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[[underline]] Chapter VII. [[/underline]] 130. That [[underline]] saddle-pads [[/underline]] were used by the ancient Chinese as far back as Han and even Ch'in times, if not slightly earlier, seems quite certain (see fig. ^[[2]]7). We have however no literary mention of [[underline]] stirrups [[/underline]] until some centuries after the beginning of our Era; nor have I found them indicated on any of the earlier clay figurines or other representations of saddled horses that I have examined. [[superscript]] (117) [[/superscript]] Neither do stirrups occur in the older Chinese tombs containing other horse furniture. In any case, at first and ------------------------- [[superscript]] (117) [[/superscript]] Laufer, [[underline]] Chinese Pottery [[/underline]], page 230, note 2, speaks of saddles and stirrups as being shown on the Shantung "reliefs" (of the Eastern Han period, a couple of centuries after Ho Ch'ΓΌ-ping's time); but careful examination has failed to reveal them to me. --------------------------------- sometimes even down to a quite late period they seem to have been made not of metal but of wood or bamboo, or even to have been merely loops of rope or leather---all of them perishable materials which would hardly survive long in the earth. [[superscript]] (118) [[/superscript]] This may account in part for the absence of stirrups ------------------------- [[superscript]] (118) [[/superscript]] Among the medieval Mongols, only chieftains seem to have had metal stirrups. According to Herberstein, 16th century Tartar stirrups in Russia were of wood. In recent times those used by the Lolo, the Annamites, and numerous other peoples have been of bamboo or wood. My friend Mr. Owen Lattimore has pointed out to me that according to present-day Mongols, wooden stirrups are much warmer than those of metal. ---------------------------------- in the older deposits, both in China and elsewhere. Similar circumstances attended the introduction of stirrups into Europe. They appear, already made of metal, in the eastern portion of the continent [[strikethrough]] .[[/strikethrough]] at least as far back as the 6th century A. D., but they were slow in s^[[p]]reading over the West. They were used by some of the warriors at the battle of Hastings, in 1066; but the native Irish light horse were still without either saddles or stirrups as late as Tudor times. [[superscript]] (119) [[/superscript]] ------------------------- [[superscript]] (119) [[/superscript]] In Ireland too, it is interesting to note, the use of chariots
