174 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 



sion from an European nation had visited the court of 

 Persia, for a century ; but the English, though only 

 known in that country as merchants, had fame as sol- 

 diers, from the report of their deeds in India. An 

 officer of one of the frigates, who had gone ashore to 

 visit the Envoy, when mounted on a spirited horse, 

 afforded no small entertainment to the Persians, by his 

 bad horsemanship. The next day the man who sup- 

 plied 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, 

 very drunk !' We were much amused at this concep- 

 tion of our national character. The Persian thought 

 it would have been a reproach for a man of a warlike 

 nation not to ride well, but none for an European to 

 get drunk." 



The horses of the Toorkmans, or Turkmans, are 

 much esteemed in Persia, and in the adjacent countries. 

 Turkestan, the native region of these nomades, lies 

 northeast of the Caspian, but their tribes are widely 

 dispersed over Persia, Asia Minor, and Syria. Their 

 horses are large, swift, and possess extraordinary 

 powers of endurance, though their figures are some- 

 what ungainly. When a Turkman starts on an ex- 

 pedition, he takes with him some hard balls of barley 

 meal, which are to serve both him and his horse for 

 subsistence until his return. But sometimes in cross- 



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