Observations on the breeding of horses, within the Provinces under the Bengal establishment, submitted to the consideration of the President and members of the Board of Superintendence [of the East India Company, 1814].

  • Moorcroft, William.
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Observations on the breeding of horses, within the Provinces under the Bengal establishment, submitted to the consideration of the President and members of the Board of Superintendence [of the East India Company, 1814]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    27/72 (page 12)
    ( 12 ) lines оГ roule being ex«- ш1иЫ, viz, First, through the Lu- khee Jungul to Bubav^ul- р<юг; second, through Käbool to Bokhara ; and third, across the snowy Mountains to Chinese Tartary. Tlie let and 2d assign- e 1 to trusty persons, the 3d reserved for liiuisclf. Letters written by the Bupt. to the King of ßok- baru, Prince of Bulkh, King of Ка1хю1 ¿1С. re¬ questing i^rmission to purchase Ногнев in their Ct^uiìtrìes, and despached by Moer Izzutooliah aa intelligent Native, fur¬ nished by the lleaident at Dellü. Supt. risks exprelng himself to the charge of incoiisiutency, by deviat¬ ing from his brst line of route. even of reviving the ancient North-westem Horse trade, I set on foot more minute enquiry. But the contradictions which obtained respecting Horse matters, in every country beyond the Company's, provinces, betrayed an ignorance scarcely conceivable ; an ignorance wholly at variance with the interest usually excited amongst Englishmen, when Horses are in ques¬ tion. I resolved therefore to explore three lines of route to Horse Countries, viz., one through the Lukhee Jungul to the left bank of the Indus ; a second through Kabool to the banks of the Oxus, and a third across the snowy mountains to the reported Horse diátricts of Chinese Tartary. The two former were allotted to trusty persons, the la.4t, supposéd fraught with more difficulty and danger, was reserved for mysel£ Embarrassments of various shapes enveloped the second and third of these projects. For letters were required to the King of Kabool and his Wuzeer, to the Prince of Bulkh and Khooloom and to the King of Bokhara and Sumurqund. But the Resident at Delhi, with every manly wish to co-operate, could not write officially to these Sovereigns. Relying on my motives, I requested each Prince would grant me permission to visit his country ; and to give the request more weight, despatched a native of good talents, figure, address, and attainments, to present the letters. This man I owed to the kindness of Mr. Metcalfe, whose conduct in furthering the objects in view is above all comment. In regard to myself, I had to face the charge of uncertain¬ ty of view, of deviation from the performance of a tour I had represented aa necessary. At every risk, I preferred prosecuting the great public object of ultimately procuring Parent Stock, to the private, though more prudent motive of saving appearances of consistency. V , V