ARAB AND ENGLISH RACEHORSE 133 



" I had but a casual acquaintance with Captain Home, 

 from meeting him on some of our Bengal race-courses, but 

 I have always admired his great courage and endurance. 

 I believe he died of dysentery after winning a ^500 p.p. 

 bet that he would ride a horse named Jumping Jemmy 

 100 miles a day for eight successive days. He started on 

 5th July, after the rainy season had set in, when the heat 

 was excessive. The horse was none the worse for his 

 performance, but Captain Home's death was the unfor- 

 tunate result. 



"Some time between 183 1 and 1835 the late Mr Bacon, 

 of the Bombay Civil Service, rode one camel from Bombay 

 to Allyghur (about 800 miles) in eight days. The camel 

 was a little blood-looking animal, almost black ; and I saw 

 the late Mr Vigne make a sketch of his head, which is 

 reproduced in one of his books. 



"About the year 1830, Lord Exmouth, then the Hon. 

 Mr Pellew, of the Bengal Civil Service, rode an old 

 English horse named Cheroot Box 100 miles in twenty- 

 four hours — easily. I could draw upon recollection for 

 many such feats, though the above are the most prominent 

 in my memory. One more I will give, which I should 

 think is recorded in the Bengal Sporting Magazine. It took 

 place about 1838, and I knew the performer, a very light, 

 wiry man, one Lieutenant Lowry, of the 21st Bengal Native 

 Infantry. In consequence of missing the horses that should 

 have awaited him (our only mode of fast travelling in those 

 days), he rode a little mare, nearly or quite thoroughbred, 

 though bred in India, no miles in eleven hours. I have 

 never heard the truth of this feat doubted, though, like 

 many others, it may not have been recorded." 



In a letter to the editor of Bailey's Magazine^ Sir 

 Charles W. A. Oakeley called attention to the performance 

 of his Arab horse. The Buffer, in India in 1852, which 

 surpassed those I have alluded to. The Buffer covered 

 10 miles 520 yards in 25 minutes and 35 seconds with 

 10 St. 6 lbs. up, and " without the horse being the least 

 pressed." Sir Charles adds that " there could not be a 

 better example of the wonderful endurance of the Arab 

 horse." 



