226 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



some precious stones ; but particularly liilts of swords and 

 armour. They also find ornaments of saddles and bridles, 

 and other trappings for horses ; and even the bones of 

 horses, and sometimes those of elephants. Whence it 

 appears, that when any general or person of distinction 

 was interred, all his arms, his favourite horse, and servant, 

 were buried with him in the same grave ; this custom 

 prevails to this day among the Kalmucks and other 

 Tartars, and seems to be of great antiquity. It appears 

 from the number of graves, that many thousands must 

 have fallen on these plains ; for the people have continued 

 to dig for such treasure many years, and still find it un- 

 exhausted. T have seen several pieces of armour, and 

 other curiosities, that were dug out of these tombs ; par- 

 ticularly an armed man on horseback, cast in brass, of no 

 mean design or workmanship ; also figures of deer, cast 

 in pure gold, which w^txt split througli the middle, and 

 had some small holes in them, as intended for ornaments 

 to a quiver, or the furniture of a horse. While we were 

 at Tomsky, one of these grave-diggers told me, that once 

 they lighted on an arched vault ; where they found the 

 remains of a man, with his bow, arrows, lance, and other 

 arms, lying together on a silver table. On touching the 

 body it fell to dust. The value of the table and arms 

 was very considerable.'' 



The Russian government at length sent officers to ex- 

 amine those tombs that had not yet been rifled ; and, among 

 others, they discovered one of three stone vaults, contain- 

 ing the skeleton of a man with costly arms by his side, 

 resting on a plate of pure gold several pounds in weight ; 



' Travels from St Pelersburg in Russia to Diverse Parts of Asia, 

 vol. i. p. i8i. London, 1764. 



