A SUBALTERN S PONY. l^l 



through the bush lands adjacent to where they were 

 originally landed. 



Talking about ponies, I think that the very best 

 I ever possessed, and I had many thousands of 

 Government animals to choose from, was a Man- 

 churian that I picked up in the Corea. At a first 

 glance, it looked a trifle long in the body, but it 

 was so wonderfully ribbed up, and stood upon such 

 perfect limbs, that the defect was soon lost sight 

 of. I used it in every way, one day to gallop down 

 pariah dogs, next with a load upon its back, and 

 possibly on the third raced it against all comers, 

 not improbably with the course well supplied with 

 an abundance of rasping stiff jumps, and yet it 

 never was beaten by anything that stood within a 

 hand of the same height. Nothing ever seemed to 

 affect its spirits or its appetite, and for it to sleep in 

 a snowdrift, with the coldest winds sweeping over the 

 steppes, had apparently been so common an occur- 

 rence in its early life, that it appeared to enjoy such 

 reminiscences of its childhood. Before leaving China 

 I sold this treasure to a " gunner," whom I trust it 

 carried, and did as good service for as it ever did 

 for me. 



It is upon such animals as the one that I have 

 been writing of that the Tartar Cavalry are mounted, 

 so it is not surprising to hear of the wonderful forced 

 marches these miserable soldiers can make when 

 circumstances call for their performance. 



