THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 137 



nothing but a snaffle, but actually double up the leg 

 and thigh almost in the following manner : < One 

 moment's examination of the limb in this position, 

 will, by showing the muscles, both of the calf and 

 inner thigh, brought to their utmost prominence, at 

 once explain how singularly the powers of adhesion 

 must be increased by it. 



" The seat of a Cossack, who is accustomed to back 

 a horse from his earliest childhood, is about as short 

 as that of the English fox-hunter. It is amusing, in 

 the sham fights of Krasnoe Zelo, to see the contemp- 

 tuous ease with which a single Cossack forager, will 

 disengage himself from a dozen or two of cuirassiers 

 of the guard, raining the blows of his lance-shaft 

 about their helms and shoulders, loosening in their 

 saddles those who attempt to stop him, and then get- 

 ting away from them like a bird, with a laugh of deri- 

 sion in answer to the curses they mutter after him." 

 Revelations of Russia. 



From the perpetual snows of Mount Elbrouz, the 

 highest peak of the Caucasus, two rivers take their 

 rise, the Kouban and the Terek. The former flows 

 westward to the Black Sea, while the latter runs in an 

 opposite direction into the Caspian. The two toge- 

 ther form a natural barrier against the inroads of the 

 Caucasian mountaineers, who are hemmed in between 



