PLANNING THE RIDE. 53 



The merit of the Circassian saddle is its lightness. 

 It weighed less than half as much as the Texan. The 

 cushion seat, too, is handy on a ride through a country 

 where travelers are expected to provide their own bed- 

 ding, for it makes a capital pillow. Whether it makes 

 a better seat for a long ride than a hard saddle the 

 writer is not prepared to say, never having given the 

 latter a long trial. It is the saddle of Asia,— the home 

 of the horse, and the nursery of equestrianism. Cos- 

 sacks, Circassians, Kirghis, Persians, Tartars, Arabs — 

 these are, and have always been, the finest horsemen in 

 the world; they all ride, with slight modifications, this 

 form of saddle. 



The arrival of an American in Moscow, who intended 

 riding on horseback from that city to the Crimea, was 

 no sooner known than a candidate presented himself as 

 a companion on the journey. The ambitious young 

 man who made this proposition was a student in one 

 of the Moscow universities, who had just completed his 

 studies. As he could speak very good English I 

 readily agreed to the arrangement. His brother would 

 provide him with a horse and I was to bear all ex- 

 penses of the trip. 



Sascha turned out to be a typical Russian. As an 

 interpreter on the road, and an explainer of the man- 

 ners and customs of his countrymen, he was invaluable. 

 But it was as an ever-present mirror and reflection of 

 Russian character in his own person that he did me 

 the greatest service. He was singularly warm and 

 impulsive, and strangely unreliable, contradictory, 

 quixotic, and inconsistent. 



Never did a young man start on an undertaking 



