kept in good 

 condition. There is, of course, a large cavalry force be- 

 longing to the Indian army; but to descant on the 

 mounted troops of the British forces, wherever they may 

 be recruited or serve, is to rehash much of what I have 

 heretofore said about other cavalry. The fact that it is 

 in India by no means makes it Hindoo cavalry ; it is pat- 

 terned on the army system at home. The Sepoys, and 

 especially some of the Sikhs, are often extremely inter- 

 esting ; but not being to the manner born, they are, in 

 riding, gradually' growing to the European pattern. In 

 fact, everything is. The introduction of cheap tapestry 

 Brussels to replace the lovely hand -made rugs of yore, 

 and of yet cheaper imported furniture to stand in the 

 stead of the soft divan of the last generation, is working 

 havoc. Telegraph and railway and steamer are doing 

 their inevitable duty ; and when a Parsee merchant offers 

 you " a rare old bit of native work," you can almost smell 

 Birmingham or Manchester on it. No one denies the 

 value of steam transportation or the telegraph ; but they 

 do destroy many beauties which the strictly useful cannot 

 replace. 



The Hindoo is not much of a rider in the sense of the 

 Indian or the Arab, and yet one sees an occasional in- 

 teresting specimen in some country districts. In Bombay, 

 save a rare mounted policeman, you find none but Euro- 

 pean riders, generally on Arabian horses, or some prod- 

 uct of Arabian blood. In Calcutta you see more walers 

 —as are called the Australian range horses ; and in the 

 inland cities, where there are garrisons, the waler is 



