rfully safe they were as riding-horses on the hillside and the
plain. One of them was said to be getting too old for good work, but he
was bursting so with flesh and spirits that he threw out before and let
out behind in such vigorous wide-circling style as to scatter the crowd
of spectators, _gholams_, guards, and grooms. The most powerful and
best-shaped among the riding-horses, in my opinion, were a Jaf (Kurd)
dappled gray, and two big gray Turkomans, the latter very deep in the
girth, and distinguished by the long, fine neck so common to their
class, and rather large but lean heads, showing blood and breeding. The
Turkomans say that the superior size and strength of their horses over
others are due to the rich grass of their pasturelands, I may conclude
this short account of the royal stud by mentioning that, as Persia is
essentially a country of horses and horsemen, every foreign Minister on
first arrival and presentation to the Shah receives the gift of a horse
from his Majesty's stables. All these horses had their tails plaited or
tied up. The Persians never cut a horse's tail, but tie it up, which not
only improves the animal's appearance, but prevents the tail trailing on
the ground, or being whisked about when wet or dirty, to the annoyance
of the rider. The tail is only knotted up when the horse is made ready
for riding, otherwise it remains loose, to be used for flipping off
flies.

The stable of the King is deemed one of the most sacred of sanctuaries,
and this usage continues in force to the present time. The stables of
the foreign Legations are also regarded, by reason of the Ilchi-Envoy
representative sovereign character, as affording a similar asylum, and
in 1890 I was witness to protection being thus claimed in the stable of
the British Minister. The military tribes of Persia have always regarded
this sanctuary of the stable with the most superstitious reverence. 'A
horse,' they say, 'will never bear him to victory by whom it is
violated.' In a Persian MS. referred to by Malcolm, all the misfortunes
of Nadir Mirza, the grandson of Nadir Shah, are attributed to his having
violated the honour of the stable by putting to death a person who had
taken refuge there. The same writer says that the fleeing criminal finds
a place of safety at the head of the horse even when tied up in the open
air; the fugitive touches the headstall, and is safe so long as he
remains there. Malcolm again tells us of what is still