THE rERSIAIS' IIOKSE. i;y 



but lie will not b(,>ar tlie accurate examination that only increases our ad- 

 miration of the other. Berenger thus describes their principal points : 



' They are in general small headed ; they have long and somewhat too 

 fine foreheads, and they are rather too narrow chested; their legs are a 

 little small, but their croups are well fashioned, and their hoofs good and 

 firm. They are docile, quick, light, bold, full of spirit, capable of endurmg 

 much fatigue, swift, sure-footed, hardy in constitution, and contented with 

 almost any provender.' They have, since his time, lost somewhat of the 

 beauty, elasticity, docility, speed, and almost never-failing endurance. 



The Persian Horses constituted in ancient times the best cavalry of the 

 East. The improved, incomparable Ai-abian breed was not then in 

 existence. 



An entertaining traveller (Sir R. Kerr Porter) gives the folloWng account 

 of them : — ' The Persian horses seldom exceed fourteen or fourteen and a 

 half hands high, yet certainly, in the whole, are taller than the Arabs. 

 Those of the desert and country about Hillah run very small, but are full 

 of bone and of good speed. General custom feeds and Avaters them only 

 at sunrise and sunset, when they are cleaned. Their usual provender is 

 barley and chopped straw, which, if the animals are picketed, is put into 

 a nose-bag and hung from their heads ; but if stabled it is thrown into a 

 small lozenge-shaped hole left in the thickness of the mud- wall for that 

 purpose, but much higher up than the line of oiu- mangers, and there the 

 am'mal eats at his leisure. Hay is a kind of food not known here. The 

 bedding of the horse consists of his dung. After being exposed to the 

 drying influence of the sun during the day, it becomes pulverised, and, in 

 that state, is nightly spread under him. It is the usual flooring of the 

 stable and the tent. The united influence of the sun and air deprives it 

 of all unpleasant odour, and when from use it becomes a second time 

 ofi"ensive, it is again exposed to the sun, and all unpleasant smell once 

 more_ taken away. Little of it touches his body, that being covered by his 

 clothing, a large niummud from the ears to the tail, and bound firmly 

 round his body by a very long surcingle. But this apparel is only for 

 cold weather ; in the warmer season the night-clothes are of a lio-hter 

 substance, and during the heat of the day the animal is kept entirely 

 under shade. 



' At night he is tied in the court-yard. The horses' heads are attached 

 to the place of secimty by double ropes from their halters, and the heels 

 of their hinder legs are confined by cords of twisted hair, fastened to iron 

 rmgs and pegs driven into the earth. The same custom prevailed in the 

 time of Xenophon, and for the same reason : to secure them from beino- 

 able to attack and maim each other, the whole stud generally consisting 

 of stallions. Their keepers, however, always sleep on their rugs amongst 

 them to prevent accident ; and sometimes, notA\4thstanding all this care, 

 they manage to break loose, and then the combat ensues. A general 

 neighing, screaming, kicking, and snorting, soon rouses the grooms, and 

 the scene for a while is terrible. Indeed no one can conceive the sudden 

 uproar of such a moment who has not been in Eastern countries to hear 

 it, and then all who have, must bear me witness that the noise is tremen- 

 dous. They seize, bite, and kick each other with the most determined 

 tury, and frequently cannot be separated before their heads and haunches 

 stream ^Anth blood. Even in skirmishes with the natives, the horses take 

 part in the fray, tearing each other with their teeth, while their masters 

 are in similar close quarters on their backs.' 



His description of a Persian race does not altogether remind us of 

 Newmarket or Doncaster. 



' My curiosity was fully on the spur to see the racers, which I could 



