40 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



but the English had fame as soldiers from the report 

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

 frigates which conveyed Sir John Malcolm's mission, 

 who had gone ashore at Abusheher, 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 spoke 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 drunk" 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 Af'shar 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, 



