'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎200] (235/360)

200 THROUGH PERSIA ON A SIDES ADDLE
It was here that we saw our first Baluch—a swarthy-
young man with greasy, flowing ringlets, clad in a long
white cotton shirt and loose white trousers, and wearing
a small black cap on his head. The servants were greatly
interested in seeing an inhabitant of the country which they
regarded with an almost superstitious dread; and as they
considered the newcomer to be of abnormal ugliness, they
at once began to chaff the unpopular ferash Akbar about
him, asking him whether he recognised his brother! Poor
Akbar, being the son of the late executioner of Kerman,
was considered to have inherited such a perverted nature
that all that went amiss was invariably laid to his charge
without any one caring to search for proof as to whether
he were in fault or not!
Our horses, owing to the extra barley and the regular
work, got livelier daily—a great contrast to what they
would have been if they had had Persian masters. The
Prince himself complained to me that he and his follow
ing had lost over fifty horses during one of his journeys,
and I could well believe him, as a Persian will set forth
on his travels on a horse that probably has not been out
of the stable for several days, and is naturally 'soft'
and unfit for work.
As forges and blacksmiths are unknown in Baluchistan,
we had to carry many dozens of native horseshoes with us,
which our grooms applied as needed. A Persian horseshoe'
covers the whole of the hoof save a small space in the
centre, and is well adapted to a stony country, where a
horse would soon go lame if fitted with English shoes.