THROUGH ASIA 
290 
sharply off, still going at a headlong pace. Once more 
the goat, now bruised into an indistinguishable mass of 
flesh, was flung at our feet, and then the struggle began 
agciin. This went on timG after time, 
1 remarked to Khoat Beg, that it was a good thing for 
us old folk to be safe outside the scrummage. The old 
chief laughed, and said, he fancied it must be well-nigh 
a hundred years since he was my age. I let him surmise 
that in point of fact he was nearly four times as old as 
I was. . 1 t u 
Meanwhile Togdasin Beg became so excited by the 
mimic battle, that he flung himself into the thick of it, and 
actually succeeded in gaining possession of the goat, and 
made his horse leap to one side. But getting a few 
Chinese hieroglyphics wealed across his face and nose 
in crimson, he became as quiet as a lamb, and pulling 
his horse in beside ours, was content to sit still and 
remain an onlooker. _ 
Whilst the sport lasted, most of the participators in it 
took off their khalats, indeed some of them had the right 
side of the upper part of their body naked. With but 
very few exceptions every man came out of the contest 
with some sort of wound or scratch. Several of them had 
their faces so bloody that they rode off to^ the nearest 
brook to wash themselves. Nor were limping horses a 
rare sight. Caps and whips lay scattered all over the 
groundr and, the game at an end, I saw_ their owners 
wandering about over the battlefield looking for them. 
To tell the truth, it amazed me there were no serious 
mishaps. The reason of there being none is that from 
their earliest years the Kirghiz grow up on horseback, and 
so become habited — become skilled in all that belongs to 
horsemanship. This exciting and dangerous sport being 
concluded, the chief men present were invited to dastarkhan 
in the tent of the nearest beg. There we were entertained 
by the musicians of the neighbourhood to a “ chamber 
concert.” 
I had been obliged to dismiss my interpreter, the 
Taranchi Daod. He turned out to be a self-willed 
