BUFFALO HUNTING. tV 



duction. A double-reined snaffle I would take in pre- 

 ference to all bridles. At the same time much depends 

 on how a horse is broken. If the nag in his youth 

 had his jaws dislocated with a barbarous Mexican bit, 

 a snaffle will have no more power of control over his 

 actions than officers over a panic-stricken regiment. I 

 once possessed such a beast. The rider with a snaffle 

 might as well have pulled at a stalwart oak as at this 

 creature's mouth. He was a light -necked, star-gazing, 

 hot-tempered beast. The number of scrapes he got me 

 in was so numerous that to this day I wonder he did 

 not break my neck. At Cambridge, in England, I 

 hired from a livery-stable a counterpart of this 

 animal for a day with the neighbouring fox-hounds. 

 There was not a fence I ran him at that Bucephalus 

 did not appear to see till he was almost on it. Mar- 

 vellous to say, he retained a good place in the hunt ; 

 and, still more wonderful, got home without himself 

 or his rider having any broken bones. General 

 Williams a steeple-chase horse who long contested 

 with Zigzag for the honours at the various race- 

 courses in the vicinity of New York was just such 

 another. I crossed him once with the intention of 

 a preliminary gallop before riding him in a flag 

 race. However, I found the preliminary more than 

 sufficient. As to lifting him at a jump, or saving 



