BEST BREEDS OF HORSES FOR PIG-STICKING. 67 



Turkomans ; but so far as I am acquainted with them, both 

 appear pretty " staunch," and the latter more so than the 

 Persian. 



Now as far as ordinary pluck is concerned, none equal 

 the true pure-bred Arab (I do not allude to all the animals 

 wrongly called by that name in the present day) ; and I pre- 

 sume that it is his bright intelligence that makes the pure 

 Arabian conscious of the formidable character of the boar 

 and shy of him. Formerly a good many horses were im- 

 ported from the Cape, and take them all round they were 

 very staunch and steady, and the best by far as horses off 

 which to shoot. About 1859 and 1860 a number of South 

 American horses came into the Calcutta market, a stout, 

 strong, and generally sound race, with good legs but large 

 heavy heads, often of startling colours, as pie and skew-balds, 

 and these were sold for prices varying from three to four 

 hundred rupees each. I remember two in particular, a dun 

 and a skew-bald, standing about fourteen-three, both good 

 hacks and staunch hog-hunters, which were purchased for four 

 hundred and fifty rupees each, and were, I think, about the 

 best among those imported. Some were ugly Roman-nosed 

 beasts, but as well as I can recollect nearly all had good clean 

 and sound legs ; and no wonder either, since they were young 

 horses taken fresh from the Pampas, and put on board ship for 

 about 1 10 each, or say twenty rupees, and yet the speculation 

 could not have been profitable, since it soon ceased, and that 

 breed disappeared from our stables in the course of a very 

 few years. 



One of the grandest hog-hunters and cross-country horses 

 I ever saw was a remarkably handsome bay stud-bred, nearly 

 fifteen hands high, which was originally purchased in Behar 

 for four hundred rupees. The pure Arab, common enough 

 thirty years ago, has become almost extinct on this side of the 

 country, a few brought down from the North-west Province 

 and Bombay being about the only ones to be seen. 



When I did get a really staunch Arab, I preferred him to 

 any other breed, and, never riding over eleven and a-half 



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