COMMON HORSJS. 
338 
horses of almost all races : Arabians, Tartars, 
Hungarians, and those natural to the place The 
latter are very beautiful and elegant ; they have 
a great deal of fire, swiftness, and management ; 
but they are not able to support fatigue ; they eat 
little ; they are easily heated ; and they have skins 
so sensible, that they can scarcely bear the rubbing 
pf the stirrup. The Persian horses are, in general* 
the most beautiful and most valuable of ail the East. 
The pastures in the plains of Media, Persepoiis, 
Ardebil, and Dei-bent, are excellent for the purpose 
of rearing them ; and there were bred in those 
places vast numbers, by order of the government 
of Persia, while that country was under any go- 
vernment. Pietro della Yaile prefers the horses of 
Persia to those of Italy ; and informs us, that they 
are in general of a middle size ; and although 
some are found even of the smallest stature, yet 
that does not impair their beauty or their strength ; 
yet, in some places, they are of a very good size, 
and as large as the English saddle horses are gene- 
rally found to be : they have all a thin head, a 
fine crest, a narrow breast, small ears well placed, 
the legs fine, the hoof hard, and the croup beauti- 
ful ; thpy are docile, spirited, nimble, hardy, com* 
rageous, and capable of supporting a very great 
fatigue ; they run very swiftly, without being 
easily fatigued ; they are strong and easy, being 
only supplied with barley and chopped straw ; they 
lire put to grass only for six weeks in the spring; 
they have always the tail at full length, and there 
is no such thing as geldings among the number ; 
they are defended from the air, as in England, by 
body-clothes ; they attend them with the most 
punctual exactness; and they are rid generally in 
a snaffle, without spurs. Great numbers of these 
aye every year transported into Turkey, hut chiefly 
into the East Indies ; however, after all, travellers 
