FOOD. 11 



and, on the contrary, you will be equally astonished 

 to find with the other plan how light it is. The 

 negotiations for the supply of oats should be entered 

 into in good time in the spring say about the 

 beginning of March as it is astonishing how slow 

 such matters progress in the East, and they had 

 better be left in the hands of your head syce. No 

 doubt you will be cheated out of a small amount, 

 but you must make up your mind for this before 

 arriving in the East ; but you will have the satis- 

 faction of knowing that if you tried to carry on 

 negotiations yourself you would be cheated out of 

 more. I have tried both plans, and found that the 

 syce could drive a better bargain for both of us 

 than when I attempted to deal direct with the 

 cultivator. 



Maize (maJckai). 



Although grown all over India, maize is not 

 much used for feeding horses ; but in South Africa, 

 where it is known as "mealies," it is the staple 

 food grain for both man and beast. In India 

 it is said to make horses fat and soft, but no 

 animal in the world does harder work than a South 

 African post-cart horse. In all probability the 

 reason they do well on maize is that in the oat-hay 



