Sport in Eastern Persia

On the Road to the Caspian
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south of the Tehran - Meshed road, while the
Tekke and other tribes in Kussian territory raid
not at all ; so that the breed of horses is probably
doomed, at any rate so far as its most
famous characteristics are concerned. Already
the Kussians have had to apply the usual arti-
ficial stimulus of shows and prizes.
It is curious how Arab descent is claimed for
all the best strains of horses in the East the
Kathiawar, Marwari, and Waziri in India, the
Khatgani in Afghanistan, and here the Turkoman.
There is a story that the Emperor Timur, in the
fourteenth century, sent 5000 Arab stallions to
the Turkoman ; and another, that when Nadir
Shah was slain towards the end of the seven-
teenth century, his Arab horses that had been
sent to graze near this country became the prize
of the nomads. However this may be, the
Turkoman horse of the present day bears as
little resemblance to an Arab as does an English
thoroughbred. He stands much higher, from
fifteen to sixteen hands is not uncommon, is
weedier looking, and has a head much more like
an English horse's than an Arabian's. Taken all
round, his appearance is distinctly bloodlike.
The Arab, in fact, seems to have developed on
similar lines in England and in Turkomania, the
increase in size being in both cases probably