The Sun.
London, England, 1850-02-08 00:00:00

THE HORSES OF SIBERIA.

There are two distinct races of horses in Siberia, the
Mogul or indigenous race, and the race imported by
conquerors. In the former category there aro many,
those especially which are used in rural labours through
the country and is teams among the towns, whose
bred, by dint of goad feeding and careful training, has
considerably improved, and which have acquired in size
and strength what they may have lost in speed and live-
liness
By far the greatest portion, however, of the horses
which Siberia boasts of are contributed by the Steppe,
from its own pure Mogul race. These are ugly, of
small size, of uncouth make, their coats curiously
coloured, their heads as huge as in the days of
Zenghis Khan, the heads of their progenitors
long and pendant, and their ears shaggy. On
the other hand, however, they are of fiery mettle and
extraordinary swiftness. Left in an entirely savage
state, untended or unvexed, they wander in thousands,
guided by their stallions, over the whole face of Siberia,
and particularly over the Steppe of Barabinsk, which is
the prolongation of the Kirghish Steppes, and which is
appropriated pre-eminently to the rearing of horses.
While summer lasts their pastures afford them a
plentiful forage ; but in winter they are reduced to the
withered herbs which sparely dot the soil, and which
they are often driven, under the guidance of their in-
stinct, to disinter from depths of snow.
In so vast a region as Siberia, where, for want of
canals, railways, or storm-boats, the horse is the only
available medium of locomotion, the inhabitants have
very natarally
.bestowed an anxious degree of attention
upon the rearing of the equine race. And as the im-
mense deserts which separate the inhabited localities
turn every removal, however trivial, into a long expe-
dition, the grand object has been to impart to their
horses the utmost possible hardihood and capacity
for bearing fatigue, privation, and the inclemency of
the seasons—in a woad, to impart to them the
vigour necessary f.)r those rapid and flying journeys in
which ail 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-
tance of 200 verats unchanged; and such is the acquirel
abstemiousness of their horses, that they of ea remain
for 48 consecutive hours under the yoke without being
once baited with feed or drink.

.Theso extraordinary local severances, indeed, have re
acted on the manners of the inhabitants, and have 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 " Trolls" has from
time immemorial served fir pictun.sque contests, in
which the drivers cf 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 ( f their horses. In the south, on the con-
trary, the manners of the Cossacks, a race essentially
equestrian, have made the saddle, no the droshky -
cushier, the universal conveyance. Siberia, being com-
pounded in its population of these two types of the
Russian rare, has become, by pre-eminence, the scene of
these tournaments, which enjoy for a race-course a flit
country of many thousands of square miles in extent.
Every moment you behold along the high roads heavy
trains (called caravans) of travelling carriages, whirled
on at the utmost speed of their teams, and contending
one with another in pace, precisely as if it was a real
rec.? by the stop-watch. Indeed, in the very language of
the people, the word " to race" has supplaeted the term
"to go." You are not told that " such a one has gene
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 the 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
eeriod is spent in starving the animals, in order to
€ist them greater lightness and spirit (sic in orig.),
i s 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 int) the
arena feverish with impatience and hunger, neighing long
neigh', 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 ppposits
to the true direction, and facing the barriers. Without
this precaution, 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 saddle or bridle, and bit him at the
very height of his fury, after having first grasped his
ears. The Tcherkiesies 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
down, in spite of hie plunges the rider mounts, his fe 3t
being bare, and he himself armed with a Cossack whip
(nagaiha). By this method it is racy to master a home
in the course of two or three days at most.
In the ,chase after wild horses a peculiar breed of
horses is emplo)ed in Siberia. These are cant('
outruchnoi (picklocks), on account of an instrument us. d
by the huntsmen, acd which is in the form of a long
hook, furnished with a running knot.—Journal des fla
ras et de la Chasse.

CITEAP DRYING-CLOSETS FOR COTTAGES, Wet
clothes are the hereditary curse of the labourer; and
in a well-arranged lodging he should be able to place
them where they will be dry ere Le next wears them.
For this purpose a niche in the chimney is desirable,
with a door to it, and an opening at top and at bottom
into the flue. This is best contrived by building the
opening at least 2 feet 10 inc'aes UK) wide, and putting
a half-brick partition into the breast; or it may be got
behind a fire-place in many cases.—Builder.
AN UNKNOWN ROBBER.—Hugh Riley makes com-
plaint against an unknown man who knocked him down,
on the evening of tho 3d inst., who robbed him of eight
&Alas and fifty cents in cash, one silver hunting watch,
a,,d several letters and rapers. The unknown rascal
will be arrested, provided always, he proves himself at all
come-.lt-ablee—American Paper, Jan. 10, 1850.

DIRECT CALAIS AND MOULTAN

RAILWAY.

The people of this country have been recently edified
by an American project fir 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 the part of
our brethren in the States. If so, we can easily restore
their equanimity, for we assure them that no scheme
ever 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, but this line is to connect, by a direct and perma-
nent way, the two stations of Calais and Moultan.
Allowing a few minutes for the subsidence of the in-
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 them,
and perhaps some of those already rising in the reader's
mind may wear a less formidable aspect when con-
templated from a nearer point of view. In point of
fact, 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
and Calcutta. At the present time the journey
from Bombay to Southampton is usually performed 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
latter country as lying at our doors, 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 the Indus, it is only 3,805.
Most certainly nobody has ever yet looked upon one of
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,
instead of starting from Calais or Ostend, we may start
from Vienna, for up to that point railway come
naunication may be considered as already complete.
From Vienna the line is, or was, actually open to Pestb,
but here 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 take 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 Drove, and entering the Eu-
ropean territories of Turkey just by Belgrade. From this
point to Constantinople intervenes a distance of about
500 miles, over which the line will run along the valley
of the Danube, pretty nearly to Nicopolie, when it will
make a southward bead to cut the Balkan, apparently
by a pass cf its own, a little north-west of Eskisara.
After this the course through Adrianople to the Bos-
phorus is clear enough, and so we stand at length en the
borders of Europe and Asia, with about one-third of the
whole 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 before five years are out.
Turkey in Asia is now to be traversed from angle to
angle—from Scutari to Basra—saying nothing, for the
present, about the Straits. The line will pass over the
memorable field of Angora, the scene of Bajazet's defeat,
and will then shoot with the straightness of an arrow be-
tween the Euphrates and the Tigris—the ancient regions
of Mesopotamia. The ruins and relics of Nineveh will be
brought close to hand. Babylon and Bagdad cannot
fail c f being attractive stations, even for three who stop
short of Susa and Ecbatana ; and, before we have well
recovered from the sensations occasioned by the scenery,
we shall find ourselves on the coast of the Persian Golf,
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 excavations, bituminous lakes, sand mosaic
moments
before ; and we may reasonably pause for a few
before we turn our theodolites upon tracts which the
most enterprising travellers have yet but imperfectly ex-
plored.

We have now two routes open to us. We may either
take the great Desert of Kirman, and the wilds of
Western Affghanistan, driving right through the Soly-
man range of mountains, and striking our Indian territo-
ries pretty high up in the Punjaub; or we may skirt the
south-western coast of Persia, run exactly through the
centre of Beloochistan, and debouch directly upon the old
capital of the Ameers (:•f• Sinde. Our surveys, traffic calcu-
lations, &c., are here mainly confined to certain statis-
tics respecting 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 route; and the line accordingly passing right
through the ruins of Persepolis, cuts the Beloo-
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 Meeanee. The distance traversed in these two
stages is about 550 miles in Persia, and, as nearly as pos-
sible, the same in Beloochistan. Perhaps, at this point, it
may be advisable to mention, for general informat ior, that
Beloochistan is a country bounded on the north by Aff-
ghanistan, on the west and east by Persia and Sinde,
and on the south by the Arabian sea, sad tenanted by
an indefinable race, living under no describable govern-
ment. If, after this, we cannot snap our fingers at the
Yankees, it will, as they express it, " be a pity."
Yet the total estimated cost of this miraculous
design is only 34,059,0001.—a sum which might, in-
deed, have appeared considerable to Adam Smith,
but which is a mere trifle according to present
notions, and which, in fact, scarcely exceeds
what has been actually spent in two domestic
railways. The total annual interest on the capital is
under 2,000,0001., and the portion which, according to
the terms of the project would have to be defrayed by
the " Government " of Beloochistan is only 275,0001.
We should like, however, to hear Sir Charles Napier's
opinion upon the amenability of this interesting
population to proper instruction upon the points of
international intercourse, free trade, Cabinet loans, and
funded debt; nor can we persuade ourselves that the ap-
parition of the projected causeway would be unaccompa-
nied with a certain degree of abruptness in some of the dis-
tricts of Persia and Asia Minor. "Engineering difficulties,"
we are well aware, have now no place in a projector's
vocabulary, nor is it fit they should have; but there are
other nct unimportant considerations in the case of a
scheme like this. However, we have at last fairly
beaten the Americans in comprehensive surveys and
audacious speculation, and we have abundant reasons for
believing that the scheme which we have here detailed
has actually been considered for years, has been digested
with the aid of all accessible information, and has been
devised with no other end than that of promoting a
great national good.— Times.