'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎113] (144/360)

OLLA POD RID A ll3
suffocating treatment, he is buried forthwith in the grave
so considerately prepared beforehand.
Those happy days at Kerman flowed by very unevent
fully. Our mornings were spent in working and insect-
collecting, while after lunch we took long rides, exploring
the country in every direction. M. de Rakovszky was an
enthusiastic horseman, and my brother improvised a
riding-school in the desert, to which we would all adjourn
and go through the manoeuvres as practised in the British
and Austrian cavalry.
Frequently when Persians came to call, they were swept
off with us for a ride, and it was comic to see their wild
endeavours to copy my brother's lead. The townsmen,
however, were usually inferior horsemen; but the nomad
chieftains were very different.
I remember one day, how a certain Reza Khan, a wild
leader among the dwellers in tents, called on my brother,
and accompanied us to the tent-pegging course which had
been laid out. He invited my brother to try a Persian sport.
An egg was placed on a tiny mound of sand, and the K/zan
unslung the rifle from his shoulder, and waving it round and
round in the air, put his spirited pony at full gallop, looping
his reins over the high peak of the saddle. He made a
feint of aiming at the egg before he reached it; but when
he had passed it at full tilt, he stood upright in his stirrups,
and turning round in the saddle, fired, and hit it. He
was much piqued when my brother followed suit, and
crashed an egg to smithereens with a shot-gun; and
became very angry with his youngest son, whose horse
bolted with him each time he let go the reins. It was a
relief when this young gentleman desisted, as a loaded
rifle is a dangerous plaything in inexperienced hands ; and
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