The Sun.
London, England, 1850-02-07 00:00:00

THE HORSES OF SIBERIA.

Tlierc a-c two distinct races of hones in Siberia, the
Mogul or indigenous race, and the race imported by
2onquercrs. In the farmer category there are many,
these e3pecially which are used in rural labours through
:he country and in teams among the towns., whose
breed, by dint of good fseding and careful training, has
consiee:ahly improved, and which have acquired in size
incl strength what they may halo lost in speed and live-
liness
By far the crcatest portion, however, of the horses
which Siberia boasts of are contributed by the Steppe,
fr,)m its own pure Mogul race.
.These are ugly, of
n1:111 size, of uncouth snake, their coats curiously
coloured, the it beads as huge as in the days of
Zenighis Khan, the heads of their progenitors
gon and pendant, and their ears. shaggy. On
he other Hand, however, they are et fiery mettle and
xtr..ordinary swiftness. Left in an entirely savage
:fate, untended or unvexed, they wander in thousands,
guided by their stallions, over the whole face of Siberia,
tnel pal ticularly over the Steppe cf Barabinsk, nhich is

THURSDAY EVENING,

the prolongation of the Kirghish Steppes, aed which is
appropriated pro-eminently to the rearing of horses.
While summer lasts their Pastures afford them a
plentiful forage ; but in winn.r they are reduced to the
withered herbs which spardy dot the soil, and which
they arc often driven, under the guidance of their in-
stinct, to disinter from depths of snow.
In so vast a region as Siberia, where, for e alt of
canals, railways, or steam-boat;, the horse is the only
available medium of locomotion, the inhabitants have
very netara'ly bestowed an anxious degree of attention
upon the rearing if the Equine race. elnd as the im-
mense deserts which separate the inhabited localities
turn every removal, however trivial, into a long expe-
dition, the grand object has bean to impart to their
horses the utmost possible hardihood and capacity
for bearing fatigue, privation, and the inclemency of
the seasons—in a word, to impart to them the
vigour necessary for those rapid and flying journeys in
which all Russians delight. The results which the Si-
berians have attained in these matters are incredible.
It is not uncommon to see their teams accomplish a dis-,
Lance of 200 versts unchanged; and such is the acquit e I
abstemiousness of their horses, that they of en remain
for 48 consecutive hours under the yoke without being
once baited with feed or drink.
These extraordinary local severances, indeed, have re-
acted on the manners of the inhabitants, and Lave ori-
ginated very peculiar customs.
In the north of Russia, thanks to the daring tempera-
ment which is one of the characteristics of the nation,
the people's classic equipage of the " Treik" has from
time immemorial served for picturesque contests, iu
which the drivers if the rapid vehicle which is seen
scouring the streets of the capital in every direction
strive to surpass each other in dexterity, and in the
prompt agility of their horses. In the south, on the con-
trary, the manners of the Cossacks, a race essentially
equestrian, have made the saddle, not the droshky-
cusisior, the universal conveyance. Siberia, being com-
pounded in iti population of these two types of the
Russian race, has become, by pro-eminence, the scene of
these tournaments, which enjoy for a race-course a flit
country of many thousands of square miles in ext eat.
Every moment you behold along the high roads heavy
trains (called caravans) of travelling carriages, whirled
on at the utmost spud of their teams, and contending
one with another in pace, pleoisely as if it was a real
rats by the stop-watch. Indeed, in the very langusge of
the people, the word "to race" has supplanted the term
"to go." You are not told that "such a one has gone
this way," but "such a one has raced this way."
Each village, and, a fortiori, each town, has its
own horse-races, which are made the occasion of con-
siderable bets among tho inhabitants, and have ac-
quired the importance of national festivals. The pre-
paratory training of the horses is very rigorous, and
never lasts less than a fortnight. The whole of this
period is spent in starving the animals, in order to
give them greater lightness and spirit (sic in orig.),
in bathing them continually, and in exposing them
now to the frosts of winter, and now to the heat of
vapour baths. In the preparatory races they appear
enveloped in felt covering. Entirely deprived of food
on the eve of the race, the horses are led into the
arena feverish with impatience and hunger, neighing long
neighs, plunging with eagerness, and their grooms
have the greatest difficulty in holding them in at the
starting-post. When the jockeys mount they are careful
to turn their coursers' heads the way directly opposite
to the true direction, and facing the barriers. Without
,this wecautkon, no power on earth could make the steeds
await the signal.
The aboriginal natives of these countries evince rare
skill in breaking the wild horse. They throw themselves
on his back without ca Idle or bridle, and bit him at the

very height of his fury, after having first graspad his
ears. Tne Tcherkissies of Irkousk have a different me-
thod. They first bit the horse which is to be
broken, and then, while helpers hold the animal, and
by means of long cords prevent his throwing himself
dowr, in spite of his plunges the rider mounts, his feat
being tare, and he himself armed with a COSf tva whip
(nagaiha). By this method it is (al- to master a horse
in the course of two or three days et most.
In the chase after wild horses a peculiar breed of
horses is emplo3 ed in Siberia. These are called
outruchnui (picklocks), on account of al instrument used
by the huntsmer, a,,,d which is in the form of a long
hook, furnished with a running knot.—Journal des flu-
ras et de la Chasse.

DIRECT CALMS AND MOULTAN

RAILWAY.

The people of this country have been recently edified
by an Americ an projecZ, for connecting New York and
the Isle of Wight by a sub-marine electric telegraph. Per.
haps some of our readers experienced a little jealousy at
this signal display of enterprise and daring on de part of
our brethren in the States. If se, we can easily restore
their equanimity, for we assure them tLat no scheme
over yet conceived, either at Washington or New
Orleans, makes any approximation in grandeur or
audacity to a well-considered and elaborate prospectus
now lying before us. The object of this plan is, to be
sure, nothing more nor less than a simple line of rail.
way, lot this line is to connect, by a direct and perma-
nent way, the two stations of Calais and Moultan.l e_ee
Allowing a few minutes for the subsidence of the ic-
credulity and bewilderment which such a proposal will
create, even in minds familiarised with the expansibility
of trunk-lines, and the intrepidity of projectors, we may
proceed to make the scheme a little more comprehensible.
Difficulties, it is said, vanish when you close with thera,
and perhaps some cf those already rising in the reader's
mind may wear a less formidable aspect when cen-
templi.tcd from a nearer point of view. In point of
fret, the distance between England and India is of a
very fabulous and artificial character. It used to be
called 10,000, 12,000, or even 15,000 miles. The
time consumed in traversing it has varied from
nine months to three. Sir Arthur Wellesley mo-
destly stipulated fir four, as the limit of the pe-
riod within which there should be always a steady
and constant communication between Portsmouth
mid Calcutta. At the present time the journey
from Bombay to Southampton is usually pet firmed in
some 35 or 40 days, and there seems to be abundance of
room for still further shortening the transit. For, after
all, when we look at the plain facts of the case, India is
only some few hundred miles further from us than the
United States, though we have come to consider the
la:ter country as lying at our door:, while we still
regard the former as one of the uttermost parts of the
earth. From Spithead to New York it is 2,820 miles;
from Ostend to Hyderabad, on bhe Indus, it is only 3,805.
Most certainly nobody has ever yet looked upon one e f
these journeys as being only 900 miles longer than the
other; but if the " Direct Calais and Moultan " ever
comes int ) operation, the longer will become actually
the shorter of the two. Now, let us look at the several
stages of this very edifying journey. In the first place,
ins tead of starting from Calais or Ostend, we may start
from Vienna, for up to that point railway com-
munication may be considered as all early complete.
From Vienna the line it,l)r was, actually °lea to Pestb,
but hero we are stopped, and the next step, therefore, is
to carry it as directly as possible to Constantinople. For
this purpose it is projected to tile a due southward
course from Pesth, through the valley between the Theiss
and the Danube, crossing the latter river a little
below the junction of the Drave, and entering the Eu-
ropean territories of Turkey just by Belgrade. From this
point to Constantinople intervenes a distance c f about
500 miles, over which the lice will run along the salley
of the Danube, pretty r early t) Nicopolis, when it will
make a southward Lend to cut the Balkan, apparently
by a pass cf its own, a little north-west of Eski!ara.
After this the course through Adtienople to the Bos-
phoi us is clear enough, and so we stand at length on the
borders of Europe end Asia, with about one-third of the
wholo journey accomplished, and 2,400 miles still re-
maining before us—a longish stage, certainly, but not
longer than will be in actual operation in the United
States be fire five years are out.

Turkey in Asia is now to be traversed from angle to
angle—from Scutari to Basra—sayi! g nothing, for the
present, about the Straits. The line will pass over the
memorable field of Angora, the scene of Bajazet'a defeat,
and will then shoot with the straightness of an arrow Le-
tweeu the Euphrates and the Tigris—the ancient regions
of Mesopotamia. The ruins andrelics of Nineveh will Le
brought close to hand. Babylon and Bagdad cannel
fail if being attrective stations, even for the: o who stop
short of Susa and Ecleatana ; and, before we have well
recovered from the sensations occasioned by the scenery,
we shall find ourselves on the coast of the Persian Gulf,
about 2,800 miles from our starting port in the Channel.
For the last 200 leagues; the road will have lain through
antediluvian cities, cyclopean remains, gigantic sculptures,
mysterious excavation, bituminous lake,, and mosaic
wells ; and we may reasonably pause for a few moments
before we turn our theodolites upon tracts which the
most enterprising traveller have yetbut imperfectly ex-
plored.
WYe have now two routes open to us. We may either
take the great Desert of Karmen, and the wilds of
Western Atlghanistan, driving right through the Sol) -
man range of mountains, and striking our Indian territo-
ries pretty high up in the Punjaub ; or we may skirt the
south-weetern coast of Persia, run exactly through the
centre of Beloochistan, and debouch directly upon the old
capital of the Ameers c f Scinde. Our surveys, traffic calcu-
lations, &e., are here mainly confined to certain statis-
tics .ipecting the capacities of loaded camels, and the
tracks of periodical caravans; but the project before
us prudently decides in favour of the latter-men-
tioned; and the line accordingly passing right
through the ruins of Persepolis, cuts tho 13eloo-
chee frontier at its middle point, and then, turning a
little southward, skirts the whole length cf the sea coast
under the hills, and at length crosses the Indus a little
below Meeance. The distance traversed in there two
stages is about 550 miles in Persia, and, as nearly as pos-
sible, the same in Beloochistan. Perhaps, at this poin', it
may be advisable to mention, for general information, that
Beloochistan is a country bounded on the north by Aff-
ghanistan, on the west and ea. t by Persia and Scinde,
arid on the south by the Arabian sea, and tentletad by
an indefinable race, living under no describable Govern-
ment. If, af.er this, we cannot sr ap our fingers at the
Yankees, it will, as they exp:e.:s it, be a pity."
Yet tie total estimated coat of this miraculous
design is only 13,050,00C1.—a sum which might, in-
deed, hsve appeared considerable to Adam Smith,
but which is a mere trifle according to present
notions, land which,°' in fact, scarcely exceeds
what has been actually spent in two domestic
railways. The total annual interest on the capital is
under 2,e00.000/., and the portion which, according to
the terms a the project would have to be defrayed by
the " Government " if Beloochistan is only 275,000/.
We should like, hoe ever, to hear Sir Charles r'apier's
opinion upon the amenability of this interesting
population to proper instruction upon the points of
international intercourse, free trade, Cabinet loans, end
funded debt; nor can a e persuade ourselves that the ap-
parition of the projected cause-way would be unaccompa-
nied with a certain degrt e of abruptness in some of the dis-
tricts of Persia and Asia Minor. "Engineering difficulties,"
we ale well aware, have 110 W no place in a projector's

FEBRUARY 1850