observed, that it
is not unusual for those of the military tribes who desire to show their
respect at the funerals of chiefs and soldiers of high reputation to
send a horse without a rider, but with arms upon the saddle, to swell
the train of the mourning cavalcade. The favourite charger of the
departed warrior, carrying his arms and clothes, accompanies the
procession; the sheepskin cap he wore is placed on the pommel of his
saddle; his scarf sash, or _kumarbund,_ is bound round the horse's neck,
and his boots are laid across the saddle. In all this may be seen the
origin of similar customs now followed by the most civilized nations,
and of the regard in which the horse is held as 'the noble animal.'

The late Shah had not a single English or European riding-horse in his
stables, nor are any such seen in the country except some from
Russia--heavy, coarse animals, bred in the Don districts, and used for
carriage purposes. The artillery with the Persian Cossack brigade at
Tehran also have a few Russian horses. Nasr-ed-Din had such a high
appreciation of Arab and Eastern horses, of which he was in a position
to get the very best, that he found it difficult to understand what he
considered the fancy prices paid in England for racing stock. The story
is told that when he was shown Ormonde at Eaton Hall, in 1889, and was
informed that L14,000 had been offered for him, he tapped the ground
briskly with his cane, and said in a vivacious manner: 'What! L14,000
offered for him? Sell him, sell him now to-day. Why, he may be dead
to-morrow.' He would have been astonished to hear that Ormonde
afterwards changed owners at the advanced price of about L30,000.

In speaking to two friends, competent judges of such matters, about the
breeding and training for long-distance races in Persia, and the time in
which it was said the nine miles had been run, I found that, while one
thought the time might be reasonably correct, the other was more than
doubtful. I have since then seen in the _Journal of the United Service
Institution of India_, 1886, a paper on 'Horse-breeding in Central Asia,
translated from the Russian of Kostenko by W.E.G.,' in which the
following details regarding the Kirghiz race-meetings and the pace and
staying powers of their horses are given. M. Kostenko mentions that the
details are taken from an article by M. Garder in the _Voyenni Sbornik_
for 1875. He says that among the Inner Kirghiz Horde, races for prizes
were