THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. Ill 



seldom consists of more than a thousand horses ; but 

 there are landowners in the Steppe, who are supposed 

 to possess eight or ten such taboons in different parts 

 of the country. It is only when the taboon is said to 

 be full, that the owner begins to derive revenue from it, 

 partly by using the young horses on the estate itself, 

 and partly by selling them at the fairs, or to the 

 travelling horse-dealers in the employ of the govern- 

 ment contractors. 



The tabunshick, to whose care the taboon is 

 intrusted, must be a man of indefatigable activity, and 

 of an iron constitution ; proof alike against the severest 

 cold, and the most burning heat, and capable of living 

 in a constant exposure" to every kind of weather, 

 without the shelter even of a bush. 



It must be a matter of indifference to him whether 

 he makes his bed at night among the wet grass, or 

 upon the naked earth, baked for twelve hours by an 

 almost Vertical sun. In the coldest weather he can 

 seldom hope for the shelter of a roof ; and though the 

 hot winds blow upon him like the blast of a furnace, 

 and his skin cracks with very dryness, yet he must 

 pass the greater part of his day in the saddle, ready 

 at every instant to gallop off in pursuit of a stray 

 steed, or to fly to the rescue of a young foal attacked 

 by a ravenous wolf. The shepherd and the herdsman 



