486 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



seeking to parry every effort, real or feigned, till suddenly one of 

 them exerts his full strength, and the other, if he has not fore- 

 seen this, is thrown to the ground. Others begin the attack more 

 impetuously, but meet with such strenuous resistance that the 

 struggle lasts a long time before one succeeds in vanquishing his 

 opponent. The spectators encourage them, praise and blame, cheer 

 and scoff, betting among themselves the while, and becoming more 

 and more excited as the balance inclines to one side or the other. 

 At length, one lies on the ground, laughed at by the whole company, 

 ashamed and humiliated, in his secret heart probably embittered. 

 Cries from every throat fill the air, pieces of cloth, perhaps only 

 rags of cotton, are torn up and distributed to balance accounts; 

 reproaches mingle with shouts of applause, and the match is over, 

 unless the vanquished one suddenly seeks his revenge, and attacks 

 his opponent once more. A wrestling match never comes to an 

 end without noise, screaming, and wrangling, but actual fighting 

 seldom takes place. 



Hunting must be reckoned among the equestrian sports of the 

 Kirghiz. When a sportsman gets on the track of a wolf, he follows 

 it with such eagerness and persistence that he takes little heed though 

 the cold, doubly felt when riding quickly, should seriously imperil 

 him, that is, if his face and hands should become frozen; for, if his 

 horse holds out, he almost certainly succeeds at length in throwing 

 his heavy club at his victim's head. But his favourite mode of 

 hunting is with eagles and greyhounds. Like his forefathers, he 

 understands how to tame and carry the golden eagle, and with the 

 bird sitting on his thickly-gloved hand, which is supported on a 

 wooden rest fastened to the saddle, he ascends some hillock from 

 which he can command a wide view. Meanwhile, his companions 

 beat the surrounding steppe for game. The game may be wolf or 

 fox, unless the eagle is not yet thoroughly trained, in which case it 

 is either a marmot or a fox. No very special training of the eagle 

 is required; it is only necessary that it be taken young from the 

 nest, that it be always fed by the sportsman himself, and that it be 

 taught to return to its master at his call: inherited habit does the 

 rest. As soon as the beaters have started a fox, the huntsman 



