124 SAM DARLING'S REMINISCENCES 



to have in his mouth about as barbarous a bit 

 as could be imagined, involving an arrangement 

 by which his tongue could have been cut off, or 

 nearly so, and spikes driven into his cheeks. It 

 was immediately taken off and confiscated ; and 

 I must say that every decision of the authorities 

 in this or any other matter was accepted without 

 any semblance of demur. 



" The Gentlemen's Race- Heads and Posts — in 

 which donkeys are used for chargers and sticks for 

 swords, depends very much on the donkeys, and 

 Major Ducrow and the parson from the Rameses 

 the Great, having each a claim on the same donkey, 

 which was the best at this game, rode him alter- 

 nately, and easily distanced all others ; nor could 

 the judges separate them. 



" The Camel Race was a bit of an eye-opener to 

 those who have never seen these strange, unsym- 

 pathetic beasts extended. The winner strode 

 right away from his field in fine style, winning by 

 five or six lengths, and Mr. Darling observed, * Only 

 think what would happen if he came a gallop like 

 that and met a string of two-year-olds ! ' I preferred 

 not to think. We were now about at an end, and 

 the Rameses the Great men did their duty by 

 fairly beating the Amasis men in the Tug-of-War, 

 a victory which they celebrated with wild shouts 

 after their manner, and long ere this the doctor 



