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will venture to say that the harder hounds are worked the less disease affects them; and that the more rest they have, the more they suffer from the rheumatic attacks. No, keep them at work, rain or shine, if you can, as the only means of rendering them in any way able to get out at all. In fact, never leave them at home for lameness, let the weather be what it will, provided they can travel: if not, they must be got out to as much exercise as they can take by themselves. I allow that a country covered with tail hounds, which are too crippled to run up, is not a very agreeable nor a very respectable sight to see; but if you leave them at home to get sound, you may leave them long enough. Constant and regular work, and now and then light doses of sulphur, is the only plan to pursue, if circumstances forbid your removing to a more healthy spot. I would much rather keep hounds in a healthy barn, even on the ground, if well strawed down, than I would have to put up with some of the destructive buildings that some huntsmen are from necessity obliged to continue in, elegant as they may be in appearance, and replete with all kinds of conve

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"Voyager goes on to say that "every master of hounds, therefore, has the means of prevention in his own hands. Let him have his lodging rooms heated by means of warm air; or, by what I think far better, the hot water system: the benches might be tanks with hot water circulating through them, &c." The plan of heating kennels by flues has frequently been tried and found not to answer; in fact, hounds when kept warm by such artificial means, are not near so stout and healthy as they are when kept in their natural way, in dry kennels and plenty of clean straw; but with no fires to debilitate them, and not invigorate them. As one instance of the artificial method not answering, I may mention Lord Portman's hounds, when kept at one of their kennels in Somersetshire. And as another instance of artificial warmth not being the means of preventing the disease called kennel-lameness, I can mention the fact of a terrier (which belonged to the boiler at one of my kennels, where the hounds were most awfully afflicted by the disease in question) and which was constantly in the habit of either running loose, or lying on a chair by the fire in the house, just as he pleased, day or night: he was so crippled by kennel-lameness that he could scarcely stand, and although constantly availing himself of the "direct benefit" of a good warm place by the house fire, he became incurable, and was eventually obliged to be destroyed. With regard to the proper time for feeding hounds after their return from a hard day's hunting, I should say that during the early part of the cub-hunting season, when the weather is very hot, and consequently the hounds in a state of fever and excitement from having travelled along a dusty road under a scorching sun, they may be shut up on their benches for a couple of hours before they are fed; but in the regular hunting season, and more especially when coming home wet and draggled, they ought to be admitted to the feeding trough as soon as possible; in fact, directly after having their legs and bellies washed, which excellent practice is always pursued by all good judges and huntsmen who know how to look after them, after they are so washed. The greasy water on their coats causes them

to lick one another all over ten times more, and thus become far more comfortable than they would do if put up for two hours to dry before they are fed; and thus they are enabled to get to rest two hours sooner than when fed later, according to the system recommended by "Voyager." After the pack which have been out have been fed they should be shut up in a lodging room by themselves, with plenty of clean straw; in about an hour and a half, they may be removed out into the grass court to stale and empty themselves, and then placed for the night in another fresh lodging-room, out of which has been just moved the rest pack, which will prevent the effects of the tired packs being chilled, which they would be liable to be if placed in a cold and empty lodging-room; the rest pack must then be shut up in another dry lodging-room, as the straw in the place where the tired hounds have been shut up will be too wet for them. Leicester, March 5th, 1844.

RAMBLES ROUND THE WORLD.

BY FORESTER.

In giving an account of sporting rambles and "moving accidents by flood and field" in a part of the world whose capabilities of affording satisfaction to the sportsman have been but little treated of in any previous work, I shall commence "à principio," and only hope that my recital may afford the reader a tithe of the amusement which I derived from the scenes themselves.

It was, then, on the 29th of June, 1840, as I perceive by my "Log-book," that we sailed from the port of Liverpool; a stiff westerly gale had prevailed for some time, which prevented the departure of the "outward-bounders." The wind, however, had on the previous night shifted round to the eastward, and we proceeded on our voyage in company with upwards of one hundred sail of all sorts and sizes. It was a splendid summer's morning, and the sight was beautiful and exhilarating in the extreme. With regard to our passage, which was a very long one, I shall say but little. We had to beat down channel-bad weather coming on, which continued till we were off the coast of Portugal- few of our passengers showed on deck, and even those few were every now and then suddenly disappearing below, and returning with faces which would have done credit to the ghost in Hamlet. On the 16th July we made Madeira, and ran close to leeward of those barren islands a little to the southward of it, called the Desertas. They are high rocks, rising from 150 to 200 feet above the level of the sea, barren and uninhabited, except by immense flocks of sea-fowl, which literally swarmed around us. A good many were shot, apparently of the gull species; and the proximity of the ship and reports of the guns did not appear at all to alarm them. On the 18th we had a distant view of Teneriffe, and I had the pleasure, for the first time, of seeing a shoal of flying fish, one of

which, in the course of the night, fell upon deck. The appearance of these silvery little fish, when skimming over the surface of the water under a bright sun, is very beautiful. On the 26th a small shark, apparently about five feet long, followed the ship for a considerable distance and took one small bait, which he carried away, hook and all; but, to our infinite mortification, we could not induce him to tackle the stronger ones. On the 28th we struck a fine dolphin with the "grange," an iron instrument with five prongs, used like the harpoon; the fish appeared of a beautiful blue colour when brought on deck, and was equally admired when brought to table. On the 13th of August we crossed "the line," and had the usual lark. We also, about the same time, caught a couple of sharks; but as the taking of these "sea lawyers," as the tars call them, has often been described particularly and most excellently by Captain Basil Hall, I need say but little on the subject. This voracious fish is seldom if ever seen but in the calmest weather and in hot climates. On the "line," when the ship is rolling on the swell -for the water is never a perfect plane, although not a ripple disturbs the placidity of its surface-there is always a long rolling swell, and from the direction of this the old sailor can pretty well tell in which quarter he is likely to have a breeze: this is the time to look out for sharks; and in the tedium induced by a long voyage, and when all hands are grumbling at the delay and wishing for the breeze, great indeed is the pleasure experienced at the sight of the fish's large back-fin, ploughing its way towards the ship. Over go the hooks, each covered with a tempting piece of the most rancid pork procurable; and intense is the anxiety as the monster swims lazily under the counter, frequently passing close to the bait without attempting to take it. To describe "the take" would, if properly written, subject me to the imputation of copying the account above referred to; suffice it, therefore, to add a few particulars of my own observation. And first, the great tenacity of life in this fish almost exceeds that of the eel on shore. The pulsations of the heart were observable for full fifteen minutes after its removal from the body; and I having begged the head for the purpose of preserving the skull, upon one of the officers proceeding incautiously to pick it up, putting his hand carelessly into the mouth the jaws immediately closed, and, as he instantly withdrew his hand, a pretty laceration was the consequence. The teeth are almost the form of the large thorns on a rose-tree, with finely serrated edges, and setting inwards. The largest we captured on this trip-a blue shark-had nine rows of them, five or six of which were come to maturity.

On approaching the Cape we were surrounded by large flocks of cape pigeons, a pretty spotted black and white bird, common enough in the museums; an albatross, many of very large size, together with petrel, cape-hens, &c., all sea birds, and which none but those who have seen them will probably know by these names, and I am not ornithological enough to give others. They may all be caught with fish-hooks of various sizes, baited with a bit of pork, which the motion of the ship keeps on the surface of the water, and which numbers of birds instantly pounce; when, by slackening the line so as not to draw it from them, and then, when you perceive it seized, giving a

upon

dexterous jerk, they may almost always be hooked. When once on deck they are quite incapacitated from rising by the length of their wings. The skins are difficult to preserve, from the quantity of fat and oil which soaks through as soon as ever you get into warm weather, and spoils the snowy plumage. I fear I have tired my readers already, and that they are inclined to think I have nothing to give them but a log of the voyage. Having, therefore, said a little of all the fish and fowl which I met with going out, I will "hark away" for the sports of Australia! and, if I afford satisfaction, will, perhaps, give an account of other game to be met with on a passage home round "the Horn."

We arrived at Port Philip on the 9th of November, where I had the pleasure of finding a relation located, of whose having left the N. S. Wales district I was ignorant. I was most hospitably received at his station, and enjoyed some excellent sport. My first night on shore I will, however, describe, as I hope it may show any intending emigrants what they may have to put up with, and prevent despondency when it does come. The town of Melbourne is nine miles by the river from the place where the ships lie; but there is a short cut over land of three or four miles. And the place for landingnow, I believe, a flourishing village, called the "Beach"-could at the time I arrived (when the colony was but five years established), only boast of two houses, to the most finished of which-for the other was quite new, and I rather think not yet inhabited-I proceeded with my relation and a fellow passenger. To go to Melbourne that night was impossible, and to return to the ship was not exactly the thing when first getting our feet on shore after a long voyage. We therefore enquired if we could have beds, and we were assured by the waiter (one of those patriotic individuals who had left their country for their country's good) that, "barring the master's," there was no such convenience in the house; but, he added, that if we liked to stop we should have capital "shake-downs"-not being conversant with the meaning of which term, I appealed to my friend, who described it as an apology for a bed, certainly not what we could wish, but still no great hardship. Of course we bespoke the accommodation, and repaired into the long room. This room-which the landlord was building for the accommodation of his guests, who, from the daily arrival of vessels, were becoming very numerous-was complete, with the trifling exception of having only about one-tenth of the roof on, and the windows and glass doors, which were numerous, as is necessary in a hot climate, unglazed (pardon the "taurus!") However, as the night was fine, we cared little for this; and as there were some fifty or sixty gentlemen-some settlers, but the majority just arrived in port like ourselves-in the room, we were soon very happy and jovial, and it was not till nearly four in the morning that we were left alone; when, having summoned Mr. Kean, who was in a high state of rum, we requested to be shown our "shake-downs." That gentleman stated his willingness to bring them, which led to an expostulation on our part as to sleeping in a room sans roof, doors, or windows; this, however, was set aside by the unanswerable argument that again" barring the master's" and the bar-there were no other rooms

in the house. Mr. Kean, therefore, brought in two immense mats, made of rough coya rope and very dirty, which he carefully deposited on the floor. "Rum things to put beds on," remarked I; "however, let's see what's coming." It soon appeared that, whatever it might be, it was not Kean; and, after waiting some time, we went to look for him, and found him asleep on mat No. 3, outside the bar-door. Being roused, he appeared infinitely astonished at our not considering the "shake-down" sufficient, and assured us that the mats aforesaid were all the means in the house available for such a purpose; however, he promised, upon much entreaty, to procure some covering, and after the lapse of a few minutes brought in-don't be astonished, reader! you don't know what may happen to yourself-about a dozen old sugar bags, and merely remarking that we might as well give them a shaking, "cause there's lots of santipees about." Mr. K. rolled jovially to his mat. There was nothing else to be done; so, discarding the former receptacles of sweets, we stretched ourselves on the mats, thinking, at any rate, things could not be worse. But oh! the fallibility of human ideas! The night, which had hitherto been not only mild, but warm (it was the middle of summer), became suddenly chilled; and, in a few minutes after we had resigned ourselves to rest, the rain began to pour down in torrents, such as are seldom seen but in the tropics. We shifted our quarters to the part of the room which sported a bit of roof, but soon found that-as the storm beat dead in at the windows and doors adjoining-that covered spot was about the wettest in the room. We got at last into the bar, not without great difficulty however, for I had to find the landlord; and after sundry ineffectual attempts to wake him, took his keys from the table and left him. Once snugly ensconced in the sanctum, we managed to kick up a good fire, and, with the help of brandy and cigars, we spent an hour or two pretty comfortably. At half-past nine, a. m., the mail cart came down from Melbourne, and on it we proceeded to that metropolis of Australia Felix.

The town covers a large space of ground, and was then in a flourishing state. The surrounding country, however, was little cleared, as the high price of labour almost prevented agriculture; and the interminable forest, extending on every side, had a novel and very pleasing effect upon us new-comers. The same night we arrived at Mr. C.'s station, about ten miles from Melbourne, after a romantic ride through the bush. Again was I done out of sleep by the swarms of musquitoes; and falling into a heavy doze towards day-break, when these vampires take their leave, I was suddenly awoke by a tap on the face, and, starting up, what was my astonishment to see a couple of large emus stalking about the room, "seeking what they might devour." They were a pair of tame ones, which had come in at the open door, and I suppose one of them had been trying to catch a fly (off my face)! as I saw them pursuing that diversion afterwards almost continually. I drove them out, but sleep was out of the question-as the sun being up, the flies began buzzing about in all directions, and would not permit a moment's rest. To a person unacquainted with hot climates, the numbers of these insects would appear incredible. I have literally seen the ceiling black with them, and

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