72 BREEDING AND REARING OF 



had quite a little experience trying to instruct a 

 French cabman where to take us, as he could not 

 understand English nor we French. Finally an Eng- 

 lishman, taking in the situation, came to our rescue 

 and instructed the Frenchman where to take us. 



Leaving Paris we arrived in Bordeaux the next 

 morning where our interpreter, Mr. P. Carles, met us 

 as instructed. He proved to be quite a pleasant gen- 

 tleman. I assure you it was quite a pleasant reUef to 

 meet him, as we could not speak any language except 

 English, therefore, it was difficult for us to get along. 

 I asked Mr. Carles where we could buy some good 

 jacks. He did not know, but referred us to Mr. 

 Ribo Saster, who lived in the Pyrenees Mountains in 

 France, near the Spanish line. 



We met Mr. Saster in Toulouse, France. We ex- 

 plained our business to him, and asked him if he 

 could render the desired assistance to us. He seemed 

 to think he was the man we were looking for. His 

 services were at once engaged and off we put for 

 Barcelona, thence to Vick, which is situated in the 

 province of Catalonia. We found a few jacks in the 

 town ; after looking at them we hired a cart and driver 

 so we could visit the farmers and see their stock. We 

 found that in buying the more matured animals there 

 was considerable competition, besides they were not 

 plentiful, and we began to purchase colts from ten 

 months old up. The jacks in Spain are often kept in 

 the basement of the dwellings on stone floors. They 

 get but little to eat and not much exercise. Their chief 

 food is a large, coarse bean, a few shelled oats and 

 hay. Owing to this style of treatment we found three 

 decided advantages in selecting colts. One was no 



