132 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 



played is in the arms and trappings of the steed. The 

 head-dress worn in peace, is a round cap, surrounded 

 by a thick border of black or white sheep-skin fur. 

 The war garb in which the Circassian is oftenest seen, 

 is remarkable by the addition of an iron helm, surmount- 

 ed by a spike, in lieu of a plume ; a shirt of exquisitely 

 finished mail, falling from the helmet over his shoulders, 

 like a lady's lace veil ; and steel armlets, which seem 

 to form part of the forgotten gauntlet worn by the 

 knights of old. 



Such is the outward appearance of that hardy and 

 intrepid race of warriors, who have, for fifty years, 

 maintained inviolate the freedom of their mountain 

 land, withstood the continuous efforts of Russia, and 

 baffled all the force and cunning of that gigantic em- 

 pire. Their small but beautiful horses, which are 

 thorough-bred (that is, derived in almost uncontami- 

 nated purity from the Arab), are so accustomed to 

 their rugged mountains as to carry the rider over places 

 where he could not scramble on foot. Sure-footed 

 and agile as the chamois, they gallop down the most 

 precipitous descents, springing from rock to rock in a 

 manner incredible to those who have not witnessed 

 with their own eyes how the nature of the horse adapts 

 itself to the localities in which he is bred. 



As the tribes of the Caucasus are often at war with 

 each other, Russia succeeds occasionally in procuring 

 a hollow show of submission from some of them. 



