]
Besides the wagons and carts used for ordinary movements of troops,
Russia will, in Afghanistan, depend upon the animals of the country
for pack-trains and saddle purposes. After the _Camel_, of which
large numbers exist in the region bordering Afghanistan on the
north, the most important aid to Russian military mobility is the
remarkable _Kirghiz Horse_. The accounts of the strength, speed,
endurance, and agility of this little animal are almost incredible,
[Footnote: In 1869 a Russian detachment of five hundred men, mounted
on Kirghiz horses, with one gun and two rocket-stands, traversed in
one month one thousand miles in the Orenburg Steppe, and only lost
three horses; half of this march was in deep sand. In October, M.
Nogak (a Russian officer) left his detachment _en route_, and rode
one horse into Irgiz, 166-2/3 miles in 34 hours.] but they are
officially indorsed in many instances. He is found in Turkestan, and
is more highly prized than any other breed. The Kirghiz horse is
seldom more than fourteen hands, and, with the exception of its
head, is fairly symmetrical; the legs are exceptionally fine, and
the hoofs well formed and hard as iron.
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