122 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 



romping and rioting about on the Steppe. The work 

 in question is the thrashing of the corn. 



A thrashing-floor, of several hundred yards square, 

 is made, by cutting away the turf, and beating the 

 ground into a hard, solid surface. The whole is 

 enclosed by a railing, with a gate to let the horses in 

 and out. On such a floor, supposing the taboon to 

 consist of a thousand horses, five hundred score of 

 sheaves will be laid down at once. The taboon is then 

 formed into two divisions, and five hundred steeds 

 are driven into the enclosure, stallions, mares, foals, 

 and all, for when in, the more riotous they are the 

 better the work will be done. The gate is closed, 

 and then begins a ball of which it requires a lively 

 imagination to conceive a picture. The drivers act 

 as musicians, and their formidable harabnicks are the 

 fiddles that keep up the dance without intermission. 



The horses terrified, partly by the crackling straw 

 under their feet, and partly by the incessant cracking 

 of the whip over their heads, dart half frantic from 

 one extremity to the other of their temporary prison. 

 Millions of grains are flying about in the air, and the 

 laborers without have enough to do to toss back the 

 sheaves that are flung over the railing by the prancing, 

 hard working thrashers within. This continues for 

 about an hour. The horses are then let out, the corn 

 turned, and the same performance repeated three 



