332 AAXALS OF THE ROAD. 



It is generally supposed that in whipping- a leader 

 neatness of execution is more especially displayed, and 

 such I take to be the case. It is, however, quite a mis- 

 taken notion to suppose that it is in the power of a coach- 

 man to punish a leader with the single, as he can a 

 wheel-horse with the double thoncr. I have heard of this 

 man who could cut a horse's leg off, and of that who 

 could lift him from the ground when before the bar, but 

 I have never seen the coachman who could mark a horse 

 with the point of his thong. No doubt, however, the 

 blow from the loose thong falls very sharp, as it falls on 

 a tender part — the inside of the thigh. 



As the off-leader presents himself more fully to the 

 right hand of the coachman than his partner does, the 

 horse that is the less free of the two is generally put on 

 that side. There are but two ways of hitting an off- 

 leader : one, by letting the thong fall gently over his 

 neck or just behind his pad, when his driver only just 

 wishes to refresh his memory, and let him know that he 

 has a whip in his hand, and the other, when he wants to 

 hit him sharply, by striking him with the point of the 

 thong just under his bar. The hard hitters of the Old 

 School never conceived they had done the latter effectu- 

 ally unless they struck their horse twice at least, if not 

 three times, the last stroke always ending in a draw. As 

 this word drazu is peculiar to the lingo of the road, I 

 must explain to such as may not exactly comprehend it. 

 We will suppose a coachman to hit his off leader three 

 times. The two first blows are given, as it were, under- 

 handed ; that is to say, the hand is lowered, so as to 



