A STRANGE LAND. 229 



about five thousand five hundred and fifty feet, as near 

 as I can reckon it. The fastest heat I have yet timed in a 

 race is I 47^4, but by motions I am told this is some 

 slower than the fastest on record, and the mare which I 

 tell about further showed me a trial of i 44^. I can't 

 for the life of me comprehend their division of time. The 

 records show about twenty figure characters for each heat 

 trotted. Horses are allowed about twenty minutes to cool 

 out in. There are no bandages, blankets or liniments of 

 any kind in use. The festive rubbing cloth is wielded the 

 same as in America, but the people using it are dressed 

 fit for church. The drivers and horse attendants are the 

 elite of the land, very gentlemanly and cultivated men, 

 the profession ranking the same as the ministerial one in 

 America. Drivers are not adverse to helping in "rubbing 

 out," and, differing from the American reinsmen, are 

 always with their horses. They drive to win, that is evi- 

 dent. There is never^any back talk to the judges; no 

 trickery, but good, honest racing. A driver here who 

 would 'foul' another or resort to any questionable 

 methods, there is no telling what would be done with 

 him. At the conclusion of a heat in one race, the horses 

 for another are ready. The grand stand goes back to 

 the starting point and the races progress until all are 

 finished, there generally being three on the card for each 

 day. 



"I had been to two or three meetings in different cities 

 in company with a gentleman who had taken a fancy to 

 me, and who owned a beautiful mare, but of a more deli- 

 cate order than the majority of the horses. She could 

 speed like a railway, but it did not take long for me to 

 see that she was handicapped by the weight behind her, so 

 I set about trying to make my patron understand the mat- 



