156 Among Men and Horses. 



fall on the far side. The ground in the centre is utilised for 

 cricket and other sports. Although there is in Hong Kong 

 hardly any riding, and the driving is confined to man-carts or 

 jinrickshaws as they are called, there is an annual meeting in 

 February, at which there used to be very heavy betting ; 

 wagers of ten thousand dollars being not unknown. I may 

 remark that the population consists of about 3000 ' foreigners ' 

 (or white men) and a garrison of one regiment of infantry and 

 some heavy artillery. All the races are confined to China 

 ponies, a term that is applied to the Mongolians which are 

 imported from Manchuria, and which are all geldings. Prac- 

 tically speaking there are no horses or ponies bred in China. 

 Almost all the ponies which run in Hong Kong have their 

 permanent quarters in Shanghai, and come down south to 

 train, two or three months before this three days' meeting 

 comes off. The custom used to be, and continues still for all 

 I know to the contrary, for about half-a-dozen of these races 

 to be confined to ' subscription ' griffens (recently imported 

 ponies that have never run), which, to the number of thirty 

 or forty, are bought, all round, at one hundred and fifty dollars 

 each from the Shanghai Horse Bazaar Company, on the 

 understanding that all these animals are able to do three- 

 quarters of a mile, with weight for height up, in 1 minute 40 

 seconds ; and are distributed by lot among the subscribers. 

 The weight for height of an animal just under 14 hands 

 (fractions of inches do not count in China) would be 11 st. 

 6 lbs. Such a test, though quite severe enough for China, 

 would be a ridiculously moderate one for English, Australian, 

 Arab, or Indian ponies. 



Sir Robert Jardine, who subsequently won a large number 

 of races in England, played ' the great game ' in China, where 

 he was a partner of the house of Jardine Matheson more than 

 a quarter of a century ago. He gave four thousand guineas for 

 Buckstone just after this horse won the Ascot Cup in 1863, 

 and had him brought out to run in China ; for in those days 

 the races were open to all horses, and there was extremely 



