THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 



that of a boy of fifteen, Frederic Tyler, who con- 

 veyed, from Montgomery to Mobile, the news of the 

 two days' battle, fought between the armies of the 

 United States and Mexico in the summer of 1846. 

 The distance, one hundred and ninety miles, was 

 accomplished in thirteen hours ; and during the 

 entire night the boy caught and saddled his horses, 

 none of which were in readiness, as he was not looked 

 for by those who had the horses in charge. 



A bet against time was won in July, 1840, by an 

 Arab horse at Bungalore, in the presidency of 

 Madras, to run four hundred miles in four con- 

 secutive days. Mr. Frazer relates, in his " Tartar 

 Journeys," a still more striking instance of the speed 

 and bottom of the Arab : a horse of that breed car- 

 ried him from Shiraz to Teheran, five hundred and 

 twenty-two miles in six days, remained three at rest, 

 went back in five days, remained nine at Shiraz, and 

 returned again to Teheran in seven days. Another 

 high-blooded Arabian carried Mr. Frazer from Tehe- 

 ran to Koom, eighty-four miles, in about ten hours. 

 A courier, whom Major Keppel fell in with between 

 Kermanshaw and Hamadan, places one hundred and 

 twenty miles' distance from each other, performed that 

 journey, over a rugged mountainous tract, in little 

 more than twenty-four hours; and the next morn- 

 ing set off on the same horse for Teheran, two hun- 



