lameness. A horse belonging to a friend of mine became lame; an ignoramus blistered both fore legs with a blister in which a powerful caustic had been introduced; the severity of the application was so great that the skin actually sloughed, leaving nothing but bare sinews and BONE!! A professional gentleman was called in, and of course his death warrant was signed. The owner on hearing his fate was much affected. He was totally ignorant of medicine, and had left it to a farrier. This horse was a favourite charger, and a magnificent creature; he was in truth like one described in Scripture: "He paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in his strength.

He goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted, neither turneth he back from the sword." Now, let me impress on the mind the necessity of THINKING a good deal, before any blacksmith or native farrier is allowed to enter the stable door ; did I possess a thousand horses, three things only would I allow these self-conceited gentlemen to do.

1st. To pare the foot under proper directions.

2ndly. Nail on a shoe. 3rdly. Administer a glyster. When all this had been properly done, I would say, "Here, my man, take this (five or six rupees as the case may be). When I want you again, I will send word." If such had been the general custom, the life of many a valuable horse would have been saved. A celebrated writer has feelingly depicted his sufferings in the following words :

"Miserable animal! bereft of speech, thou canst not complain, when to the disease to which thou art afflicted excruciating torments are superadded by the ignorant

efforts of such men, who at first sight, and without any investigation to lead them to the source of thy disorder, pronounce a hackneyed common-placed opinion on thy case; and then proceed with all expedition to open thy veins, lacerate thy flesh, cauterize thy sinews, and drench thy stomach with drugs, adverse tn general to the cure they engaged to perform."

A

I cannot refrain making a few remarks on Hubbeeb Ul Hissan's letters, as his practice may lead the inexperienced into lamentable errors. The Joomalgota or Croton Tiglium is a dangerous medicine to play with, and more particularly before the essential oil has been expressed from the seed. It was a favourite medicine some few years since in England, and, I believe, had an extensive trial at the Royal Veterinary College, but subsequent experience has given way to the use of aloes. friend of mine gave twenty drops of the oil to an ass; it produced excessive griping. He followed it up with ten drops more, and death ensued. The farina of the seed (after the oil had been expressed) has had likewise a fair trial, in doses of ten to forty grains. A purgative effect is generally produced; but in benefit this medicine does not surpass aloes when judiciously prepared and given. I always use the very best Barbadoes. A few rupees well laid out in procuring good medicine will be found a considerable saving in the end.

A friend gave an Arab six years old, 14h. 2in., in high condition, a dose of aloes (eight drachms), and produced no effect; another and another were given, still no purgation; I happened to be paying him a visit, one morning, when he complained of the difficulty. "Well," I observed, "it is rather odd, but your aloes are not

genuine." "Oh yes, they are,” he exclaimed. "MY SALUTREE GOT THEM FROM THE BAZAAR." He showed me a part of them. It was wretched trash. I now desired him to give the horse nothing but sloppy bran mashes for three days, and then, walking over to his stable, I showed him a five drachm dose. It was given, but he at the time was extremely incredulous as to the result; however, the following morning the effect of good medicine was easily observed. Now, had this horse been really ill, and an early evacuation of the bowels necessary, what a source of annoyance and disappointment would have accrued by giving doubtful medicine, saying nothing of the dangerous consequences. We hear the "Schoolmaster abroad. I hope he will take a peep into H. U. H.'s stable, for I will venture to assert he will not find SO huge an instrument

SIR,

as a balling-iron, with Robson, Chiffney, or Dilly; the sooner it is exploded for delicate feeders the better. Giving balls by the hand is the safest and quickest mode. I have seen them administered with almost "magic art." H. U. H., speaking of Burzauttee, thinks animalcula a cause of this disgusting disease. May not these little animals be the produce of the ova deposited by flies?

Can any of your correspondents inform me if Burzauttee is hereditary? A little history of its pathology would be highly interesting.

Trusting you will allow my maiden lucubration a place in your interesting periodical, I remain,

Yours very faithfully,
NO QUACK.

Cawnpore.

Your correspondent "Fair Play" has indeed the "cacoëthes scribendi" upon him, but had he written less, and that little correct, it would have been more acceptable to the sporting community. Nothing deserves to be more deprecated than giving to the public incorrect timing of

At Meerut, 1831, R. C., 14 miles 61 yards, Marmion won the Give and Take, carrying 8st. 10lbs. (Mr. Chiffney), in 3m. 13s. and 3m. 16s., and not 3m. 9s. and 3m. 8s.

The running for the Civilians' Gold Cup was won by G. A. H. Bustard in 4m. 12s.; second heat, 4m.; 10s. and third heat 4m. 9s.

In the Match 50 G. M., 10st., R. C., King Cole beat G. A. Cossack in 3m. 11s.

Purse 25 G. M., R. C., 11st., G. A. P. Baron won it in 3m. 17s. and 3m. 14s.

Purse of 50 G. M. (handicapped), won by B. A. H. Stanley in 3m. 11s. and 3m. 10s.

So far, Mr. Editor, I am correct, but "not 100 miles from Kurnaul" we again see Fair Play with his feathered Herald." I cannot refrain asking one simple

question of Marmion; had he met with an accident (which he asserts was the case), why did he continue to run throughout the meeting against all the bad ones? (he facetiously endeavours to make them appear so), but inferior as they were, was it not natural to expect they would have shown the white feather before Marmion did, who was dead beat, in the two-mile race, half a mile from home in both heats.

"Quis talia fando

Temperet a lacrymis."

If really amiss, humanity I am sure would have prompted his owner to withdraw him from the contest.

"A regular clipper" can only be known by his public running.

SIR,

How far Marmion can lay claim to so honourable a title I am at a loss to conjecture. We shall know a little more when the great match of 5000 rupees against Lancer is decided. He is also matched for 50 G. M., P. P., against G. A. H. Sampson, giving him nearly a stone. May good luck attend the juvenile Turfites of Kurnaul, for I can with truth assure your readers that better fellows over a bottle of claret are seldom to be met with.

With every good wish for the support of your Magazine, I remain,

Yours faithfully,

A BIT OF CAUSTIC, Not 1000 miles from Benares. July 31st, 1831.

Will you allow me to ask what is the meaning of the following paragraph in Nimrod's letter in your last No.:

"On the 11th we killed dead, in a charge, before a shot had been fired, a tiger whose gallant attack, &c., &c.

Now, what is the meaning of

MR. EDITOR,

It is really lamentable to observe the daily acts of cruelty imposed on the most useful and noble of animals, and which, whether unintentionally or otherwise, occur, in my opinion, frequently for want of the master's eye.

Anxious, therefore, though incompetent as I may be, to enter on all the various ramifications of the abuses to which horses VOL. II.

R. R.

are liable, together with their several remedies, yet I must always consider it the bounden duty of every humane person at least now and then to lend an eye to the distresses of his noble companion in the toils of war and of sport.

In noticing one of the peculiar faults in the shoeing of horses which our native faculty (yclept nalbunds) appear to inherit, it is only necessary to call the atten

♦

tion of a man of common sense to the form of horse-shoes made by these sons of Vulcan (who, I affirm, are for the most part unworthy of the honourable cognomen, save as regards the colour of their phiz), in the fitting of which it will be found that instead of lying flat on the foot, so as to bear equally on all parts, it is on the contrary so constructed as to press only on the fore part and heel, thereby leaving an open space between the crust and centre part of the shoe. If this fault be pointed out to a nalbund, ignorant of his profession as many of them are, though I do not say all are so, he replies, "Wait till it is nailed on,' " which is accordingly done with a vengeance. What then is the consequence? why, the shoe is thus drawn close by the most extreme pressure to the heel, which is forcibly compelled to give way to the unyielding metal. Who is there, wearing a tight boot, perhaps for the first time of putting it on, that does not curse it for an infernal bore, and seize the earliest opportunity of kicking it. off? But not so with the horse; he, unable to complain, is obliged to submit not only to the pain, but eventually to a diseased and ruined foot. The membranous fibres of the heel are thus, by the pressure, unable to perform their proper functions; are thrown out of action, and refuse to support the strength of that part of the foot. The horny hoof naturally contracts towards the frog, which has already been weakened, and

It would be unfair not to allow this indispensable race of people some share of praise. Many of them prove themselves most worthy of it, not only by their willingness to improve in the art of shoeing, but also by their aptness in taking a lesson.

thus gradually, from dirt, &c., rots into thrush, and finally to canker, which in due course of time, if still neglected, eats to the coffin bone, and ruins the animal for work ever afterwards.

The method of applying a hot shoe to the hoof in shoeing is, I think, a plan admirably calculated for our nalbunds, provided the heat be not too great, as it shows when the shoe bears equally on all parts of the foot, which I again say is not only a thing of great importance to the ease and comfort of a hunter or roadster, but likewise a thing comparatively neglected both by travellers and sportsmen in this country, and thus it is that so many horses, instead of their natural pace, are constrained to go like cats upon hot irons.

It is by no means difficult to cure the feet of horses that have been thus neglected, provided they be not predisposed to contraction, by the following simple method:-Let the horse stand for a few days, occasionally during each day, in wet grass in order to soften the hoofs, or the natives will not take the trouble of paring them down sufficiently to get at the frog, should any part of it be diseased; in which case apply tar ointment, or, if bad, sprinkle into the part a little precipitate mercury every morning, which will dry it up in a week. When the foot is pared down sufficiently, put on a shoe which shall bear on the fore part of the foot only, but made long enough to protect the heel, and

* This method, I am aware, though not recognized in England as orthodox, being supposed to produce corns, is nevertheless an excellent plan in this country, for the reasons above mentioned, and can be of no sort of injury to the animal if the iron be not too hot.

quite independent of it from the last nail to the end of the shoe; so much so that a pricker may be passed between them at that part. Give the animal moderate exercise, and in a short time reaction will take place in the membranes, and

SIR,

The accompanying M.S. was accidentally discovered in the tavern at Khandalla, and is supposed to have escaped from John's breeches pocket while he was yet under the influence of the powerful narcotic administered by Nimrod in the East. I presume I cannot do better than forward it to you, for whom, if not for the Editor of the E. S. M., it was evidently designed.

Yours obediently,

PAUL PRY.

Marcy on us Muster Editur what a surproizeful site we're all missing of in old England. Dear 'art I'm sartin sure as I had never no noshun as I should have lived for to have 'eerd of such rum goins on. Theres Muster Doolittles black Vack-tote'em, or as fokes calls un, kim-over-us-there,

whats always axing on me all kinds of questhiuns about our Tadcaster brede of 'orses and Cowes, and bredes a largish sight of them there his self, commed oop to me this vorenoon a laffin and snigglin like fun, having orders from measter to rede out a story as he had lited upon in your book of a 'orse as was aged as a colt in Oktobur 1825 at Bumbay in Hinjee, bein sent 'ome at the end of 1828 to Muster Tattersal, or some such deelur, and low and be old, when un gets there all the noblity and gentle fokes goes for to pernounce him a fresh foive;

and moreover of that his howner is reddy to sware on the 'oly Bible he's grode an inch and a 'alf. Lord save us for to think as we should be livin in forin parts for to 'ear the loike of this. I'm dommed if Muster Tattersal ant turn

ing a purty penny by showing of him, for who'd begruj a golden sovereign and more if he 'ad it, joost to behold so strangeful and unkimmond a soite. When Ramthunder (for that's his name) red the account, I furst stooffed my tung in my cheek, and told un not to think for to go for to hoombug and play off no tricks upon Travelurs; but he only laffed and said as 'twas put in the book by he as was howner of this here roomboostikle 'orse, and the 'orses name was Sick-and-ill, and arterwards he was transmoggrifyd into antirope, with no other

mean

ing only to chizzle them as ad know'd him afore, which they seems to have done purty cutely, so arter all tis as troo as that

plumbs grows on treaze, and when Ram-thunder had gone to look arter his own consarns and measters, I took and red it over to myself. All them noblemen as seed Sick-and-ill is a sending their mares to him to kiver, and no wonderment neither, for if he could grow an inch and a 'alf arter he wur foive year old (to say nothink of seven off), his colts and fillys will be unaccountable big creeturs afore the've done, because in course he's a nashun dele