TARTAR SONGS. 229 



7iails ; and, having covered them with golden trappings, 

 let them go and fetch Sobra.' ' 



That horses were shod in this part of the world with 

 plates like those now in use in Europe, in the i6th cen- 

 tury, we find testified in another Tartar song on the cap- 

 ture of Kazan by the Russians in 1552. Alluding to the 

 famous war-horse of a prince, it relates that ' under the 

 feet of Argamack the horse-shoes look like new moons. Its 

 tail and mane are painted with hennah ; on its back hang 

 silk trappings ; on its neck, in a talisman, round like a 

 ring, is a prayer.' ^ 



It is a remarkable circumstance, that in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Peking, and from thence throughout Eastern 

 Tartary, as far as I have travelled, shoes resembling in 

 shape those of this country are in general wear. I could 

 learn nothing of the antiquity of the custom in this re- 

 mote part of the world ; but the shoes are extremely 

 primitive, and very like those we have been describing as 

 Celtic. In journeying toward the eastern termination of 

 the Great Wall, 'you cannot help bestowing a passing- 

 glance at the operations of the Tiug-chang-ta, as the 

 shoer of hoofs is denominated, for you may require his 

 assistance frequently during your travel to secure your 

 pony's clanking shoes, or to adjust a new pair ; and you are 

 certain to find him busy in the most crowded thorough- 

 fare, or in the most stirring corner of the market-place. 

 He is not, generally, a very bold man in his calling, nor 

 has he much patience with skittish or unmanageable 

 solipeds ; for he too often makes it his practice to secure 

 the unruly or vicious brute in the old-fashioned " trevises," 



' Chodzko. The Popular Poetry of Persia. " Ibidem. 



