THE GAME OF BAIGU—THE MÊLÉE.
Page 150(a).
THE GAME OF BAIGU—THE PICK-UP.
Page 150(b).
THE GAME OF BAIGU—THE VICTOR.
Page 150(c).
My brother gave a coloured silk handkerchief to the victor of each round, a gift much appreciated, and when these were used up, lengths of fine white mull muslin were awarded, which would be used by the women, who had been left in the akhois, to wind on the framework of their headgear. After about an hour, seeing that the grass-fed ponies were becoming exhausted, he offered one big prize for a round that was to be the last, and so the game closed. The lofty mountains that ringed us made a glorious background to an animated scene that was full of colour, the riders fastening back the skirts of their gay coats to get them out of the way and thus displaying the brilliant linings.
Baigu did not commend itself to me when I learnt that the ponies were often forced to play for four hours on end, and were then tightly tied up and left without food and water until the next morning, when they were turned loose to graze. In fact, the inhabitants of Chinese Turkestan struck us as very bad horse-masters, and one might almost say that their ideal was for their unlucky animals to have no food, no drink, and no rest. For example: the practice was to tie up the heads of the baggage animals when they reached the halting-place, the poor things being left without food and water for a period in proportion to the length of the march. If possible their masters never allowed them to lie down, stirring them up if they did so during grazing, and tying them up tightly at night, the idea being that the legs of a horse swell if he is allowed to repose himself. Again and again I have seen horses tethered to trees growing on high banks, the poor animals being left in discomfort for hours owing to the uncertain foothold.