'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎508] (599/748)

508
PEESIA
•extended production of these odious concoctions, yet I imagine
that the manufacture of such spirituous liquors as are consumed
in neighbouring countries, particularly Russia, and in the last
resort of spirits of wine, might also become a profitable item of
commerce.
In the animal world and in animal products, Persia can boast,
if not of many, at least of exceptional, sources of wealth. The
Animals; native breed of horses is widely known throughout the
Horses East. Three types are, indeed, obtainable in different
parts of the country : the Turkoman, famed for its powers of en
durance, although not perhaps for its symmetry, in the norfch;
the Arab, originally imported and constantly recruited from the
opposite coast of the Gulf, in the south; and the Persian, which
is originally a cross between other strains. The Persian horse is
thicker and sturdier than the Turkoman, and makes an excellent
cavalry horse or rough hack. At certain seasons of the year few
steamers sail from Busrah to Bombay without conveying large
equine cargoes, which, having cost sums varying from 81. to 201.
apiece in the country, realise a very considerable profit in the
Indian market. In Persia itself the animal most frequently en
countered is that denominated the yabu, a very serviceable beast,
which can be procured for insignificant prices. The Persians, who,
from the days of Herodotus downwards, have been born riders,
take great pride in their horses, which they tend with the utmost
care, and diligently swathe in felt wrappings at night. 1
Better known even than the horses, are the mules of Persia.
These excellent animals, although of no great size, being far in-
Mules in this respect to the Spanish type, are possessed
of extraordinary strength and endurance. Burdened
with a load of from 250 to 850 lbs., or with an average of 3 cwt.,
they will march at the rate of three and a half to four miles an
hour for distances of twenty-five to thirty miles in the day, for
days, and almost for weeks at a time. The chief breeding zones
are the districts ot Isfahan, Shiraz, and Kazerun in the centre and
south, the Bakhtiari country lying, between Isfahan and Shushter,
and the mountainous tract to the north of Shushter and Dizful.
Scarcely a year passes in which officers of the Indian Army are
not despatched to Persia with a commission to purchase several
On the subject of Persian horses, C. J. Wills, In the Land of the Lion
and the Sun, pp. 104-6 ; Persia as it is, cap. xxix.