1 88 Among Men and Horses. 



among these ' culls ' as they are called, I have bought many 

 useful horses, about ioo of which I afterwards sold, at 

 different times, to Native cavalry regiments, whose top price 

 was 350 rupees, say, £20. Neither mouths nor manners 

 were of course guaranteed at that price. The horses I usually 

 bought for chargers and hacks, generally cost me from £30 

 to £100 a piece. Though capable of breaking-in almost any 

 horse for my own use, I always kept in remembrance the fact 

 that although ' difficult ' horses may be reclaimed for the time 

 being, and kept under control by a capable man ; they are 

 always liable, at little or no provocation, to revert to their evil 

 courses. Hence I took special care, which of course was not 

 always infallible, to buy quiet horses. The majority of men 

 ride so very badly, that when selling a riding horse, I always 

 put on him a particular saddle which is the most comfortable 

 one I have ever seen. Time after time I have had men who 

 had bought a horse from me, come on the following day and 

 entreat me to sell them my saddle, which, some of them were 

 shrewd enough to observe, had been the means of selling the 

 horse. It certainly was not my fault if men failed to provide 

 themselves with saddles, out of which they could fall with 

 difficulty. 



As horses are apt to suffer a good deal from the sea 

 voyage between Australia and India, they often arrive in 

 wretched condition, and can consequently be bought very 

 cheaply. If I have heard one man, I have heard five hun- 

 dred remark, as if they were making a valuable and original 

 observation, that they like to buy fresh animals thin ; for 

 they can then best see their ' make and shape.' My experi- 

 ence, on the contrary, is all in favour of making selections 

 from those which are in good condition on arrival ; for the fact 

 that they are ' big,' goes a long way to prove that they must 

 have had good constitutions to have 'stood' the journey so 

 well. Besides this, horses which land very 'poor,' have 

 often suffered so much by, for instance, having been placed in 

 some ill-ventilated position, that their lungs or general health 



