"A SERVANT OF THE MIGHTIEST"
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Your reviewer of my book, A Servant of the Mightiest, questions first, whether Chingiz Khan would have used snuff, and secondly, whether Mongol horsemen, at that time, rode with short stirrups and loose rein ?
With regard to the first point there is a reference in my book to Yessagai Bahadur (the father of Chingiz) using snuff and, undoubtedly, the Chinese must have learned this habit from the Mongols in very ancient times, as the pre-historic stone figures near Mongolian tumuli are represented (according to Douglas Carruthers' Unknown Mongolia) holding snuff bottles as objects of ceremony in their hands. I regret that, as I live at some distance from other more important works of reference, I cannot, at present, pursue this subject further. With regard 'to the second point I can be quite certain, Sir Henry Yule, in a note on Marco Polo (Book II, Chap. XLIX) says, " It is true that the Tartars rode very short ; lbrevissimas habent strepas,' as Carpini says, and the Kirghiz Kazaks now do the same." See also in " Peinture Chinoise au Muses Cernusehi " (Chevannes et Petrucci) Plate XX, "Cavalier Mongol poursuivant un cheval echappet" (Tchao Moung-fou, XIIIth, XIVth cents.), and Plate XXI, " Cavalier Mongol rentrant de la chasse " (same artist). Both these admirable pictures show the Mongol horsemen riding with short stirrups and loose rein.—I am, Sir, &e., B. WING ATE. Street End, Sidlesham Common, Chichester.
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