HISTORY. 481 



which are deemed of noble blood. Contrary to the practice 

 of Europe, they reckon their descent by the dam ; but they 

 never attempt to prove the genealogy of their horses, except 

 by tradition, and the beauty of their form. The pretended 

 hujjis, or written attestations of descent produced by dealers 

 in Arabian horses, are, we are assured, a trick, either on the 

 part of the Moslem jockeys or the Christian. 



In contact with Arabia upon the east is Persia, a country 

 of horsemen and soldiers from early times, in which we find 

 the same form of the Horse distinctly exhibited. Persia is 

 a country of much diversity of surface. It is very elevated, 

 and possesses an atmosphere of great purity and dryness. 

 Towards the south it presents much of the arid character of 

 Arabia ; towards the north it is productive of the grasses and 

 other herbaceous plants, and retains its verdure for a great 

 part of the year. In the northern provinces, accordingly, the 

 horses are of greater size and more developed forms. Some 

 of them near the Caspian Sea are as large as the horses of 

 Normandy. Towards the south they resemble more the 

 horses of Arabia, with which, besides, they are much mingled 

 in blood : but they have not the same delicacy of figure, and 

 are not so much valued in their own and other countries. 

 They are fed sparingly, like all the horses of the same warm 

 regions. The custom is to feed and water them at sunrise 

 and sunset ; and the ordinary provender is barley and chopped 

 straw. They are kept clothed, and at night are piquetted in 

 open yards, their hinder legs being confined by cords of 

 twisted hair, fastened to rings with pegs driven into the 

 ground. The same practice is described by Xenophon as in 

 use amongst the Persians more than 2000 years before. All 

 persons of the least distinction in Persia ride 011 horseback, 

 and scarcely any one will deign to go the shortest distance 

 on foot. Sir John Malcolm gives an amusing anecdote illus- 

 trative of the national feeling. A naval officer belonging to 

 one of the British frigates, in paying a visit to the Envoy, 

 thought it fitting to procure a horse ; but unfortunately, like 



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