1 82 Sporting Notes in the Far East. 



On the arrival of the herd, or mob as it is termed ; they are 

 taken to one of the large pony repositories, and there sold off either 

 by private contract or by subscription lottery. 



Perhaps it would be as well for me to endeavour to explain the 

 system of these lotteries : Let us suppose that the newly arrived 

 mob have been ' ; looked," and the so-called subscription griffins 

 drafted out : then as many people as wish to go in for the gamble, 

 each pay in a certain sum according to the number of ponies they 

 require ; the amount being generally fixed on about twenty pounds 

 for each ticket. Now for example : let the lottery batch consist of 

 fifty animals : as soon as the fifty tickets are taken (for there are no 

 blanks) the raffle is drawn ; and should a man have contributed 

 eighty pounds, he will find himself the immediate possessor of four 

 ponies, which in all likelihood he has never seen before. 



Rather similar to buying a " pig in a poke," as he may have drawn 

 one flyer, while the other three are not worth the shoeing. On 

 first inspection of a newly arrived " griffin " (a pony is called this 

 during his first year in China, and one that has also never been 

 raced), he looks indeed a sorry brute ; but when his coat is off, 

 and he gets a little hard food into him he improves in appearance 

 considerably. 



It must be a great change for these beasts ; when after living for 

 years in the open, in a most severe climate, feeding on the 

 roughest and coarsest food ; they find themselves suddenly plunged 



