XVlll INTRODUCTION 



no frontier officer can have observed an attenuated thirteen- 

 hand pony draw, between sun-up and sun-down on a scorcbing 

 June day, its ikka-load of fat ghi-perspiring Baniyans from Kobat 

 to Kbusbalgarb and from Kbusbalgarb to Kobat, a distance of more 

 tban sixty miles on a road not devoid of bills, witbout baving been 

 struck witb tbe invigorating powers of nihdrl. Native cavalry 

 regiments in tbe nortb still " soil " tbeir borses by tbe system of 

 khuld-qasU, wbile, for fattening for tbe Spring fairs in tbe Punjab, 

 native dealers employ tbe metbod of bandqasll exactly as detailed on 

 pages 16-17. A Raja wbo kept a large stud of elepbants for tiger- 

 sbooting told tbe translator tbat unless be laid up bis elepbants 

 and " soiled" tbem during tbe rains, tbey were unfit for bard work 

 in tbe following cold weatber. Wbat is suitable for India is not 

 suitable for England, and vice versa. Indian country-breds will eat 

 and tbrive on food tbat would probably kill Bnglisb borses. In 

 tbe Persian Gulf and elsewbere, locusts, fisb, and dates are re- 

 garded as legitimate food for cattle and borses; in Tbibet, tbe 

 tdnghans are given pig's blood and raw liver; in tbe cold regions 

 of Central Asia meat is regarded as a necessity for borses. 



Fantastic Colours. — Witb tbe introduction of Government 

 stallions, old-fasbioned fantastic colours amongst borses bave 

 disappeared and witb tbem tbe very names of tbose colours. Wbite 

 borses witb black spots tbe size of a rupee, may still perbaps be 

 occasionally found in circuses, but wbite borses witb black ears, or 

 borses witb black bodies and wbite legs, or wbite bodies witb black 

 legs, or witb legs of four different colours, may be searched for 

 in vain ; yet once tbese and many otber colours were sufficiently 

 common to merit distinct names. ^ Here and tbere an aged borse- 

 dealer survives wbo recollects tbe old-fasbioned artificial paces and 

 tbeir names. For tbe technical terms about horses, as also for tbe 

 technical terms of falconry and cocking, and tbe names of birds 

 and plants, &c., the dictionaries are not to be relied on. Tbe 

 vocabulary in the Appendix has been compiled not merely from old 



1 " The animals most liked are the stallions of Marwar or Kathiawar. 

 "White horses with pink points, piebalds, and leopard spotted beasts are 

 much admired, especially when they have pink Roman noses and light- 

 coloured eyes with an uncanny expression. Their crippled, highly 

 arched necks, curby hocks, rocking gait, and paralytic prancing often 

 proclaim them as triumphs of training." — Man and Beast in India. 



