AFGHAN HORSE DEALERS.
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AFGHANISTAN produces a breed of strong hardy horses, which are capable of great endurance; nor are they wanting, in many instances, in good blood and form. The Afghan breed of yaboos, or stout ponies, is also especially famous. The late Sir James Outram writes in the record of his famous journey from Khelat to Sonmeanee, in November of 1839, in which he traversed the most rugged portion of Belochistan:—"I embarked (from Sonmeanee) in the evening for Kurrachee, taking with me my Afghan yaboo, which, though only thirteen hands, had carried me and my saddle bags, altogether weighing more than sixteen stone, the whole distance, 355 miles, in seven days and a half, having during that time been 111 hours on his back."
The Afghan horses find a ready sale in Sind, and are, in some instances, taken on to India in batches of ten to fifty. Their price is not so high as that of Arabs, or, indeed, of Persian horses, except in rare instances; but they are, nevertheless, very useful animals.
The men represented in the Photograph are evidently Afghans, wearing the national costume; and the type would be readily recognised in the caravanserai of Shikarpoor. The independence of character which seems to belong to these persons is, perhaps, not a very sound principle or feeling. The love of money would lead them to sacrifice honour or honesty on most occasions where unlawful gains were obtainable with impunity.
"They are rather dogged than plain spoken, suspicious, and not very discriminating; yet there is something which insensibly attracts the European towards the Afghan, especially when he has had a surfeit of India and the Indians."—Official Report.
