Baumgarten, an early traveller in the East, gives the following account of Mameluke exercises performed in presence of the Sultan, who sat in a balcony of the palace overlooking the field: “On the side of the castle, there was a large and plain field, which had been before prepared for this purpose; about the middle of which, on one side, there were three artificial hillocks of sand, about fifty paces distant from one another; and on the top of each of them there was fixed a spear, bearing the mark which the archers were to shoot at; and the like was on the other side; so that in the middle betwixt them there was as much room left as might serve for six horses to run abreast. In this plain a great number of young men clad in richly-embroidered silk, with their usual light arms, mounted their sprightly horses, and began their games in this manner:—
First: They ran at full career betwixt the first two of these hillocks, and dextrously shot their arrows at the marks that were fixed to the tops of the spears, both on the right and left hand.
Next they rode in the same manner out between the other two, and filled the marks with their arrows.
Just so with the same speed they ran through the rest, and shot their arrows so artfully, that not one of them missed his aim.
After these young men had performed their parts, and had left none of the marks untouched, every one took his little spear that hung behind his back (as if they minded to act, not at a distance, but hand to hand), and retired a little out of the way, till the rest of the youth had performed as they had done. After which all of them, in the same order as they began, marched through the same way they had ridden, but now at a slow pace, with their standards before them, as in triumph, till they came to the place from which they had set out, and after they had prepared themselves for another kind of exercise, came out again in a little time.
Some of them, while their horses were running with loose reins, rode up and down, shooting their arrows at the marks before and behind, some one, others two, and some three.
[Illustration: EQUESTRIAN EXPLOITS OF THE CIRCASSIANS.]
Others, while their horses were at their full speed, would leap off three times, and (the horse still running) mount again, and in the meantime be shooting their arrows, and never any of them miss his aim: others, not sitting in their saddles, but standing up, while the horse seemed to fly, would hit the mark exactly: others while their horses were at their full gallop, would thrice unbend their bows, and toss them about their heads like a whip, and again bend them, and shoot without ever missing the mark. Some of the riders would throw themselves three times backwards off their horses, and would vault into the saddle again, let the horse run as fast as he would, and in the meantime let fly their arrows and hit the mark as oft as they shot. Some would spring out of their saddles, that were fast tied to the horses, and would untie them, and then shoot: thrice they would tie on their saddles, and as oft pierce the mark, the horse all the while running at his full speed. Sitting after their usual manner, they would jump behind their saddles, and let their heads hang down, then raise themselves up, and get into their saddles. Thrice they would do this, and as oft let fly their arrows without ever missing the mark. Or sitting in their saddles, they would lay their heads backwards on their horse’s croup, and taking his tail, hold it in their teeth, then raise themselves up, and shoot as sure as ever they did.
