142 Among Men and Horses. 



take the ribbons ; for he saw, so he said, that he had made the 

 mistake of using a bridle with blinkers. I made no reply ; but 

 got down and handed him the reins. He jumped up, ' clicked ' 

 to him, gave him a job in the mouth with the reins, and was 

 surprised beyond measure that the animal stuck his fore legs out 

 in front and refused to move a yard. To make matters worse, 

 he cut the horse with the whip, and after trying in vain every- 

 thing he knew to make him start, he relinquished the attempt 

 and began to blame me ! My reply was again to take the 

 reins, get into the trap, and start the horse off as easily as I had 

 done before. ' You see,' I said to my class, ' how unreasonable 

 this gentleman is. I have shown him the correct method of 

 accomplishing the task he set me. Instead of adopting it, he 

 tries to make the horse start according to his own way, and 

 because it fails, he blames me.' I then explained how I had 

 attained my end with the horse, for no one had observed the 

 slight signal I had given to the animal with my right hand ; and 

 pointed out how much more useful it would be for me to be 

 allowed to teach, than to exhibit proof of my own skill. I 

 then had all the class on my side, including my late task- 

 master. With hardly an exception, my pupils have met me 

 in the most generous spirit, and have been inclined to give 

 me more credit than was my due. I would not have men- 

 tioned the foregoing incident, had it not been one which is 

 always apt to occur to a teacher of breaking, and which 

 illustrates certain useful points about horses. 



Ceylon is an intensely interesting country to a miner- 

 alogist who, like myself, is fond of the study of precious 

 stones. As that science is not within the scope of this book, 

 I must not write about it here. 



We left Ceylon, bound for Singapore, on the Spanish 

 mail boat, Is/a de Mindanao. This fine and well-appointed 

 steamer carried forty-five first-class passengers, all Spaniards 

 except ourselves, and including about a dozen priests. The 

 food, cooked a I'Espagnoie, was excellent. At meals 

 there was un unlimited supply of free wine, of good quality 



