n's art, as practiced in those days, which
could only be acquired by a systematic and special course of training.
One of the most difficult things was to train the horses so that they
would advance to meet tigers and other wild beasts without fear.
Horses have naturally a strong and instinctive terror for such beasts,
and this terror it was very difficult to overcome. The Mongul
huntsmen, however, contrived means to inspire the horses with so much
courage in this respect that they would advance to the encounter of
these terrible foes with as much ardor as a trained charger shows in
advancing to meet other horses and horsemen on the field of battle.

Besides the mountainous regions above described, there were several
deserts in the country of the Monguls. The greatest of these deserts
extends through the very heart of Asia, and is one of the most
extensive districts of barren land in the world. Unlike most other
great deserts, however, the land is very elevated, and it is to this
elevation that its barrenness is, in a great measure, due. A large
part of this desert consists of rocks and barren sands, and, in the
time of which we are writing, was totally uninhabitable. It was so
cold, too, on account of the great elevation of the land, that it was
almost impossible to traverse it except in the warmest season of the
year.

Other parts of this district, which were not so elevated, and where
the land was not quite so barren, produced grass and herbage on which
the flocks and herds could feed, and thus, in certain seasons of the
year, people resorted to them for pasturage.

Throughout the whole country there were no extensive forests. There
were a few tangled thickets among the mountains, where the wild beasts
concealed themselves and made their lairs, but this was all. One
reason why forests did not spring up was, as is supposed, the custom
of the people to burn over the plains every spring, as the Indians
were accustomed to do on the American prairies. In the spring the dead
grass of the preceding year lay dry and withered, and sometimes
closely matted together, on the ground, thus hindering, as the people
thought, the fresh grass from growing up. So the people were
accustomed, on some spring morning when there was a good breeze
blowing, to set it on fire. The fire would run rapidly over the
plains, burning up every thing in its way that was above the ground.
But the roots of the grass, being below, were safe from it. Ve