458 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



of the living-room on festive occasions. Such rugs are handed down 

 from father to son, and the possession of them ranks scarcely below 

 that of uncoined silver. 



The real wealth of the nomadic herdsman cannot, however, be 

 estimated by such secondary things; it must be calculated by his 

 herds. Even the poorest owner of a yurt must possess numerous 

 beasts to enable him to live, or survive in the struggle for existence; 

 for the herds he tends form the one indispensable condition of life; 

 they alone stand between him and ruin. The rich man's herds 

 may number thousands upon thousands, those of the poor man at 

 least hundreds; but the richest may become poor, if disease breaks 

 out among his herds, and the poor man may starve if death visits 

 his beasts. Wide-spreading murrain reduces whole tribes to desti- 

 tution, causes thousands of human beings literally to die of starva- 

 tion. Little wonder, then, that every thought and aspiration of the 

 Kirghiz is bound up with his herds, that his manners and customs 

 correspond to this intimate connection between man and beast, that 

 the man is, in short, dependent on the animal. 



Not the most useful, but the noblest and the most highly prized 

 of all the domesticated animals of the Kirghiz is the horse, which in 

 the eyes of its owner represents the sum and essence of domestica- 

 tion, and the climax of all beauty; it is a standard by which to 

 reckon, according to which wealth or poverty is determined. He 

 does not call it a horse, but simply the domestic animal; instead of 

 the words "left and right" he uses the expressions, "the side on 

 which one mounts a horse", and "the side on which one carries the 

 knout". The horse is the pride of youth and maiden, of man and 

 woman, whether young or old; to praise or find fault with a horse 

 is to praise or blame its rider, a blow given to a horse one is not 

 riding is aimed not at the horse but at its owner. 



A large number of the Kirghiz songs refer to the horse; it is 

 used as a standard of comparison to give an estimate of the worth 

 of men and women, or to describe human beauty. 



" Little bride, little bride, 

 Dear foal of the dark brood-mare !" 



