FOUR-FOOTED PRIZE-FIGHTERS. 249 



good boar-hound is worth ten florins ; but the Magyars 

 are a magnanimous race, and if the boar contrives to 

 vindicate the dignity of nature they are apt to reward 

 him by an unconditional pardon, i.e., to open the gate 

 and let him depart in peace. 



Now and then one of the Nagy Tassar, or " Big 

 Squires," manages to get hold of a bear; and during my 



last visit in Buda Dr. S took me out to the Raitzen 



suburb, where a champion of that sort was on exhibition. 

 We found a big, fat he-bear, whose owner had sent him 

 down from Komorn, but, having neither a fit locality nor 

 an opponent worthy of his prowess, they were not going 

 to fight him, but merely to exhibit his fencing skill. The 

 pest of Pesth is the brown rat. Legions of rats infest 

 the 'longshore quarters, and every Roskam (livery-stable) 

 has ratters for sale, a sort of shaggy pinchers, as ag- 

 gressive as any bull-dog. Of these curs' our host had a 

 whole brigade, and nearly every one of his visitors had 

 brought a recruit or two. We picked out eight of the 

 pluckiest and ugliest, worth about forty cents apiece. 

 Before we let them loose they had smelt the bear and 

 scratched savagely at the door ; but their simultaneous 

 appearance did not disconcert Bruin in the least. He 

 was taking his breakfast in the corner of an empty 

 chamber, and when the door opened he did not even 

 interrupt his meal, but with the utmost good humor 

 flung the puppies against the wall as fast as they came 

 on. They charged him again and again, but they did 



