52 HOESE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA. 



genous food, probably, takes place to a far slighter 

 degree among the herbivora, than among the carnivora, 

 whose bodily weight and internal temperature can be 

 sustained on a diet of lean meat alone. 



When long-distance walking and swimming came 

 into vogue a few years ago, it was thought that con- 

 centrated food, of a highly nitrogenous nature, was the 

 most suitable for the athlete while attempting such 

 feats. The fallacy of this was proved by experience ; 

 for it was found that incomparably greater trials of 

 endurance were performed under a regimen rich in fat, 

 than under the old system of training on lean meat and 

 dry bread. This was notably shown in the case of 

 Gale, while walking 1,500 miles in 1,000 hours ; for his 

 diet consisted of ordinary meat, buttered toast and 

 bread, eggs, &c. Gale, it must be remembered, while 

 performing his remarkable feat, walked H miles at the 

 commencement of each consecutive hour. In the days 

 of our forefathers, Captain Barclay astonished the 

 athletic world by walking 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours. 

 He, however, by having been allowed to do a mile at 

 the end of one hour, and another at the commencement 

 of the next hour, was able to procure, between his tasks, 

 more than double the length of rest which was given 

 to the Cardiff man. Weston, the pedestrian, was, I 

 believe, one of the first to demonstrate, in England, the 

 advantages of this system. Webb, the Channel 

 swimmer, too, was another instance. Indian wrestlers, 

 who always train on a diet rich in fat, have for ages 

 worked on true physiological principles which European 

 scientists are only just beginning to understand. I 

 am thoroughly convinced that the fact of modern feats 



