Toorkmun mode of rearing horses.
The peculiar manner in which a Toorkmun rears his horse arrests the attention, and will, perhaps, account for its stamina and superiority; since education, whether of the beast or the man, leaves the most permanent impression. The diet is of the simplest kind, and entirely free from the spices and sugar, the thirty-two and forty-two “mussalas” (condiments) of the Indians. Grass is given at stated periods in the forenoon, evening, and midnight; and, after feeding on it for an hour, the horse is reined up, and never permitted to nibble and eat, as in Europe. Dry food is preferred at all times; and if green barley and juwaree[34] (here called jougan) are given in its stead, the animal then receives no grain. At other times, a horse has from eight to nine pounds of barley once a day. Clover and artificial grasses are cultivated in Bokhara and on the banks of the Oxus, and, when procurable, always used in a dry state. The stalk of the juwaree, which is as thick as a walking-stick and contains much saccharine juice, is a more favourite food. The long interval between the times of baiting inure these horses to great privation; the supply of water allowed them is also most scanty. Before a Toorkmun undertakes a foray, or chupao, he trains, or, to use his own expression, “cools his horse” with as much patience and care as the most experienced jockey of the turf, and the animal is sweated down with a nicety which is perhaps unknown to these characters. After long abstinence from food, the horse is smartly exercised, and then led to water. If he drinks freely, it is taken as a sign that his fat has not been sufficiently brought down, and he is starved and galloped about till he gives this required and indispensable proof. A Toorkmun waters his horse when heated, and then scampers about with speed, to mix the water and raise it to the temperature of the animal’s body! Under this treatment, the flesh of their horses becomes firm, and their bottom is incredible; I have had authentic accounts of their performing a journey of six hundred miles in seven, and even in six days. Speed is at all times looked on as an inferior quality to bottom. At the marriage festivals, where horseraces form a part of the amusement, the Toorkmuns decide their matches, which are generally a few sheep, on a course of twenty or twenty-five miles. Youths of eight and ten years of age ride the horses; and the spirit with which these sports are carried on by the Toorkmuns is not surpassed in any country. The favourite horse afterwards moves throughout the neighbourhood as if the owner had the encouragement of a farming association in the deserts of Toorkmania.
Varieties of the Toorkmun horse. Extent of the trade.
I have pointed out the seat of the most celebrated horses of Toorkistan; but the animals which are sometimes sent to India under the name of Toorkmun horses, are reared about Balkh, and the eastern parts of Toorkmania, in the districts of Andkhoo and Maimuna, as also on the banks of the Oxus: they are considered inferior to the horses of Bokhara, Merve, as also Shurukhs. The price, too, is the best proof of this assertion; since the eastern horses seldom bring a higher sum than 100 tillas (650 rupees), and more frequently average less than half. Among the western Toorkmuns, a horse often sells for 200 tillas, and there are some in the stables of the King of Bokhara for which 300 tillas have been paid. These horses differ much from the animals that are sent into India from Candahar and Cabool, which are of an inferior and distinct breed. They, too, are reared in Toorkistan, but only used as baggage horses or hacks. Very few of the genuine Toorkmun horses are ever sent across Hindoo Koosh, since there are no purchasers but the Afghan chiefs and the Court of Runjeet Sing. It is only the best description of horse that will yield a profit to the importer. They cannot be brought to the territories of British India for less than 1000 or 1200 rupees; and few of the European gentlemen will give such a price in addition to the small profit asked by the dealer. Such, at least, is the language of the horse merchants themselves; and it carries some conviction along with it; since the points of a Toorkmun horse have not much recommendation in the eyes of an European, whose taste would appear to be better suited by imports from the Persian Gulf. In speaking of the horses imported from Toorkistan, Mr. Elphinstone observed, in the year 1809, that if the studs in India should succeed, the trade would be annihilated; a prediction which has been fulfilled; as I learn that the whole remount of the Bengal cavalry is now furnished from the stud, with some few exceptions for the horse artillery. The undersized horses which are bred there are also bought up by officers and natives; and there are now no princes of sufficient consequence to induce horse merchants to speculate longer in a losing and foreign trade. The annual tax of fifty or sixty horses, which the ruler of Lahore imposes on the chief of Peshawur, is furnished from Toorkmun horses, since Runjeet Sing is fastidious in his choice. That the value of the Toorkmun horse has not been over-rated is most certain, since some of them, which were entered into the lists of the cavalry twenty years ago, are yet good and serviceable animals, and highly appreciated by cavalry officers. Were it ever contemplated to seek a further supply of these horses, they could be procured with every facility at Meshid in Persia, from Shurukhs, and Merve, or by means of an agent in Cabool. Afghans sent from that city could also purchase them.
Characteristics of the Toorkmun horse.
The breed of the Toorkmun horse is of the purest kind. When the animal is over-heated, or has performed any great work, nature bursts a vein for it in the neck,—which I did not at first credit till I had become an eye-witness of the fact. The Toorkmuns cut their horses; as it is a popular belief among them that they are then more on the alert, and undergo greater fatigue, than stallions. The Toorkmuns believe their horses to be exceedingly nice in hearing; and will often trust to their steeds for the alarm of an approaching enemy. I was particularly struck with the fine crests of the Toorkmun horses; and I heard, though I could not authenticate its truth by observation, that they are often confined in a stable with no other aperture than a window in the roof, which teaches the animal to look up, and improves his carriage. The contrivance seems fitted for such an end. The finer horses of the Toorkmuns are seldom sold, for their owners may be truly said to have as much regard for them as their children. It must not, however, be imagined that all the horses of Toorkistan are equally renowned; for as almost every person beyond the Oxus has a mount of some kind, a great portion of them are very inferior animals. In Bokhara there are many Kuzzak horses, a sturdy and little animal, with a shaggy coat and very long mane and tail, much and deservedly admired. They are brought from the deserts between Bokhara and Russia.
BOOK II.
AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE COUNTRIES LYING BETWEEN INDIA AND THE CASPIAN SEA.
CHAPTER I.
ON THE PUNJAB, AS RULED BY RUNJEET SING.
Limits of the Punjab. Identity of the country as described by the Greeks.