Later on in the day I mounted my horse, and accompanied the engineer and his wife to the outskirts of the town. Here there is a vast natural basin formed by a circular chain of steep heights. Yuzgat,[14] which is built on the side of a hill, and with its houses towering above the plain looks down upon the enormous arena. An immense crowd was assembled. Horsemen were present of all nationalities, and clad in every kind of costume. Turks, Persians, Armenians, Greeks, Circassians, Tartars, Kurds, Turkomans, Georgians, were grouped together in little clusters, and talking to their fellow-countrymen. Hundreds of women, clad in long white sheets, had retired a short distance, and from a slight elevation were gazing down upon the assembled multitude. Presently the horsemen divided into two sides. Each man carried a djerrid or short stick, about four feet long, not quite so thick as a man's wrist, and weighted a little at one end. The right hand of the cavaliers grasped the middle of the djerrid. The two bands of mounted men, reining their horses back, halted facing each other, and about eighty yards apart. Now, at a signal from the leader of one side, a horseman dashed forward at the opposing band. Brandishing his djerrid in the air, and shouting wildly to Allah, he hurled it at one of his opponents. The latter, who was on his guard, turned his horse on his haunches, and galloped away in the same direction as the missile was coming. Reaching backward, the rider caught the stick, and was greeted by the applause of the bystanders. Meanwhile the horseman who had first attacked, hastened to regain his party. He was pursued in headlong career by one of the other side, who in his turn hurled the djerrid. The game requires considerable skill in horsemanship, and great nerve. The stick is thrown with all the rider's strength, augmented by the velocity with which his steed is galloping. If the missile be not caught or parried, but strike a man's body, the effect is often serious; bones are fractured. Death sometimes ensues. The horses too have to be highly trained, so as to be able to halt when at full speed, and, turning, to start off in a contrary direction. "We rode better in our time," said an old man, attired in a crimson dressing-gown, and who was eagerly watching the proceedings, to a companion by his side; "but what is that which is coming in this direction?" In the distance a marriage procession could be seen winding amidst the hills. A bride was being carried in a cart drawn by oxen to her bridegroom's house. A band playing discordant music marched in front. Several women enveloped in sheets of white muslin rode behind the vehicle. They were mounted on donkeys, and sat astride them like men. The position is a curious one, particularly when the lady wears a short dress.