194     IN RUSSIAN TURKESTAN
the horses swim across with the arba borne up
behind them like a boat. Russians use covered
arbas for longer journeys, and fit them up so that
they can be placed upon the ground and slept in,
like tents. Sportsmen use them thus for weeks
together.
Women of the middle class are constantly to be
seen riding in arbas, often five or six of them to-
gether with their children round them, but oftener
still they are on horseback, either behind their
husbands on horse or donkey, or riding alone.
One of the most comical sights imaginable is a
Sart woman-veil,parandja, and all-riding straddle
on a tiny Samarkand donkey, so near the ground
that her feet almost touch it. Everybody rides in
Turkestan, even the beggars in the streets are
frequently mounted, and one is reminded of the
old adage, "If wishes were horses, beggars would
ride."
When a Sart woman rides behind her husband
he sits in the saddle, and she on the horse's bare
back, with her arms round his waist. If one of the .
children joins the party it rides behind its mother.
I have seen a father riding with three children
behind him. Rich men cover their horses' backs
with velvet cloths embroidered in silver and gold,
and covered with turquoises. I never saw any in
the streets, but people used to show them to us,
together with their fine robes and jewellery, when