THE HORSE 281 



Punch, are excellent types of the animals which play no part 

 in pomp and sport, but devote their ponderous strength to 

 the world of commerce. Before the introduction of rail- 

 ways, pack-horses were largely used in the conveyance of 

 merchandise to and from the English coast, and in many 

 countries the Horse still serves in a similar capacity. 



An average horse can carry comfortably on its back a load 

 of only a hundred and twenty pounds, compared to one and 

 a half tons it can draw in a wheeled vehicle. The best 

 known breeds of Dray Horses can far exceed this weight. A 

 well-built animal was put to a remarkable test on one of the 

 Surrey railways. It commenced dragging twelve wagons 

 of a total weight of thirty-six tons, to which were added 

 other wagons, until the animal was moving fifty-five tons 

 at the rate of nearly four miles an hour for six hours. Of 

 course, the rails played an important part in the transport 

 of the great weight, but that does not discount the enormous 

 strength displayed by the Horse. 



Of the endurance of the Horse, innumerable instances 

 might be afforded where the animal is legitimately employed ; 

 but its capabilities are best shown when driven to display 

 its powers to serve the dire needs of its owner. A high- 

 wayman took flight from Chatham at four o'clock in the 

 morning. At Gravesend he was delayed for nearly an hour, 

 waiting for a boat to convey him across the Thames ; and 

 this time the rider occupied in baiting his steed. At 

 Chelmsford the horse was rested for half an hour, and then 

 their course lay through Braintree, Westerfield, to Cam- 

 bridge, and from thence to Huntingdon. Along the North 

 Road the horse galloped, with occasional rests, until it was 

 finally drawn up at York on the evening of the same day. 

 In due course the rider stood his trial for robbery at 

 Chatham, and would have swung upon the gibbet, but that 

 the Lord Mayor of York testified that he spoke to the 

 prisoner at 8.15 p.m. on the day of the robbery. The jury 

 acquitted him on the ground that it was impossible for him 

 to have travelled so great a distance in sixteen hours ; which 

 showed that they did not know the Horse so well as did the 

 man whose life the gallant steed had saved. 



Of the smaller breeds of Horses, the Shetland Pony is 



